Tech times may july by Tech Data

Summer 2016

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Summer 2016

Executive Address

In the News

Business Builder Tour

Brocade

TechSelect Partner Conference

TechSelect Member Profile

Microsoft Product Champion Feature

President’s Club Experience

Lenovo Tech Tour

Comments, suggestions? Tell us what you think! jillian.cahill@techdata.ca

Catch up on all the latest news Kicks off in la Belle Province

Is your business ready for the next big thing? Community comes together in Winnipeg We catch up with IT Weapons

Microsoft Surface leads the way

Making a difference in the community 2016 Event a great success

Intel Security Americas Partner Conference

Building around secure outcomes

#followus #likeus

Tech Data Sales Accelerator Conference It’s all fun and games!

Editor Jillian Cahill Art Direction and Design Julie MacAulay Contributing Writers and Editors Irene Buchan, Jillian Cahill, Rob Dutt, Phil Tricand Project Manager Monisha Sharma Tech Times is published and distributed six times per year to channel resellers across Canada. ©2016 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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Summer 2016

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ExecutiveAddress

Want to be in the Know? #followus Dear Valued Partner, I’m very excited that Tech Data Canada has re-introduced our social media platforms recently and we’re confident that you’ll find exceptional value in each of them. We’re using facebook, twitter and instagram to provide you with valuable content to help you accelerate your business and to allow you to get to know all of us a little bit better. We have many excellent personal relationships with many of our valued partners across Canada and I am confident that each of our partners has a trusted advisor they can rely on and feel confident dealing with on a daily basis within our organization. I believe that you’ll find that as our social reputations grows, we will become even more of a knowledgeable resource for you as you look for the best solutions, market trends and opportunities to meet the demands of your end customers.

to have fun while we work. We are showing you the personalities that exist within our organization, our passion of offering our support to the community and being rewarded for our efforts of working hard. As you browse through our posts, you’ll see why Tech Data Canada has been the #1 distributor in Canada as voted by our reseller partners for nine consecutive years. To contact a member of the social media team at Tech Data Canada, email socialmedia@techdata.ca. Sincerely,

D.R. (Rick) Reid

I urge you to follow us on each of our social media platforms. You’ll find not only does Tech Data Canada have a strong knowledge base, but we like

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Spring 2016

In The News

Take a moment to be informed with some highlights that have been hitting the Canadian media news channels recently.

2 16 Award-Winning Business Builder Tour kicks off in La Belle Province

The annual Business Builder Tour (BBT) kicked off in April making stops in Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto. The Business Builder Tour will stop in six cities across Canada with Calgary, Vancouver and Ottawa taking place in the fall. Close to 1,000 solution providers attended the BBT in 2015 and Tech Data Canada aims to deliver an equally outstanding event in all six cities throughout 2016.

Tech Data Canada named Authorized Distribution Partner for Hewlett Packard Enterprise Business Critical Systems

Tech Data Canada has been recognized by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) for its technical expertise and capabilities and named as an authorized distributor of the company’s Business Critical Systems (BCS) products. The products are currently available to authorized solution providers across Canada and will be supported by Tech Data Canada’s Advanced Infrastructure Solutions Division.

Tech Data Canada Inks Agreement with LapCabby

Tech Data Canada recently announced an agreement with LapCabby to distribute their innovative IT storage solutions to solution providers across Canada. LapCabby delivers innovative IT storage and charging solutions to over 44 countries across the globe and are committed to delivering portable and static solutions in a secure and safe environment.

Tech Data Canada Making a Difference in the Community

Tech Data Canada recently participated along with its 2015 President’s Club members in a team building activity supporting the community at Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto. Daily Bread depends on thousands of volunteers each year to help sort and package millions of pounds of food to make sure it can be delivered to people in need. Thirty of Tech Data Canada’s President’s Club members spent the day making a difference along with Tech Data Canada executives and representatives from Cisco, HP Inc. and Lenovo.

Annual Spring TechSelect Partner Conference Takes Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Tech Data Canada’s annual Spring TechSelect Partner Conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba took place recently. The conference ran from Monday May 1 to Thursday May 5 and had Tech Data Canada executives, 40 TechSelect members and over 20 vendor partners in attendance. TechSelect members join Tech Data executives and leading IT manufactures at two partner conferences annually to share best practices, discuss opportunities, and build upon their relationships to accelerate their business in the Canadian IT channel.

