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7 11 17 Comments, suggestions? Tell us what you think! jillian.cahill@techdata.ca
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Executive Address Greetings from Greg Myers
Avaya Executive Partner Forum Taking the last step from volume to value
AIS Employee Spotlight Tech Times sits down with Alfredo DeBasa
TechSelect Member Profile We catch up with ISA
Branching Out with Tech Data We learn more about working in our Montreal office
Editor Jillian Cahill Art Direction and Design Julie MacAulay Contributing Writers and Editors Mary Bonnici, Irene Buchan, Jillian Cahill, Robert Dutt Project Manager Ralitsa Naydenova Tech Times is published and distributed six times per year to channel resellers across Canada. Š2014 Tech Data Canada Corporation. Prices, promotions, offers & terms and conditions of sale subject to change without notice. Errors and omissions excepted. All manufacturers’ names are registered trademarks of their respective corporations. This publication comes to you free from Tech Data Canada Corporation. We received your mailing address from your Tech Data customer account information. To make changes or to unsubscribe, please contact your Tech Data sales team at 800.668.5588 or notify us at emailcanada@techdata.ca. www.techtimesmagazine.ca
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ExecutiveAddress
You Asked. We delivered. In my new role of Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, I have the opportunity to speak to several of our solution providers and vendor partners on a regular basis. I consider this a great privilege as it provides unparalleled access and insight into the business of our incredibly valuable channel and IT eco-system. In my many discussions with our stakeholders, the two requests I hear most often are: •
I need help with marketing – heard from solution providers
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I need help getting my message through to the end user – heard from vendor partners
While those are both daunting requests, I’m delighted to tell you about a new Tech Data solution that answers both questions. TDEngage is an online syndication platform which is free to our solution provider partners. It ensures that your websites are kept up to date with the product and promotion information from leading IT vendor partners that end users demand for their business. The platform includes content management and an online media platform. Some of the key benefits of TDEngage include: •
Affordability: Keeps your website updated with relevant, dynamic content for free.
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Easy to use: Simply register, choose content and place the link on your website to automatically turn your site into a dynamic information source for end users, as well as a cost-effective lead source for you.
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Flexibility: Choose the vendors and product categories you want to feature. Content can be organized under a central tab or completely integrated with your existing site content.
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Comprehensive: Get the fresh content your customers want.
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Customer Experience: end user customers can simply click on the built-in vendor stores – filled with engaging marketing content, white papers, videos, complete product features and specifications, and more – or browse through the catalogue. Built-in filters make it easy to find what customers are looking for – quickly!
Over the coming weeks and months you’ll be hearing a lot from us about TDEngage. We’re excited about this new solution and are confident that you’re going to love it! To learn more about TDEngage, visit http://www.techdata.ca/content/cen/tdengage.aspx And as always, your Tech Data sales team can help you get more information on this fantastic tool as well. Don’t hesitate to ask! I look forward to seeing you all soon! Sincerely,
Greg Myers Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing
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HotSpots
Tiny but Powerful A revolution in ultra-compact device design, the new Intel® NUC packs more features into an even slimmer form factor. This fully scalable, computing solution is the smallest possible form factor, complete with the latest 4th generation Intel® Core™ processor. The Intel NUC provides a flexible, customizable engine to drive home theatre PCs, media centre PCs and intelligent computing for small spaces, or anywhere else you can imagine. The only thing more amazing than Intel® technology is what you can do with it. Now supporting 2.5” HDD/SSD. TD SKUs: 7822CE, 7823CE, 7824CE, 7825CE
Call your Tech Data sales representative today at 1-800-668-5588.
Better Performance, More Flexibility Power your breakthrough innovations with the highly parallel processing of the Intel® Xeon Phi™ coprocessor. We’ve packed up to a teraFLOPS of double precision peak performance into every chip—the highest parallel performance per watt of any Intel® Xeon® processor.1,2,3,4 Now you can think “reuse” rather than “recode” with x86 compatibility. Resellers buying a qualifying Intel® Xeon Phi™ Coprocessor can receive up to $1,000 off per unit through Tech Data Canada Corporation. Offer valid until March 29, 2014, while supplies last and subject to change without notice. No backorders allowed. TD SKUs: 3132CB, 3133CB, 3131CB, 3134CB, 3135CB, 3136CB
Call your Tech Data sales representative today at 1-800-668-5588.
