Special Computer Centres Ltd, supplier of personal computers to corporate users, headquartered in Birmingham, has been appointed 1989 IBM National Dealer of the Year out of 500 companies, the second time SCC has won the award in the last three years. Peter Rigby, sole owner, believes that part of its success has been the quality service and commitment and support to his customers. The success is also attributed to SCC’s focus on large corporate users, which have now widely adopted personal computers as workstations, using them in networks for applications such as database management and so removing the task from the corporate database. This distributes user requirements more effectively, achieving better productivity and price-performance. Clients include banks, local and central government and Times Top 1,000 companies. Another major contribution is SCC’s skills in interconnection. The majority of companies that entered the microcomputer market had no previous computing experience and did not realise the importance of this, it reckons. SCC is geared up to advise on the personal computer strategy of large organisations, it is also involved in training, engineering, consultancy and support. There are 11 branches, stategically distributed throughout the UK for easy client access. Four of the branches are now IBM System Centres. Its distribution centre is based in the Midlands where just invested UKP1m to build an automated warehouse at its Birmingham base. Last year 30,000 personal computers passed through the outlet, and including peripherals the number of products rises to 100,000. SCC aims to be effective as a distribution company and tries to work to an order-to-desk time of five days. The headquarters in Birmingham is part of a complex which includes a Connectivity Centre which demonstrates connected personal computers, PS/2s, 6150, AS/400 and IBM System 370 products and architectures as well as connecting those to other manufacturers’ machines. SCC is a private company formed in 1975 by chairman Peter Rigby using profits from his consultancy and recruitment business, Special Computer Recruitment. The company entered the personal computer market in 1983 with a dealership from IBM. The company has been profitable for a number of years; turnover last year was UKP47m and the company looks for UKP73m for the year to March 1990, keeping up the 40% to 50% growth rate over the past four years. SCC aims to work to net margins of 7.5% before tax and all profits have been reinvested to develop the business. Rigby has no wish to accept any institutional finance or float the company on the stock market. He feels that if the Stock Exchange had a better conception of computer businesses and was not so volatile that flotation would be a possibility – but his aim is not to build up a massive company and then sell out. SCC believes in consulting the experts, and spent UKP100,000 calling in Deloitte Haskins & Sells, now Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte, to evolve a five-year business development plan; market research was carried out and the consultants established where SCC wanted to be in five years and what type of business it wanted be. The company’s strategy is to be dynamic, forming long term strategic relations with clients and paying attention to their needs. It believes the dealership business is polarising. On the one side the smaller companies that deal in niche vertical markets then the other with four or five very large organisations. Eventually medium-sized companies in the middle will find themselves with nowhere to go – and naturally SCC sees itself among the bigger companies. There are 450 employees including eight exective directors and about 40 middle managers with technical staff making up 80% of the total.