Tech Data Canada Named Intel Security’s 2016 Distributor of the Year

Tech Data Canada announced recently that it was named 2016 Distributor of the Year by Intel Security. Intel Security revealed the winners, recognized for 2015 performance excellence in global and local markets, marketing innovation and community service, at its Distinguished Partner Awards reception held during its Americas Partner Summit. The awarded companies were selected for their embodiment of the three foundational pillars of the Intel Security Partner Program: strategic engagement, mutual growth and profitability, and driving better customer security outcomes.

To read more about any of these news releases, visit our Press Centre at www.techdata.ca. www.techdata.ca

Summer 2016

Award-Winning Business Builder Tour kicks off in La Belle Province The annual Business Builder Tour (BBT) kicked off in la Belle Province in April! This year, we will make stops in six cities across Canada before the year closes. We’ve made our stop in Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto and will make our way to Calgary, Vancouver and Ottawa after the hot summer months. Close to 1,000 solution providers attended the BBT in 2015 and we aim to deliver an equally outstanding event in all six cities throughout 2016. The Business Builder Tour has been voted Best Industry Event for the seventh consecutive year by solution providers across Canada. It delivers networking opportunities for hundreds of solution providers, IT hardware and software manufacturers and Tech Data executives and sales specialists. The event combines a technology showcase and solution seminars into one day to allow solution providers to manage their schedules and reduce time away from their business. This year, the BBT will continue to offer an end user showcase in three of its stops allowing vendor partners to engage directly with the end customers who purchase their products. Our first end user showcase has taken place in partnership with Micro Logic in Quebec City. Tech Data Canada’s Director of Sales, Ed Galasso, provided an overview of Tech Data’s Cloud solution offering including clarity, direction and guidance to the growing cloud services in the channel and how Tech Data Cloud can support your business in this evolving market. Our focus on Cloud will continue throughout the remaining shows so be sure to check out the agenda and make sure you arrive in time for this session. “We are off to another great start for our award-winning Business Builder Tour,” said Irene Buchan, Director of Vendor Marketing and Product Management, Tech Data Canada. “With close to 35 vendor partners showcasing new products and technology trends and nine vendor partners participating in solution seminars, solution providers were able to gain valuable industry knowledge and insights that will help them accelerate their business. As we move forward to each city this year, we continue to make enhancements to ensure that we meet the needs and expectations of solution providers attending our events.” Our Business Builder Tour is an event you don’t want to miss! If you haven’t registered yet for a city near you, visit www.tdbusinessbuilder.ca today! You’ll learn more about the event including tour dates and registration information for each location across Canada. 12

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Is Your Business Ready for the Next Big Thing? The New IP offers resellers a brand new revenue opportunity in IT networking. Learn how you can capitalize on the emerging software networking market. The New IP represents the industry’s radical transformation from closed, proprietary IP networks into open, softwaredriven platforms. By simplifying and automating IT network processes, the New IP encourages innovation and accelerates the speed of service delivery by taking full advantage of mobile, cloud, social networking and big data technologies. While the New IP term is new, the concept has been ingrained in Brocade technology for many years. We made an early bet that open technology would be the architecture of choice in the 21st century, and that belief remains core to our business strategy. The Folly of Legacy Networks Legacy IP networks, referred to as “old IP,” have served us incredibly well for the last 20 years. The resiliency of these networks is a testimony to IP’s elegance. And nobody is suggesting that we toss them out. But staying the course is not an option. A dramatic change is needed. The good news is that an advanced but evolutionary networking architecture is available today for sale through the channel.

What is the New IP? It’s the old IP networks reimagined for a modern world and designed to meet the needs of cloud, mobile, social, and Big Data. The New IP is a new way to architect networks that accelerate business changes and growth while maintaining or increasing high levels of security. The New IP emphasizes open, automated, software-defined elements to increase agility and reduce costs while meeting the challenges of the Third Platform.

While the New IP term is new, the concept has been ingrained in Brocade technology for many years.

The Promise of Open Standards It’s good to compare where we are today to the promise of the New IP, and then describe the advantages and implications of this transformation. The old IP is based on closed systems in which

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innovation cycles are constrained by custom hardware, while the provisioning of network resources is a complex and labor-intensive task. Interoperation is limited. Vendors are at the centre of the ecosystem, costs are high, and innovation is slow. In contrast, the New IP is based on open source and open standards that extend beyond proprietary adherence to industry standards. The New IP gives IT the choice of using Commodity Off-The-Shelf (COTS)-based or workload-specific hardware. Provisioning network resources is automated and can be done in a self-service model. Open APIs are the key to interoperability. The customer is at the centre of the ecosystem, CapEx and OpEx costs are reduced, and innovation happens at the speed of business. How to Profit from The New IP Today Brocade is building a new network of reseller partners to leverage the New IP transformation to software networking and open systems. We invite you to learn more about our company, products, solutions and the new Brocade Partner Network (BPN) program. As a member of the BPN program, you have everything you need to transition your customers to the New IP. Learn more about The New IP, visit www.brocade.com/ newip. To find out how you can become a Brocade reseller, go to www.brocadepnwelcome.com or email channel@brocade.com.

