Seeing a gap in the services offered by IT distributors, Tony Gea Gea decided to fill it; with 24/7 Distribution. Now 24/7 Distribution has become the leading services-based distributor of unified communication solutions with offices in every state in Australia, India, New Zealand and Fiji.
Tony Gea Gea saw that an IT distributor could play more of a service-based role within the marketplace and really take away from the reseller or retailer’s services. “Customers are demanding so much more education, energy and attention to their business. Mapping the technology to their businesses is what these distributors weren’t stepping up to,” says Gea Gea.
Helping the channel partners to sell the technology, educating them on the product, presenting the product, generating leads through to delivery and support are some of the additional services offered by 24/7 Distribution. “This gives the channel partners as well as the end users the comfort that we can support the applications and the products.”
DB: What risks did you have to take?
TG: One of the biggest risks was being a new model and the cash involved in setting that up. You have to make the investment in people, infrastructure, utilities and facilities, which is a huge risk.
DB: What do you enjoy most about being an entrepreneur?
TG: The autonomy to be able to do whatever I feel is right and execute on it. Creating something from scratch and taking it from dream, or concept to reality is what I find quite inspiring.
DB: What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
TG: Stick at it, stay focused and don’t be derailed by the different things that come up throughout the course of your strategy or vision. It is important that you keep to the game you’re good at. The strategy or vision may alter along the way, but as long as the end game is the same, then that’s the trick.
