Building ‘one Amber Technology’
Change is afoot at one of Australia’s largest distribution companies. Amber Technology’s COO Robert Glasson and national sales manager Jamie Lewis speak to Paul Skelton about the importance of changing for the better.
Every so often, a company needs to look at the way it does business, to see if it can become more efficient and effective in the way it goes to market. In recent months, distribution outfit Amber Technology has done just that – picking up new agencies and streamlining its business model.
This, of course, has led to much talk in the industry about the fate of the company. Much of which is unfounded and pure speculation.
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I sat down with Amber’s COO Robert Glasson and national sales manager Jamie Lewis, to find out exactly what is happening with one of Australia’s oldest distributors.
Paul Skelton (PS): Amber is changing. Exactly what will the company’s new structure will be, and how it’s set to benefit your dealers?
Robert Glasson (RG): Essentially, the change is the consolidation of multiple internal product divisions into a more streamlined, customer-focused team with common goals. By ‘removing the partitions’ from the old structure, we should be in the position to continue to improve the quality of our interactions with our dealers. We want to make sure we are listening to and understanding our dealers and their businesses; and we want to ensure that we can offer the best solutions available from the portfolio of world class brands that we represent.
PS: This has been quite an extensive process. Why did you decide to make these changes?
RG: We are always looking at ways to improve our business. We identified that we had outgrown some of our internal structures and this meant we were not addressing the market in the most efficient way.
Jamie Lewis (JL): A consistent approach to business is essential for long term sustainability. With this in mind, the new structure is an evolution of the very successful model that we implemented for the CI division three years ago. This structure facilitates a “level playground” for all our dealers, irrespective of their size. Unilateral pricing is a key attribute in this model but it still allows us to reward those customers who support us the most. The net result of this has been significant growth of key brands such as Sonance, AudioQuest, Accent cabling and Integra to name but a few. We believe these new changes will allow us to refine our approach to brand management while improving our strong account management focus.
RG: We realised that untapped opportunities for our existing brands lay in other areas of the industry. In many cases, commercial customers and CI customers have similar requirements but were being serviced by different divisions. This sometimes made accessing certain products and information more difficult. With the new structure, we are far better equipped to share access to products and resources across a much wider dealer network. The aim of course is to propagate growth of our brands into new markets.
PS: Part of the restructure has seen Amber pick up new agencies, including Electro-Voice (EV) and Dynacord. What will these products add to Amber’s product set that was previously missing?
RG: These brands are highly regarded and well known. They offer a wide range of solutions to fill our customer’s needs. The range encompasses solutions scaling from ceiling- and wall-mounted systems to larger systems for theatres and stadiums. This allows our customers to diversify into other types of audio installations they may not be currently pursuing.
PS: What features of the EV and Dynacord products will be of particular interest to integrators?
JL: The EVID range of ceiling- and wall-mounted speaker systems are very popular due to their extended frequency response – they are generally available with an integrated transformer for 70V, 100V or 8Ω use. The accompanying amplifiers are branded Dynacord and these systems have applications where sonically-superior and aesthetically-pleasing performance is a requirement.
PS: Amber has also picked up the agency for Structured Cable Products (SCP). Why did Amber pursue SCP? What makes it different from other cable suppliers?
JL: SCP focuses on international markets, not just the US and with a high quality, diverse range of bulk cable solutions it was an easy decision to make. SCP manufactures a brilliant gel-filled direct burial speaker cable which we use in conjunction with the Sonance SLS and Sonarray landscape speaker systems. SCP worked in conjunction with the HDBaseT Alliance to establish cable standards for HDBaseT and was the first cable maker to receive certification from the Alliance. Even its pull boxes are designed with the integrator in mind – tangle free, low friction and impact resistant packaging are important factors when it comes to ease of installation.
PS: Are you expecting cable to be a big mover, or is it more to complete your product set (i.e. creating a ‘one-stop shop’)?
JL: Where possible, the ‘one-stop shop’ philosophy serves us and our dealers well. The entry level cable market for Cat 5/HDMI/speaker cable is more than adequately catered for so rather than opting for a low cost, high volume line in an already saturated market, SCP provides a quality level above this to complement our ranges from Canare, Neutrik, AudioQuest and Accent.
PS: What’s the next step for Amber, to ensure it remains viable into the future?
RG: The philosophy we continue to pursue is one of ‘source, supply, support’. We continue to look for new technology and for opportunities in new markets for our products. As you know, we are in the process of launching Leon and Media Décor into the Australian market. These products embrace the true philosophy of custom. Rather than offering off-the-shelf, one size fits all solutions, we want to provide bespoke, true custom solutions to our market. Our emphasis on working with and supporting our dealers will continue to underpin this philosophy.
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