Target News

Target Components Celebrates 25th Anniversary with Open Day & Launch of New PC Build Services

On the 29^th September 2023, Target Components hosted its annual Open Day showcasing the latest advancements in the tech industry and fostering valuable connections within the community. The Target Open Day featured 100s of businesses, 40 exhibitors, 33 workshops and over 300 attendees, along with a specially curated anniversary event sponsored by Kingston Technology, celebrating Target’s 25 years in distribution and first anniversary as an employee-owned business.

One of the main highlights of the event was the official unveiling of Target’s system build department, Target PC Build Services. This initiative amalgamates the distributor's PC configurators, including "The Custom PC Builder," its end-user interface known as "The In-Store PC Builder," and "The Quick PC Builder." Additionally, Target PC Build Services introduces an array of off-the-shelf PC builds and offers OEM services. This expansion positions Target to better support customers participating in tenders, bids, and government frameworks.

The Target PC Build Services stand at the Open Day took centre stage, welcoming several key vendors who collaborated with Target to develop their build services. These vendors, including Gigabyte, Antec, and Kingston Technology, are officially recognised partners of Target PC Build Services. Attendees at the event represented a wide spectrum of the tech industry, from independent IT resellers and consultants to large e-tailers and government bodies.

Cory Lees, the lead for the Target PC Build Services, shared insights into the department’s mission. He emphasised that the entire initiative is customer-driven, ““The whole department is led by our customers’ requirements - the Custom PC Builder was where we started as it gives all our customers the opportunity to design and sell system-specific builds really easily, but our retail customers wanted the same capabilities in a customer-facing interface, so we designed the In-Store PC Builder that allows customers use their own branding and markups.”.

“Both were so well-received but our feedback showed that a lot of those customers needed a generic, basic spec with the option to upgrade the memory, storage and operating system to a specific cost, which is exactly what the Quick PC Builder was subsequently designed to do. And since then we’ve been asked for help with customers bidding on public sector frameworks, and other projects that have required more understanding of financial and sustainability implications, both of which are hot topics across the board now.”

“The Open Day effectively showcased how Target can now address a broad range of customer requirements, irrespective of their business size.”

The Target Open Day additionally welcomed 15 non-vendor exhibitors who shared their business expertise – from the Bank of England discussing the economic outlook, to leasing companies offering insight into funding access, and personal development professionals providing advice on business enhancement.

Michael Lawrence, the Managing Director of Target Components, explained how the Open Day was a cap on a very exciting week for the distributor, “Within a week, we have won Company of the Year at the PCR awards, something we really weren’t expecting but were absolutely overjoyed at, and hosted what we think was our best event yet.”

Lawrence lauded the contributions of vendors, exhibitors, workshop presenters, venue staff at the Village Hotel, and the Target and Servers Plus staff who collectively went above and beyond to make the event a resounding success. "It's been a very pride-driven few days for me, and I have been so impressed by everyone involved," he remarked.