Awards
Cirrus Australia placed 6th in CRN's inaugral Fast50
Cirrus Australia was awarded sixth place in CRN’s inaugural Fast50, a competition which ranks Australia’s top fifty IT resellers in terms of net sales revenue growth from financial years 2007-2008 to 2008-2009. The award capped off our best year on record: 2009 - a year in which revenue grew by 156%, our Sydney office was significantly expanded and we achieved IBM Premier Business Partner status (the highest level). This means a bigger, stronger team to deliver even better service to our customers.
Cirrus Australia rated among top Australian IT resellers
08 December 2009
Cirrus Australia has just been awarded sixth place in CRN’s inaugural Fast50, a competition which ranks Australia’s top fifty IT resellers in terms of net sales revenue growth from financial years 2007-2008 to 2008-2009. The award capped off a year for the IBM software reseller in which revenue grew by 156%, the Sydney office was significantly expanded and the company achieved IBM Premier Business Partner status.
The awards were presented at a dinner at Sydney’s Foveaux restaurant on 4 December and form the cover issue of December’s CRN magazine. Darren Phillips, CEO, Cirrus Australia was among the top 10 resellers who accepted their awards among industry colleagues including vendor and distributor sponsors.
The year has been the best for Cirrus Australia on record – despite being played out against a global financial crisis. Far from being compromised by the difficult market conditions, Darren Phillips, CEO, believes the GFC actually contributed to the company’s significant growth.
“Pre GFC, customers may have selected reseller based on a long term relationship. Customers now are clearly more savvy with their IT spend and need to see the value add. That’s where investment in top technical staff, experience and an ability to deliver solutions across all five IBM software brands has clearly given us an advantage in this market. I do believe the GFC has given us added traction,” he said.
Another factor of the company’s success has been the significant changes to the way IBM is now going to market with its partners.
“In September, IBM finalised what has been a four year program to change its model of going to market with partners. IBM has recognised that its software is not a commodity. It really is complex software, and in order to deliver a successful implementation, you need the skills set to go with it. Commodity type vendors – those who aren’t certified, can no longer sell and implement IBM software.
“Without the capability to support the implementation and ongoing support of an IBM software solution, the software footprint of some vendor’s accounts was not growing particularly fast. This change implemented by IBM has been a huge factor in our success as we are certified in all five IBM software brands. We have picked up a large number of new accounts from this,” said Darren.
Darren also attributes Cirrus Australia’s success to the focus on quality of life for staff, customers and stakeholders that is fostered in the company.
“The whole idea of using quality of life to measure outcomes has been absolutely fantastic. This is our mission statement and rather than merely paying lip service to it, it really forms the base culture of the organisation. I have a company full of incredibly bright people who are motivated to improve the quality of life for their customers. The team specialises in IBM software implementation and providing a solution that works for their customers is what drives them. When this culture pervades the organisation, you end up with staff on top of their game. What we have is a very motivated and technically proficient offering,” said Darren.
Growth has been predicted to double again for the FY10 year and Darren is now focusing on expanding into Melbourne to meet demand from customers in Victoria.
Darren Phillips with Sholto Macpherson, Editor, CRN at the Fast50 awards
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A testament to its founder’s belief in aligning a business with its customers.
Cirrus Australia is Darren Phillips' sixth successful IT company, but it is the first he has built in Australia after immigrating 10 years ago.
"All I've done is build businesses," he says, mostly in the US until he decided to improve his quality of life and move Down Under. "It's very easy to build an organisation that is profitable in the US but you may not necessarily be happy doing that," he says.
The past financial year was Cirrus' "best year on record", he says. The IBM Premier Business Partner doubled revenue.
Phillips attributes success to a formula of "sticking to quality".
"The organisation was built on quality delivery, so [during the downturn] it was really continuing on the path that was working. This whole idea of using quality-of-life to measure outcomes has been absolutely fantastic," he says.
Phillips desires quality-of-life for staff and customers and he achieves it by recognising what motivates staff and what motivates customers; he then aligns the business.
"Technical people aren't motivated by the financials, they're motivated by really getting an outcome; a technical person's quality-of-life is about a piece of code - to them, that's poetry. When [staff] are aligned with the customer's quality-of-life, they go to the extreme to make sure it works because that's how they feel great when they go home at the end of the day."
Other factors have contributed to Cirrus' year-on-year growth. Part of it was IBM's push towards partners that were qualified and certified, such as Cirrus. The other was Cirrus' ability to partner strongly.
Darren Phillips predicts a healthy future for Cirrus and says growth was always part of the plan.