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TechSelect Community The closing evening in Winnipeg featured the annual Charity Games Night in support of Connected North and this year’s event raised a whopping $15,000 and when combined with the TechSelect charitable efforts over the last few years, the total contribution for this incredibly worthwhile cause is $110,000.

One of the highlights on the Tech Data Canada calendar every year is its annual Spring TechSelect Partner Conference which this year took place in the wonderful – and surprisingly warm! – city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The conference ran from Monday May 1 to Thursday May 5 and had Tech Data Canada executives, 40 TechSelect members and over 20 vendor partners in attendance. Taking the conference to Manitoba was a first for the program, and it was a hit! “Just like the TechSelect program facilitates sharing of best practices with like-minded members from across Canada, the program also demonstrates appreciation for the diversity of this great country by hosting conferences in a variety of cities and provinces,” said Brian Oleksiuk, President, Oxygen Technical Services Ltd, Winnipeg, MB. “I’m extremely proud of the opportunity to showcase the great city of Winnipeg to my fellow TechSelect members.”

Cisco’s Connected North initiative provides an output for the kindness, generosity and positive spirit generated by the TechSelect community. Connected North brings much needed services to Canada’s most remote communities, and because of its broad scope, their good work and commitment to Canada’s Northern citizens, appeals to members from Vancouver to St. John’s and every city in between. While Canada’s North is known for its spectacular arctic landscape and pristine wilderness, the North’s remoteness, a hallmark of its beauty, is also one of its greatest challenges. High rates of suicide, addiction, and unemployment threaten isolated communities. Connected North uses Cisco collaboration technology to close service gaps and strengthen the community’s own resources through improved access to essential educational and mental healthcare services.

TechSelect members joined Tech Data executives and leading IT manufactures to share best practices, discuss opportunities, and build upon their relationships to accelerate their business in the Canadian IT channel, but as any attendee can attest, the conferences have become so much more than just learning about technology. While the conference agenda does feature a mix of vendor partner workshops and networking sessions for the members to discuss business challenges and opportunities, the TechSelect conferencealso provides a forum for members to reconnect, collaborate and work together as a unified entity focused on using technology to better the communities around us.

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Comes Together in Winnipeg While in Winnipeg, the group enjoyed a private tour of the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. This acclaimed attraction was the perfect reminder of why the Connected North initiative is so important, and helped the group understand just why their efforts are necessary. “This incredible experience only served to underscore the need for us to work together as a community to help fellow Canadians, in particular those served by our Connected North fundraising efforts,” said Irene Buchan, Director of Marketing, Tech Data Canada. “I’m delighted with the outcomes from this TechSelect conference,” said Greg Myers, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Tech Data Canada. “With each conference it is evident that the partnering and member entanglement continues to accelerate, and that this collection of members and vendor sponsors is reaching new levels in terms of partner engagement and growth.”

Though the summer is just beginning, we’re already looking forward to the TechSelect Fall Partner Conference taking place in beautiful Halifax, NS in November. Based on vendor and partner feedback, it’s definitely time well spent. “This past week in Winnipeg has provided me with a very satisfying mix of business content and networking time with other TechSelect members from across the country. The group has a maturity to it which, combined with common purpose, ensures that meetings and discussions are relevant and meaningful to me and to DTM Systems” said Gary Gunderson, Vice President, IT Consulting and Services, DTM Systems Corp, Vancouver, BC. Thanks to all our wonderful members who joined us in Winnipeg and our heartfelt appreciation to everyone who supported Connected North, including our incredible group of TechSelect vendor partners! Source: csr.cisco.com/casestudy/connected-north

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In this issue of Tech Times, we sit down with IT Weapons to hear how TechSelect membership has provided them with valuable networking opportunities that help them accelerate their business.

