Scan Magazine | Special Theme | A Spotlight on Greenland
Photo: Jukku Kielsen
Local commitment, local strength When distances and travel times are as long as they are in Greenland, flexible and reliable IT solutions are absolutely essential. This is one of the reasons why Comby A/S, a local provider of IT solutions and services, has made reliability and honesty its trademark. Scan Magazine talks to founder Brian Torp about the specific challenges for Greenland’s IT industry, and how his company works to solve them. By Signe Hansen | Photos: Comby A/S
Founded on a vision of providing clients with better, faster, and more reliable IT services, Nuuk-based Comby A/S has grown rapidly since its beginning in 2000. Today, founder Brian Torp has 22 colleagues, including co-owner Michael Collin. This is despite the fact that, when Torp set out, he had no business plan other than a desire to do things better. “The thought was to create a business that had service at its core and with which we could build long-lasting client relationships. That was the founding idea, and then things just took off really quickly,” explains Torp. “One of our clients is the Municipality of Sermersooq, which expands from the east to the west 66 | Issue 115 | August 2018
coast of Greenland — an area the same size as France — and that means that we have to sail or fly to get to a site. Some of the most remote villages can take us two weeks to get to! That’s why we have to be one 100 per cent sure that when we provide a solution, it is reliable and can be serviced and manned remotely. Of course, that’s a focus for companies across the world, but here it’s based on extreme necessity.” Torp’s experience and new approach to service quickly gained him major clients and, just a year after starting, his business, which at that time was just himself and a part-time employee, had a turno-
ver of about 14 million DKK (around 1.67 million GBP).
Expanding and planning ahead In 2001, Comby A/S merged with A-team Greenland, a local division of a large Danish provider of consultancy services and training. With the merger, the company gained nine new employees giving Torp and Collin, Torp’s new co-owner from the A-team, a bit of time and space to look at the company’s strengths and future prospects. “Up until then, we hadn’t had the time — we’d been too focused on delivering what we promised our clients,” Torp explains. “After the merger, however, we sat down and created a full strategy and business plan. What was important to us was that all the products and services we offered were things about which we could offer expert service and knowledge.” This, amongst other things, led to a decrease in the selection of hardware prod-