(Pictured above: Tech Data’s Marc McClure on stage at Channel Link 2018 in Austin, Texas, June 27.)

TECH DATA CHANNEL LINK — Tech Data Wednesday outlined its four key strategies for the year and provided an update on new opportunities afforded by its acquisition of Avnet Technology Solutions.

VARs, resellers, MSPs and other channel partners have joined 80 vendor partners for this week’s Tech Data Channel Link 2018 conference in Austin. Marc McClure, Tech Data’s senior vice president of U.S. commercial sales, told attendees his company’s No. 1 job is to “help enable your business and accelerate your growth.”

“It’s about enablement,” he said. “Historically, most VARs have looked at the transformation of their businesses to be either, ‘I have to buy or I have to build,’ and fundamentally what we’re trying to drive from a messaging perspective at Tech Data is that there’s a third option — and that’s borrow. So you can buy, build or borrow now. So considering these investments that we make, it’s all these capabilities and resources that you see around here, and leveraging that into their business. So they can accelerate the adoption and development of the practice without expending the capital that may be necessary to get it up off the ground on their own.”

Tech Data’s key strategies include: strengthening its end-to-end products and services; investing in next-generation technologies and delivery models; optimizing its global footprint; and transforming the company digitally.

Cloud, analytics, security, mobility and the Internet of Things (IoT) will be among big investment areas for Tech Data, McClure said.

“Everything we make an investment in is to help you grow your top line or reduce your costs,” he said. “Everything we’re going to talk about here can be consumed immediately and is designed to grow your business.”

The Avnet acquisition helped Tech Data expand its global footprint, providing new opportunities for OEMs, McClure said. Also, Tech Data gained a lot of understanding of various verticals, such as health care and its needs, he said.

“We are focused on educating our partners on these needs so you can go out there and drive these conversations,” he said.

Tech Data’s Linda Rendleman

Linda Rendleman, Tech Data’s senior vice president of product marketing and endpoint solutions, said the nature of the workplace is changing, including how and where work is being done. Companies are planning to spend at least as much – if not more – on IT this year, which makes it a “great time to be talking to your customers about client devices and solutions you can bring to them,” she said.

There are 50 million conference spaces, and less than 2 percent are set up for conferencing, she said. And if there is equipment, figuring out how it works consumes a lot of time, she said. Technology has rapidly advanced, and it’s now easy to operate and reasonably priced, she said.

“We now have the ability to set up conference rooms for maybe $5,000, a complete solution,” Rendlemen said.

Rapid subscription adoption shows people don’t necessarily want to own something for the life of it, she said. In December, Tech Data launched Tech-as-a-Service (TaaS), an offering that allows solution providers to …

… bundle hardware, software and services into a single monthly subscription.

Microsoft’s plan to end support for Windows 7 in January 2020 provides a massive U.S. device refresh opportunity for Tech Data and its partners, Rendlemen said. Tens of millions of SMB users are using devices that are more than four years old, so it’s a “great time to think about refresh” and boost subscriptions, she said.

Decision Tree is an Austin, Texas,-based VAR that primarily works with school districts. Brent Lawson, its vice president, said a lot of what his company is focusing on is networking.

“I’m hoping to find some new products that our customers might be interested in and to see what’s available out there solution-wise,” he said.

David Hoff, procurement manager at IronEdge Group, a Houston-based MSP, said Tech Data provided a good overview of increasing opportunities for partners. Tech Data provides a “great resource for us from just general purchases, but also for partnering with the different vendors,” he said.

“If we had to go to every single vendor who we deal with directly – which we do anyway – but if we only had the channel to do that, it would be really hard,” he said.