Tell us a little about your organization:

We are laser focused on client experience; helping clients control costs and reduce the risk when it comes to mission-critical IT. The reliability of the IT Weapons Cloud and our Managed Services is unmatched in Canada. We maintain SSAE-16 SOC I Type II accreditation for security and regulatory compliance. We are fully PIPEDA compliant and hold Controlled Goods Program of Canada designation for the management of data regulated by the Department of National Defense. Our Service Desk team maintains full ITIL v3 certification and industry leading expertise. We’ve won over 30 awards for service excellence and technical leadership, and we are ranked among the top 50 IT service providers in North America. Thanks to our partnership with Konica Minolta, we can now reach further, deliver more, and help drive innovation for your business. Q: What are your thoughts on the industry in general?

It’s getting hot out there…I spend a lot of time networking with my peers. I have heard a wide variety of company health, from general fears to outright panic. I have also heard several say ‘best year ever’. There has also been an unnerving amount of my peers that have lost one or more of their top 10 clients either through geographic economic downturn, clients being acquired or absolute dissolution. Whether it’s good or bad, it seems to be extreme. The positive peers seem to be driven by specialization or strong brand. The negatively affect peers seem to have a generic nature to their business – ones that ‘have always done it this way’. It’s just my observation – I see patterns – it’s what I do. Q: What challenges are you facing and how do you overcome them?

We have the same extremes in our business - clients being acquired or acquiring. Pricing attacks and HR attacks by panicking competitors. New, younger faces showing up at clients with little experience but a lot of power within our clients. These are unique and interesting times. I spend a significant

amount of time networking - sharing and listening. I read a blog maybe six or seven years ago and the lesson I learned was “when in doubt, go to your customers.” That has been a rule of strategy for me. Also, I am a bit of a military fan. Napoleon was a king of ‘what if’, so I watch for patterns and then plan – ‘what if that happened to us’. I have plans for things that have never happened, but I’m ready. I also love reading and re-reading The Art of War. Sun Tzu has so many businessleadership relevant quotes. So, to actually answer your question, we are facing a lot of the same challenges our peers are facing. You know, I believe we dealt with these challenges about a decade ago when we decided to invest in our team. We followed Jim Collins’ advice. We built a very strong core and then we ALL committed to continuous improvement and pursued elite status in everything we care about. 10+ years later, we are a strong unit with the same goals. If someone doesn’t have the same goals, the team shows them the door. So, that team overcomes challenges as they happen (via plans that are designed before they happen). Q: What would you like to see from vendor partners?

Honestly, this is our biggest challenge. Years ago, we decided it was not a vendor partners fault when we were struggling with the relationship. It was us that were different. We had to either bend to the way they wanted us to

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behave or we had to accept responsibility for those gaps. Once we all adjusted to that way of thinking, we would just make every effort to be excellent at the technology and not being an excellent partner. After demonstrating skills and consistent output, vendors would approach us for a relationship. We would accept but on our terms. So, what would I like to see from vendor partners? If they want to be our partner, come ask what it will take, and here are our rules: 1) No revenue target. 2) We need to make money. That is as much YOUR job as it is ours. 3) Convince US that your product is awesome. If you can’t we will not be successful together. 4) I should pay very little (ideally zero) for YOUR product. We ‘pay’ in time investment. 5) Ban together with other vendor partners via something like TechSelect so I can see you all in one event. I do not have time to meet individually and then QA what you tell me vs what your peers tell me. Q: How has the TechSelect program helped you? Or helped you meet your organization’s goals?

Well, recognizing that we are a problem child for vendor partners, the TechSelect program has helped me meet the right executives at events and communicate our requirements quickly. I get to decisions faster and get moving on plans much easier. TechSelect is grease in our machine. That plus being able to network with strong, nimble, like minded business owners has been a breath of fresh air.

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Microsoft Surface Leads the Way By Phil Tricand

With the release and success of the Surface, Microsoft created a new and exciting product category in the notebook/tablet space. Partnering the mobility and touch features with the power and productivity of a notebook, it was only a matter of time before other manufacturers would start to actively compete against the device. Over the past few months we have seen the release of the similar devices in the market place which reminds us that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Surface has best in class performance making it a very powerful and productive solution. Surface runs both the Core i5 and Core i7 new slate of 6th Generation “Skylake” processors. Microsoft chose the i5 and i5 chipset to give the Surface the best possible performance, as opposed to the lower powered Core-M chipset, which ultimately is designed for mobility and not for power. Customers looking to replace their laptop are almost exclusively looking for the i5 or i7 processors in order to maintain the heavy workload their devices generally run. Intel’s Core i5 and i7 are optimized for Windows 10 and Windows 10 has been optimized for Surface, so when a customer is using a Surface device they are getting the best possible performance. Secure authentication has been a hot topic for a while now, with people in the industry trying to solve the conundrum of how to protect your device without having to remember complicated