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Taking the Last Step Avaya readies to finish its three-year partner program journey from volume to value
By Robert Dutt CANCUN, MEXICO – It’s a move three years in the making, but Avaya is getting ready to take the last step in the transition of its channel program from one primarily based on sales volume to one primarily based on value-add. At its Americas Executive Partner Forum here, the communications vendor signaled that it was going to change how partners reach “medal” status, the top three tiers of its program, Platinum, Gold, and Silver. Before, those tiers were largely gated by partner revenue. Under the new plan, partners will reach top tiers through achieving a number of the company’s new master specializations – three for platinum, two for gold, one for silver – as well as a reduced revenue requirement, and meeting specific customer satisfaction goals. “We have many partners who have very specialized skillsets in certain areas, and they couldn’t get to Platinum because of the huge volume commitment required. We want to recognize their value,” said Barat Dickman, senior director, of global channel programs, and go-to-market strategy at Avaya. Under the new scheme, Dickman said, partners will be able to reach the top tier through specializations and less revenue requirements, while large partners will still qualify because most of them tend to be broad in the areas they cover and are specialized against. Exactly when the switchover will occur is not entirely clear. The new master specializations will debut in June of next year, with networking, midmarket, unified communications and contact center as the first four specializations. Dickman suggested that from there, the company will give partners “at least nine months” to ready their organizations for the new 12
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Pierre-Paul Allard, new sales chief, outlines Avaya’s transition from hardware vendor to software and services company.
structure. At the same time, additional master specializations will be introduced. Dickman suggested he’d like to get about four more master specializations in the market by the end of next year, including one covering video and at least one covering cloud. With a larger number of available specializations, covering technologies, market sizes, and verticals, Dickman said it should be easy for even smaller partners to get move up the ranks. “Say I’m a midmarket partner focused on telephony. I’ve got midmarket, I can probably get networking as well, then I need to just find one more – say cloud or video – to make Platinum. The goal is for partners to be able to get to Platinum without having to have an enterprisefocused practice,” he said. The master specializations will also bring with them their own benefits. Partners holding a specialization will get additional discount on products in
that category, on top of their tier-level discounts. Converting the qualification system to a value-based model is the final step in a three-year journey for the vendor to turn its Avaya Connect channel program around. Over the last two years, the company has switched its benefits to be largely based on partner value-add as opposed to revenue levels, and Dickman said changing how the program is structured is “the last step of a ten-point plan. It’s probably 30 percent of the work, though.” Dickman said the new program may be launched by the beginning of Avaya’s fiscal 2015, which begins in October of next year, but that at this point, he can’t commit to a date for the changeover. “This is a totally new way for them to get medal status. We want to not move this faster than [our partners] can move,” he said. “We are not going to jolt the partners with this change.”
