Darren Gore (Calibre One)
The 'ARN Spotlight' series explores partners operating in the local channel landscape right around the country, from Cape York to Hobart, Byron Bay to Fremantle and beyond. In this edition, we focus on Calibre One and its operations in the Northern Territory.
Merging businesses can bring the best of both worlds to the table and Calibre One has proven to be a shining example of this.
Despite the original Calibre One opening its doors in 2006 after evolving from an association between GSoft and Marble IT, the current Calibre One came from a 2016 merger with Telstra dealer Nexus Tel.
The current CEO of Calibre One, Darren Gore, represents both halves of the provider's latest page in its history book. Originally coming from the dealer, Gore facilitated the merger between it and the older Calibre One, combining its presence in Northern Territory with Calibre One’s place in the South Australian market.
After the merger, which took place over a 12-month period, Gore was brought on as the provider’s CFO. When its former CEO Steve Wemyss retired, the provider’s board offered Gore the role in July, which is where he remains today.
With the provider split between the two locations, South Australia was decided to be the headquarters for three reasons — resources were easier to find in South Australia than Northern Territory, the majority of Calibre One’s team was based in South Australia before the merger and, at the time, it was more cost effective to have a smaller footprint in the Top End.
Today, the majority of the provider's workforce is still based in South Australia at around 45 staff members, while the Northern Territory operation, which is labelled by Gore as a branch, has a headcount of about 10.
Yet despite its “branch” status, it still managed to pull in $5 million in revenue during FY2019-20 — approximately half of the provider's revenue during that financial year.
“Our Northern Territory business has actually performed really well, even throughout the entire COVID [period],” Gore said to ARN.
“The Northern Territory just really continues to be a star performer.”
Read more on the next page...