passwords that require constant refresh. While fingerprint readers have become the norm for most other devices, it is not something that caught on significantly in the notebook space. Microsoft decided to go a different direction. Surface is the only device that has a built in facial recognition authentication, making it the only 2 in 1 or notebook solution that enables users to take advantage of one of Windows 10’s newest features, Windows Hello. Signing in has never been easier and more accessible. Using a 5MP facial recognition camera, Iris scanner and infrared camera, the Surface uses Windows Hello to deliver the fastest and safest form of authentication currently available.

Over the past few months we have seen the release of the similar devices in the market place which reminds us that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Microsoft has endeavoured to create new and intuitive ways of interacting with your device and no feature brings this to reality more than the Surface pen. Designed to be much more than a stylus to feel and work like writing tools we

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use everyday, the Surface pen’s multiple applications makes using a Surface feel like a completely new and familiar experience simultaneously. With features like 1,024 points of pressure that allows for incredible accuracy, best in class latency, parallax and hand detection, the experience of writing on a Surface is the closest thing to writing on actual paper. Optimized to work with OneNote, Surface users can take advantage of the ink to text function allowing you to convert all hand written notes in workable text, that can then be easily shared through email or in the cloud. Built to feel like a pen, its top button not only doubles as an eraser to make correcting mistakes feel natural but also includes shortcut commands to other great Windows 10 features like one click to open OneNote, hold down to activate Cortana and double click for a screen capture, all resulting in the Surface pen evolving into one of the best features of the device. Additional features like proprietary PixelSense screen technology with 10 points of touch and beautiful resolution starting at 2736 x 1824, up to 1TB SSD and 16GB ram options and a bevy of powerful and productive accessories like the Surface Type cover and Surface Dock, Surface remains the bestselling 2 in 1 device currently available. Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization to achieve more, which has lead them into new and exciting territory. It’s exciting to see where Microsoft will take us next!

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Making a Difference in the Community with an Elite Team This year’s President’s Club members recently participated in a team building activity supporting the community at Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto. Daily Bread depends on thousands of volunteers each year to help sort and package millions of pounds of food to make sure it can be delivered to people in need. Thirty of Tech Data Canada’s President’s Club members spent the day making a difference along with Tech Data Canada executives and representatives from Cisco, HP Inc. and Lenovo. Together the Tech Data team sorted an outstanding 7,286 pounds of food! Plus, an additional 565 pounds of food was collected and donated on behalf of the organization. To continue with the generosity, Tech Data also made donation to Daily Bread Food Bank on behalf of its vendor sponsors in the amount of $5,000. All in all, this was an excellent day that made everyone feel proud to be a part of it. “Tech Data Canada is proud to help Daily Break Food Bank in Toronto achieve its daily goals,” said Rick Reid, President, Tech Data Canada. “This activity brought an elite group of our employees together to give back to the community while building strength in working efficiently and collaborating as a team. I couldn’t be more proud of this team of employees and our vendor partners who also joined us to provide their support. As a team, we really helped make a difference to those in need in our community.”

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Lenovo and Tech Data 2016 Tech Tour a great success!

This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lenovo and Tech Data Tech Tour event in Raleigh, North Carolina was designed to bring technical server experts from different partners across Canada for a three-day event that provided all participants with valuable information required for their business and the opportunity to enrich business relationships. Twenty customers joined Lenovo, Microsoft and Tech Data at the Server Lenovo Customer Briefing Centre in Raleigh, North Carolina for an exclusive day long training opportunity on the latest Lenovo Server technology. Additionally everyone had the opportunity to hear from key Lenovo technical and product experts and to engage in stimulating discussions with Microsoft partner strategists from who also joined Lenovo as a host. During the three day event they also enjoyed a round of golf on the beautiful course at the storied Duke University Golf Club. And of course, this annual event would not be complete without a fabulous dinner at the Angus Barn, allowing everyone to kick back, relax, and get to know each other better. Thank you to all of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attendees for helping to make this long-standing tradition better than ever! Watch out for an opportunity later this year for a chance to win a spot in the next Tech Tour!