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New Canadian Channel Chief Takes Reins Miles Davis, the company’s director of independent channels for Canada, has taken over as Avaya’s new channel leader in Canada. And in a wide-ranging conversation with ChannelBuzz.ca at the company’s Americas Executive Partner Forum in Cancun, he outlined his priorities in his new role, which include making sure there’s enough capacity in the channel, and building greater capabilities amongst partners. Davis’ assencion comes amidst a restructuring of channel organizations at the vendor. As a result, Davis now reports directly in to worldwide channel chief Richard Steranka. “It means that Canada gets a seat at the table alongside the U.S., alongside EMEA, in terms of sharing ideas, best practices, concerns, and program details,” Davis said. Former channel chief Renzo Dipasquale hasn’t gone far. The communications vendor recently restructured its segmentation model, acknowledging the significant differences that exist in the needs of and go-to-market required for different sizes of customers. As part of that change, Dipasquale now heads up the company’s enterprise group. The other two divisions also have strong channel hooks, with former Nortel channel chief David Crook heading up the company’s commercial business, and Petrina Wong continuing to manage midmarket and SME. Throw in Canadian president Ross Pellizzari, formerly channel chief at Cisco Canada, and you’ve got leaders familiar to the Canadian channel community at all levels of sales. But it’s Dipasquale’s move, into a role that covers the company’s top 75 or so Canadian customers, that may have the most impact out of the change. At that level, the conversation is “often dominated” by Avaya Services, Davis said, and having the former channel chief heading up that business should help to open up more of the business with the company’s largest customers to its channel partners. The reorganization comes as there’s a surge of Canadian leadership at the vendor at all levels. It’s not lost on Davis (himself an Australian who came to
Canada while working for Nortel before it was purchased by Avaya) that his new boss, worldwide channel chief Steranka, is Toronto-born. New global sales chief Pierre-Paul Allard hails from Montreal. “I’m leveraging that to its full advantage,” Davis quipped. Davis moves into the channel chief role at a good time for Avaya. The company’s channel business is up to 85 percent of its revenues in Canada, and its strategy is to be “customer-focused, but channelcentric.” Although he said he thinks there will always be an element of direct support from Avaya where customers want or need it, there’s still room to grow the percentage of Avaya Canada’s business that goes through the channel.
“We have many partners who have very specialized skillsets in certain areas, and they couldn’t get to Platinum because of the huge volume commitment required. We want to recognize their value,” said Barat Dickman, senior director, of global channel programs, and go-to-market strategy at Avaya.
Capacity, Capability, Action In his new role, Davis said he’s focused on three things. Building capacity, building capability, and taking action. While building capacity does mean some degree of recruitment, it means a more thoughtful approach to recruitment than the company has taken in the past. Where the company has coverage gaps (by geography, by technology, or
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by vertical focus), it first tries to fill that gap from within the channel. If it can’t pull that off, then it’s time to find a new partner, using a framework called ROADS (Recruit, Onboard, Accredit, Develop, and Sustain) that gives Avaya a much more systematic approach to bring partners on board, and make sure they succeed after coming on board. “We often found ourselves in a situation where we were continually onboarding and offboarding partners who just weren’t gaining traction. With this framework, we’re finding our hit rate is much better,” Davis said. “We brought on 60 new partners last [fiscal] year across Canada, and the success rate of those new partners has been much higher than in previous years.” Building capability is all about crossselling, and getting more of the company’s partner base selling more of its critical lineups. There’s a growing effort across Avaya to get more of its partner base selling more of its product line – collaboration, contact center, video, and cloud. That same effort is going on internally, as it changes its own sales force from focus on technologies to focus on customer segments. Davis said Avaya is using the lessons learned from getting its own people selling across categories to make the process easier for the channel. It’s also introducing more incentives that reward attach rates, such as a program that provides margin boosts for sales of its core IP Office product into SME that also include networking and video products. Action includes simplifying things for the company’s partners. The biggest action on this front is the long awaited arrival of One Source in Canada and the U.S, slated for January 2014. Rolled out throughout Asia and EMEA last year, One Source is the company’s effort to finally get one integrated price book, and is also a platform on which the company will build its business processes with partners. It’s a big job, and it means changes in the company’s discounting structure that distributors will need to incorporate, but Davis sees it as significant progress. “It’s expensive and difficult to smash two 100-year-old companies together [Avaya and Nortel] and expect there to be instant change,” Davis said.
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AIS Spotlight In this issue of Tech Times, we sit down with Alfredo Debasa, HP Technical Support Specialist at Tech Data Canada, to find out how his expertise helps our reseller partners succeed. Q: How long have you been with Tech Data? I have been with Tech Data for almost one year.
“It is very rewarding when you realize how many customers rely on your expertise to succeed in their businesses.”
