Arrow ECS launches Professional Services Business Unit 7 March, 2010 By Mark Cox

PromoPipeline Exclusive Channel Promotions Find Out How You Can Make Money Today! ENROLL FREE! >> Factory Direct Should Not be Cheaper William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels Cloud Ecosystem II: A Candid Conversation with Oracle Beth Vanni - Amazon Consulting Cloud Ecosystem: A Candid Conversation with Rackspace Hosting Beth Vanni - Amazon Consulting Channel Manager Compensation William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels Financial Expertise William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels

"This is a formalization of what we have been doing informally up to now," said Joe Burke, vice president of worldwide services for Arrow ECS, who has been charged with leading the new business unit. "We've been doing this informally for a number of years, and have a number of very good people in our practice - professional services consultants, engineers, technicians and instructors. We are looking forward to growing this business as managed services and other services become a greater part of our resellers' business going forward."

Burke said that two likely scenarios exist when partners would call on Arrow to provide professional services. One is augmenting and supplementing the regular services provided by the resellers when their resources are stretched, as well as assisting in training. Arrow has had this kind of relationship with CDW for the last several years

"CDW works with Arrow ECS' professional services to better support our customer base," said Tom DeCoster, vice president, service solutions at CDW. "Arrow ECS' capabilities give us the opportunity to offer technical training for engineers to help keep them current on important new product offerings. Additionally, Arrow ECS has provided consulting services for a range of technologies. Our relationship with Arrow has allowed CDW to more effectively pursue sales opportunities."

The second element is providing professional services on behalf of resellers who do not yet have the capacity to perform them, but who want to offer them to their own customers.

"For example, the reseller can sell support packs, but we own the problem and do the support, with this being invisible to the customer," Burke said. Or if the reseller wants to do a security assessment, but isn't able to do it, we can do it for them under their name or under ours. And if they have that ability, they can use our services at peak times when they need assistance."