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Building around secure outcomes

Intel Security’s channel chief provides a sneak peak at how the security vendor is realigning its partner programs and incentives to focus on customer results By Rob Dutt

At its Focus end user and partner conference last fall, Intel Security laid out its new strategy, one designed around building products that fit into an integrated platform and more fully addresses a threatdefense lifecycle that includes detection, protection, and correction. And now, it’s time to make it easier — and indeed mandatory — for its channel partners to get on board. At its first Americas Partner Conference held distinctly from Focus, held in Boca Raton, Florida, global channel chief Richard Steranka said the company would rejig program incentives and training efforts around its new platform and the four areas of security upon which it intends to focus.

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Steranka told partners the company will continue to “reward for performance,” but what that performance is has to change. In particular, the company intends to incent solution providers more heavily to sell solutions within the platform, sell across the platforms, and sell to new customers and new markets. “We want to move towards the endgame of selling things that are going to move [Intel Security] towards [its] goals,” Steranka said, although he acknowledged that “the new knobs on these things need to be moved slowly” so as not to torpedo partner profitability in the near-term while reorganizing with a long-term view. Steranka suggested that changes to its incentives and other programs will begin to roll out as early as the third quarter of this year, and that partners will have “ample notice” on the changes to come. “We want to boost your profitability, because a profitable partner is a good partner for us,” he said. These aren’t the first changes Intel Security is making to its programs in response to what it sees as a changing market and landscape.

Earlier this year, it introduced new sales competencies around its key markets — intelligent endpoint, preventing data theft, securing a hybrid infrastructure, and intelligent security operations. With that change, it also changed how it recognizes partner training. Rather than requiring a set number of hours of education, which often had longserving technical and sales people at partners retaking courses and sessions they already knew by heart to meet requirements, the company now doesn’t require any training, per se. If you can meet the demands of the final exams, you’re good to go, regardless of how (or when) you learned the material. Ultimately, Steranka — in an argument similar that made by many sales and channel chiefs in the last while — told partners that the company and partners alike must increasingly orient their offerings, their measurements, and their incentives around the business outcomes for their joint customers. “If we don’t do this, the rest is moot. We will not have strategic engagement, and we will not be

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profitable,” he warned. “We will not be in business if we can’t deliver.”

The crème de la crème

Conversely, if the company can re-orient around its platform, and particularly around the security outcomes about which an increasingly non-IT enterprise buying committee cares, the sky’s the limit, the executive suggested. In fact, after listing some areas where he believes the company and its partners are leaving opportunities “on the table,” Steranka issued a very specific challenge to partners. If every partner were to sell one additional Intel Security product to one quarter of its exiting customers, and if partners were to sell either the company’s or their own professional services with that product; and if the company’s partner in aggregate were able to move from four per cent of business coming from new customers, to ten per cent of business coming from new customers, the company would be able to double its business, he believes.

Steranka suggested that changes to its incentives and other programs will begin to roll out as early as the third quarter of this year, and that partners will have “ample notice” on the changes to come. Also at the conference, the company presented awards to its top partners in the Americas, including three Canadian partners. Information Systems Architects took home Partner of the Year for Canada, Secure Technologies International

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nabbed Federal Partner of the Year for Canada, and Tech Data Canada took home Distribution Partner of the Year for Canada. Tech Data Canada’s Tarek Kerdasi, product sales champion, was also named the North American Distribution MVP by the company. “These awards are a reflection of the outstanding execution and customer service that we provide our reseller partners every day to assist them with finding the best solutions to accelerate their business,” said Greg Myers, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Tech Data Canada. “We look forward to our continued mutual success throughout the year.” Tech Data also earned top distribution partner in the U.S. theatre. Intel Security will next come together with its partners at its annual Focus end-user conference, slated for November 1 to 3 in Las Vegas.

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It’s all Fun and Games! There were several feuds, whammys and deals broken at this event but this time, it was a good thing! Tech Data Canada’s entire sales organization recently met in Toronto for their annual sales accelerator conference. This year’s gameshow theme allowed for outstanding teambuilding and education opportunities. The teams began the weekend meeting with several premier vendor partners where they learned valuable insights into new technology trends, partner programs and more. An interactive technology showcase followed featuring more than 30 vendor partners. Sales representatives had the opportunity to see several innovative technologies that will help meet the demands and accelerate solution providers’ businesses. Saturday morning began with an executive kick off, followed by premier vendor workshops including Cisco, Dell, HP Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo and Microsoft. The workshops were designed to be educational sessions that offered the team insight and knowledge to help them effectively sell their products and solutions to solution providers. The event closed off with the final dinner and awards gala.

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