Q: What is your technical background? What technical certifications do you hold? I graduated as Electronic Engineer in 1991 at the Central University of Las Villas, Santa Clara, Cuba and have been working in the Networking Field since 1994. My areas of expertise are switching, routing, computer hardware, Microsoft Windows and servers OS. I currently hold some certifications from Cisco, Microsoft and HP including: CCNP - Cisco Certified Network Professional CCNA - Cisco Certified Network Associate MCITP - Microsoft Certified IT Professional MCSA - Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate MCTS - Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist MCP - Microsoft Certified Professional HP AIS Network Infrastructure Q: What do you like most about Tech Data? The people. It’s obvious that support, kindness and respect are a rule of thumb at Tech Data. My teammates have been very supportive of me since my very first day here. You can really feel the team spirit. Everyone focuses on how to better serve our reseller partners. I am more than grateful to be part of this company. Q: Describe a typical day for you: Our team is in charge of configuring HP Servers, Storage and Networking. Although every day is not the same, you develop certain routines that help you start your day. I arrive to the office around 9:00 am every day. I greet all of my colleagues and then I start working. First thing I do after logging into the computer is to check my e-mails and reply to them as needed. From then on, our top priority is dealing with customer requests. Their complexities vary considerably. The approaches used to solve them are different and as a team we support each other to give our customers the best solution. We also find some time during the day to work in our ATSC in order to master the technologies that are there and to prepare the presentations to be shown to our reseller partners. Q: What do you like the most about your job? This job gives you the opportunity to help people and to learn new things on a daily basis. It is very rewarding when you realize how many customers rely on your expertise to succeed in their businesses. Q: What motivates you in your job? This job is very demanding and it brings new challenges every day. For that reason, you must give your 100% to succeed. I love the fact that Tech Data encourages their professionals to get certifications. That is an excellent way to keep you up to date with the latest technologies. I attained the HP AIS Network Infrastructure Certification a few months ago and I am just one exam away from achieving the HP ASE Network Infrastructure. It is really exciting to work with the state-of-the-art Technology that we have in our ATSC. It provides you with hands-on experience to be able to provide the best solutions to meet our customer requests. The ATSC is where theory and practice come together. Q: Anything else you think we should know about you? Teaching is one of the things I love the most. I am a big fan of tennis, and 60’s and 70’s classic rock.
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TechSelect Member Profile In this issue of Tech Times we learn how TechSelect membership is helping ISA, of Toronto, Ontario grow their business.
Tell us a little about your organization: Founded in 1992, ISA is a Toronto based company with offices covering Eastern Canada. We deliver support services to our customers from coast to coast through two remote support offices. We deliver enterprise-strength technology to small, medium, and large organizations ensuring that our customers’ networks are secure, that they perform optimally, and that their total cost of ownership is minimized. At ISA, we focus exclusively on internet security. Our solution portfolio consists of world-class products developed by the industry’s top vendors. Our solutions help customers protect their critical assets by bringing together highly skilled people who focus on solving security challenges which are increasingly complex. We are committed to help our customers reduce their total cost of ownership in technology through innovation, education, and consulting services. Our Professional Services team ensures that our customers are provided with advice, education, guidance, and mentoring in the design, development, implementation, support and ongoing management of their technology environments. What are your thoughts on the industry in general? The volume and complexity of threats is ever increasing and the rapid rate of change requires customers to obtain quality education and advice to ensure that their security goals are being addressed on an ongoing basis. In addition, customers are looking for new and innovative approaches that allow them to maximize protection while minimizing capital and operational expenditures. What challenges are you facing and how do you overcome them? Because the industry is changing so
From left to right; Rick Uhrich, President, Val Serebryanny, Vice President, Technology Solutions, Kevin Dawson, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Bryan Pollitt, Vice President, Professional Services
quickly it is critical that our staff be highly trained on an ongoing basis to ensure that our customers continue to receive the levels of advice and service that they have been accustomed to. This means that we cannot be experts in every technology on the planet. We must select our partners and engage in the skills development that allow us to meet our goals and most importantly the goals of our customers. What would you like to see from vendor partners? Far too often that loyalty is a one way street and that is when the vendor/ reseller relationship begins to break down. Both resellers and vendors need to continuously measure how each is doing in an effort to help the other. We operate with many of our vendors on the notion of each party to bring 1/3 of the opportunities to the table and we find 1/3 together. Vendors also need to continue to come out with ways to reward their reseller partners for hard work on their behalf, whether that is finding deals or helping to close deals, since a lot of work can go into either step. What are your organization’s goals for the next five years? • It is important that we continue to grow our services team to allow
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us to provide quality services in an ever changing world. In the end, it’s the people that make the difference. •
Increasingly our customers are asking us to manage portions of their security environment. We have experienced growth in this area and it will continue to be our focus.
