Maclean rejects RFPs and tenders
Following a change of brand identity, the primarily Auckland-focused system integrator proudly boasted its tier 2, not tier 1, credentials when IT Brief caught up with CEO Chris Maclean and Marketing Manager Andrew Charlesworth this week.
They explained that a number of Maclean customers would be only small accounts to some of the larger integrators, but these customers appreciate the focus on infrastructure and not applications that the Maclean brand is known for.
Over the years the company has contributed to consolidation in the sector, with six acquisitions, most recently that of ATL. Both execs see the company as well positioned to capitalise on further consolidation in the sector including the recent Axon Integral merger followed by the heavily-rumoured Datacraft acquisition.
Interestingly because of the company’s unique approach, which it calls the “MTR - Maclean Technology Roadmap” the company doesn’t respond to public RFPs and tenders. Instead it prefers to work with customers to create an infrastructure audit using a combination of both vendor provided tools (Microsoft was mentioned) and years of experience.
This audit creates a three-year plan, which in turn can drill down to costs and timings for the customer's budgeting needs. Maclean insists that he doesn't want to be a piecemeal supplier of a tender that covers a very small part of an organisation's needs, but an infrastructure provider.
The integrator also seems to be ahead of the curve in coming to terms with the affect of cloud computing on its business model.
As Maclean most eloquently put it, the company is “sipping its own champagne”, having already adopted a number of cloud solutions including Salesforce.com.
While virtualisation is no longer a hot topic of conversation and its Green IT initiatives boil down to power savings, the cloud is fundamentally changing Maclean’s whole business approach.
Stay tuned for more from Maclean. If you haven't already, read our scoop on the integrator's new logo here.
