Johannesburg, 19 Apr 1999
The new and growing trend is for the distributors of Information Technology to exclude the retailer and to market and sell their products direct to clients.
However, potential buyers are offered a range of IT products that are limited to the single brand name of the distributor.
This is according to thirty-one year old Jacques de Klerk, who has left his position of Managing Director of a large computer rental company to head up ATR (Advanced Technology Rentals). ATR is a newly established business unit within the AST Group.
AST (Advanced Software Technologies Limited) is an information technology software and services organisation. "AST's focus on the corporate market offers possibilities for all concerned," says an excited de Klerk.
"The trend today is for distributors to do direct sales, which of course they're only able to do so with their own products. This offers the client a limited range of IT possibilities," he declares.
"Our services are product and brand independent. After all, rather than choosing a product because of its brand name, clients today look at what functionality a particular product offers."
"Moreover, it surely makes good economic sense for large corporations not to own computer equipment. If a client rents the products, chosen from our extensive range, we buy back the residual and upgrade the product once the lifetime of the product is over."
De Klerk goes on to talk about the difficulty to manage the extensive fleet of IT assets within a company. "This," he says, "is because of the enormous scope of needs, as well as the rapid development of brands and products within the industry."
"Can you imagine the huge sigh of relief on the part of the IT and financial manager once he knows he can rely on an independent company which offers a one stop, total IT solution, at fixed monthly rates, " de Klerk says.
ATR is also able to access the extended services of the AST Group. With over 1000 IT professionals and best-of breed software, the Group offers comprehensive and integrated IT solutions to the corporate market.
"Our new unit within the AST group assesses the client's asset register, identifies his needs and then gives recommendations on products or brands. We also offer financing, on-site maintenance, asset management, upgrades and technical trade-up. In other words, a total pre- and after-sales support package."
According to de Klerk, ATR offers a number of different ways in which a client can rent equipment. "Packaged in five main products namely Techno-Outsource, Techno-Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze, we addresses all customer requirements from pure Rentals, Project rentals, Sale and Rent-back, ownership if required, technology rentals and the total outsource solution. But we don't stop there. We also offer the client the opportunity of choosing a combination of all the rental possibilities. We package total AST IT solutions payable in monthly premiums."
One person within ATR is then allocated to the client - and this person becomes the client's consultant. "It must surely be advantageous for the client to be able to contact one person and utilise all the skills and services within a powerful group such as AST," boasts de Klerk. ATR will be customer focussed and will build long term business relationships.
De Klerk calls himself 'very aggressive' and says he is excited about the new venture. According to him there are many growth opportunities within the group, with lots of challenging opportunities. "But then, I like challenges," he says.
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