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Geographical expansion is important to ISA as we are currently serving a large number of clients remotely.
How has the TechSelect program helped you? Or helped you meet your organization’s goals? In addition to the knowledge gained from vendor education and other business education sessions, the sharing of business experiences and practices with other TechSelect members is what we find to be very rewarding. Many of the ideas that arise lead to improvements in the operations of ISA. What is your outlook for 2014? 2013 started slow for us but finished very strong. Our opportunity funnel is strong going into 2014 so we are optimistic that the momentum from late 2013 will continue.
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branchingout In this edition of Tech Times, we sat down with Josef Ares, Account Manager with Tech Data Canada to hear more about life in the Montreal office. Q; How long have you been with Tech Data? I have been working for Tech Data Canada in the Montreal sales for 14 years now. I remember the date because a couple of months following, two companies merged (Tech Data and Globelle) to form a large presence from coast to coast. After leaving my previous company where I had worked for two years, I was surprised and confused about my future with Tech Data since merging companies usually face a complex task with lots of changes. I am happy to say, after 14 years of working hard and learning the ropes, I am glad to be part of the Tech Data family.
“I’m an IT sales guy, with a lot of things I like most about my job; I work for a great company, with a great group of salespeople and a great internal team.”
What do you like most about Tech Data? One thing that I very much like and enjoy is the fast pace of the IT world which is fascinating and very educational. At Tech Data, I enjoy the challenge and that is never repetitive. I love my job and the sense of achievement from continuous learning, sharing and opportunities available to enhance my skills and contributions. At Tech Data, the leadership and colleagues are nice and easy going. We talk cheerfully during break time and even hang out together. Our manager is serious, considerate, really professional and friendly. I’ll stay here for as long as I can and dedicate myself to it. Describe a typical day for you in our Montreal office: I’m usually in my office around 9:30am. I start by checking email and daily sales numbers to motivate me for the rest of the day. I focus on getting back to clients first and opportunities after that. Throughout the day, I’m answering important emails, taking some phone calls, working on deals, following up on opportunities, etc. I make sure all orders are placed by the 6:00pm cut off time. What do you like the most about your job? It’s all about sales. I’m an IT sales guy, with a lot of things I like most about my job; I work for a great company, with a great group of salespeople and a great internal team. I also made lifelong friends here. For day-to-day specifics, I love the empowerment, the decision making and autonomy I am granted in order to get my job done… and that is to get the business. I enjoy being given the daily task of determining what product a reseller is asking about, figuring it out, getting it approved them, and closing the deal. I enjoy having all those balls in the air and at the end of the day or week, that feeling of “AH HA, I did it!” I also really enjoy explaining technical stuff to non-technical people, when they want to learn. I love the way people’s voices light up when they ‘get it’ and realize that this techie stuff really isn’t that hard to understand after all. What challenges you in your job? I am constantly faced with dealing with different types of customers and making sure I respond to each one as required. My biggest challenge as Sales Account Manager has been in completing all my tasks. I have found that by forming as many good relationships as possible throughout the company, I can usually call someone who will either be able to help me, have information that I need or can direct me to someone who can assist in some way. This usually saves valuable time. So much of your success in business is about the relationships you form. What has been your most memorable moment since joining Tech Data? I do have many memorable moments at Tech Data, but my first memorable moment was back when I started in September 1999, fresh from on the job training of less than a week and during that time promos were plentiful. Our team nabbed the coveted 3COM promo (we sold lots of Palms back then) that consisted of a trip for two to the Super Bowl! Off we went to Atlanta in February of 2000 to see the Rams take on the Titans. When my name was drawn, I ran around the office screaming, “I’m going to the Super Bowl !“ Anything else you think we should know about life at Tech Data in Montreal? What happens in Montreal… stays in Montreal!
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