APCD diversifies with Phoenix Toner hires

End-of-life and refurbished hardware distributor, APCD, has been appointed a spare parts provider for HP. The deal is part of broader plans to diversify into new equipment and solutions opportunities.

APCD business development manger, Don Bentley, said the company was awarded HP spare parts distribution status in December and will sit alongside existing provider, EMPR Australia.

Bentley was recruited to APCD following the demise of his former distribution employer, Phoenix Toner, in October last year.

APCD has committed to $150,000 worth of spare parts stock initially and expects its first shipment by mid-January. To run the new business, it hired Phoenix former spare parts manager, Jeff Harper, and recruited several ex-Phoenix warehouse staff. It has also created a new division, Australian IT Spares, along with a dedicated website.

According to Bentley, APCD’s longer-term plan is to diversify into supplies and printing consumables. The distributor has a 9000sqm warehouse facility in Granville, along with premises in Canberra and Melbourne.

“The aim is to try and develop other areas of business we have not traditionally been strong in,” Bentley said. “We want to leverage existing relationships to move into other channels of business.

“My charge is to move into HP spare parts then develop a supplies business.”

Bentley claimed APCD had 4000-odd resellers on its database traditionally sourcing refurbished or new printers and PC hardware. Many of its dealers are in regional Australia.

“We have an opportunity to introduce supplies to those dealers – it’s the one-stop-shop philosophy. We’ll start with printing consumables, but that’s just the thin edge of the wedge,” Bentley said. “We want to develop these opportunities in terms of customer need.”

Managed print solutions, an area Bentley helped Phoenix expand into, was also on the cards.

“We are going to promote that [managed print services] into our corporate marketplace,” he said. “A big part of what we do is asset management for customers, so it’s a logical step into print management solutions.” APCD’s enterprise customer base includes British American Tobacco, NAB and Qantas.

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