Tech Data kicks off Business Builder tour 1 June, 2009 By Mark Cox

PromoPipeline Exclusive Channel Promotions Find Out How You Can Make Money Today! ENROLL FREE! >> SaaS Trumps Social Media Mike Dubrall - Gilwell Group How to Evaluate Training William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels Please join me at the Vendor Channel Management Summit in San Francisco Robert M. Cohen - Integrated mar.com Discount or Payment for Services? William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels Goal Setting William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels

Toronto was the first city on the tour this year (replacing Ottawa, which led last year, but whose show this year has been moved back to the late fall to coincide with the start of the federal government buying season). Montreal and Quebec City in June are next, then Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver in the fall. The Toronto event was held Thursday at the Paramount Conference and Event Venue in Woodbridge, one of the constellation of smaller towns just north of Toronto's official city limits.

The weak economy had some impact on the show, but not as much as might have been expected. Close to 40 vendors were at the Toronto show, almost the same as last year, with new arrivals VMware and Fortinet being highlighted in Tech Data's marketing.

"We still have a significant critical mass," said Greg Myers, vice president of marketing at Tech Data Canada.

Myers also noted that the reseller attendance was good.

"The partner pickup has been pretty strong," Myers said. "We are anticipating over 300 resellers, which is similar to last year's show in Toronto . Like last year, he said they are expecting about 1,000 partners total when the tour is complete.

The basic format of this kind of show, Myers said, has appeal for both vendors and reseller partners in bad times as well as good.

"These forums really show the efficiency for vendors and partners in structured events like this," he said.

Tech Data has tweaked some of the elements of its' road shows. For instance, they would visit cities more than once a year. But beginning last year, in an attempt to rationalize their spend on these marketing events, they decided it made more sense to visit places once, and that has continued again this year.

Myers said that while the economy has definitely had an impact, that impact has been very uneven.

"The transactional business revenues remain pretty strong," he said. "It's the enterprise business which has been hard hit. They are much more likely there to delay the refresh another year because of the economy."

Myers also noted that in solutions, the place to be now is definitely security.

"Security is strong, it hasn't been impacted at all by the economy. Unified communications' momentum has slowed somewhat, but the ROI on a networked phone system in the midsize market remains compelling."

Myers indicated that the solutions envelope continues to be the primary focus among partners, that people aren't interested in making a living selling netbooks for ten dollars margin a pop.

"Most resellers have some variant of the 80:20 ratio, with the 80 being the less active accounts, and they are too busy serving the others to reach out to those who aren't active every month ," Myers said. "But everyone in the economy recognizes the need to reconnect."

"Resellers say they have a model, and they have customers," said Frank Haid, vice president, sales at Tech Data Canada. "Where they need help is pushing out information, pushing out a message." The distributor helps some there Haid, said, through their Advanced Technology Solutions Centre, and through their promo database.

Both executives emphasized as well, that a managed services offering like Ingram Micro's Seismic is not in Tech Data's future.

"Ingram Micro has made a significant investment there but we think they are on the wrong track," Myers said. "Partners have told us they are not interested in a packaged program like Seismic. There is little value the distributor can offer there. We don't see how we can add value to justify the margin.

"We play a role there as a facilitator," Haid said, in which they do not provide managed services, but point resellers to those who do provide them.