Dicker Data Access and Surveillance unit comes to fruition

Vlad Mitnovetski

Following its acquisition of the Hills Security and IT division for $19.35 million, Dicker Data has officially launched its Access and Surveillance (DAS) unit in Australia.

The unit will be headed up by Chris Price as general manager - DAS. Price re-joined the company in January and was previously the commercial director for the distributor between 2006 and 2014, and also worked at HP and Brennan IT.

“The company is now well-positioned to capitalise on the access and surveillance market and I’m confident that we have the right people in place to deliver the required outcome,” Dicker Data chairman and CEO, David Dicker said.  

Price will be taking charge of more than 100 staff and novate 50 vendor contracts. The DAS unit will feature a dedicated team of sales, technical and product professionals and will also leverage Dicker Data’s marketing, finance, operations and logistics teams.

The division boasts nine DAS specific trade centre locations around Australia, creating a dedicated network of pick-up and trade-only shopfronts to support thousands of existing DAS customers. 

Additional investments are being made to create a more compelling in-store experience that resonates with more customers and to prepare the branch network to scale up significantly. 

Dicker Data plans to rapidly scale the DAS business by introducing its extensive network of existing partners to the new DAS solutions which will in turn create additional revenue streams for their businesses, the distributor said.

“By acknowledging the unique dynamics of the security industry, which are different to the traditional IT distribution business, we are leveraging the historical success of the Hills division we’ve acquired and positioning DAS as the preferred distribution destination for access, surveillance products and solutions,” Dicker Data executive director and COO Vlad Mitnovetski said. 

“The DAS business is another example of how Dicker Data continues to capitalise on our market leadership and recognises the convergence of the IT channel and security market. Pairing DAS with the company’s existing strengths, creates a compelling value proposition for both the access and surveillance industry and our existing base of over 6,200 active partners in Australia.”

At the time of the acquisition in February, Hills boasted it operates as the largest distributor of physical security products in Australia, with the SIT division generating $123.2 million revenue in FY21, with $98.7 million of the total attributed to security and the remaining $24.4 million to IT products.