Ttaug15 by Tech Data

July/August 2015

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July/August 2015

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

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Executive Address Welcome to Summer!

Yee Haw! Cisco and Tech Data Annual Calgary Stampede Event

Specialist Spotlight We introduce you to Brad Smith, Product Sales Champion, Dell

TechSelect Member Profile We catch up with SYDNIC Computer Systems Inc. of Barrie, Ontario

Oh Canada! Congratulations to Tech Data’s Nasir Habib and family on their recent Canadian citizenship

Sales Accelerator Conference Training and education for the Tech Data sales organization

Lenovo and Tech Data Tech Tour Another great success in North Carolina!

Halifax LobsterFest Event Authentic Maritime experience for solution providers

Tech Data President’s Club Winners A Tradition of Excellence Editor Jillian Cahill Art Direction and Design Julie MacAulay Contributing Writers and Editors Irene Buchan, Jillian Cahill, Mary Bonnici, Robert Dutt Project Manager Monisha Sharma Tech Times is published and distributed six times per year to channel resellers across Canada. ©2015 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

The Difference in Distribution

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July/August 2015

January/February 2013

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ExecutiveAddress

Welcome to summer! The summer months mean that we are mid-way through our fiscal year at Tech Data Canada. So far, I am amazed with all of the great things that we have accomplished. We have a fantastic team of sales and marketing professionals who have been working diligently on new ways to connect with solution providers and meet your business needs. Many of you have spent time with our executive team this year as we have been travelling across Canada from coast to coast. Hundreds of our valued partners have stopped in at one of our three Business Builder Tour events in Quebec City, Montreal and Toronto. Our award winning event has some excellent enhancements and has once again made a strong start. We are confident that this will continue into the second half of our fiscal year in Calgary, Vancouver and Ottawa. If you haven’t yet registered, we hope you will as we’d love to spend time with you. I hope you have also seen the recent news of our Tech Data Cloud Solutions Store launching in Canada in June. You now have a one-stop shop to administer and control the entire cloud services delivery process in an app store-like environment. It will help solution providers integrate and transition to cloud, opening up new revenue and profit streams. I encourage you to browse through the Solutions Store if you haven’t already done so. Go check it out at streamone.techdata.ca. Our Advanced Technology Solutions Centre (ATSC) continues to attract more than 25 solution providers and end users on a monthly basis looking to gain valuable knowledge and training on the latest technology solutions in demand in the channel today. As you know, the ATSC is a one-of-a-kind demonstration and training facility where leadingedge IT solutions from our premier vendor partners are showcased in a fully operational environment.

We’ve also awarded 14 solution providers with our Circle of Excellence Awards. Each partner was recognized for their continued support and partnership as well as their excellence in revenue achievement, strong dedication and leadership. Earlier this year, 40 of our very own exceptional employees were recognized with our President’s Club Award. These employees from various departments within the organization demonstrate our shared values and are responsible for providing support to our valued reseller partners on a daily basis. And finally, our sales organization has been further educated and trained by leading manufacturers at our recent Sales Accelerator Conference. We understand how important it is that they receive continuous education to ensure they understand the solutions that are in demand in the channel today. It’s certainly been a busy half for Tech Data Canada. We hope we get the opportunity to connect with many more of you as we come into the 2nd half of our year! All the best,

Greg Myers Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing

Working out of one of the largest integration centres in North America located within our 250,000 square foot logistics centre, our integration services team allows solution providers to spend their valuable IT resource time working towards net new revenue generation. It is the only ISO 9001-2008 certified integration centre in Canada, operating with more than 20 vendor-certified technicians who hold more than 30 industry-recognized certifications. Our technology services team would love to host you. If you haven’t yet had a tour of either our ATSC or our Integration Centre, please contact your sales team today.

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July/August 2015

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This year’s 2015 Cisco and Tech Data Stampede festivities brought out the best of Mother Nature! With the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, local partners were able to kick back and enjoy our Annual Stampede Golf and Dinner Event at Lynx Ridge Golf Club. The celebrations continued the next day with our Annual Stampede Breakfast Event at Craft Beer Market where over 700 solution providers and end users enjoyed the early breakfast feast and interacted with their partners. These two fun filled days of Stampede experience allowed strategic partners to interact with key Cisco and Tech Data executives and team members involved in their business. The people, food, locations and overall energy provided a truly unique Stampede experience to all and we are delighted that we have become a constant in these celebrations with our partners! Attendees were also able to provide their support to Cisco’s Connected North initiative. The group participated in a raffle draw to win some great prizes! In total $875 was raised bringing the total amount raised by Tech Data and its partners to date to just over $110,000! Connected North is a ground breaking program using Cisco Telepresence Technology to bring innovations in the field of learning and medical assistance to the school across Canada’s North. In partnership with Cisco, the Tech Data TechSelect Community has adopted the Deh Gah School in Fort Providence, Northwest Territories in support of Connected North making the commitment to assist its students by opening up learning opportunities that would not have existed for them otherwise. We’re looking forward to coming back next year and celebrating our 12th Annual Tech Data Cisco Stampede event once again with our great partners in the West! Thank you to everyone who attended and don’t forget, the Cisco buck stops at Tech Data!

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July/August 2015

Specialist Spotlight In this issue of Tech Times, we introduce you to Brad Smith, Tech Data Canada’s Product Sales Champion for Dell.

Tech Data Canada is excited to welcome Dell as a distribution partner in Canada. Brad Smith brings a wealth of experience to his role, having performed similar roles at Tech Data internationally in the UK. Brad focuses on assisting solution providers in managing their Dell business and leverages our strength as a stocking distribution partner. Solution providers across Canada will benefit by partnering with Tech Data to increase their ability to service their Dell business.

With his extensive level of support and knowledge of Dell products, Tech Data Canada is able to better serve solution providers on all Dell related requests.

In the Product Sales Champion role, Brad connects with solution providers to support their Dell business through Tech Data Canada on a daily basis. With his extensive level of support and knowledge of Dell products, Tech Data Canada is able to better serve solution providers on all Dell related requests. He’ll ensure quotes and pricing are accurate and as an added service, will complete deal registrations on behalf of solution providers. In addition, if you have technical or training requirements for Dell, Brad will have this arranged. While our reseller partners’ main point of contact at Tech Data is their sales team, Brad will always be there to assist and ensure that every Dell experience is a good one. Be sure to reach out and make a connection with Brad today.

Brad Smith Product Sales Champion – Dell Office: (905) 286-6800 ext. 26041 Cell: (647) 887-8480 Email: brad.smith@techdata.ca

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July/August 2015

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TechSelect Member Profile

In this issue of Tech Times, we catch up with SYDNIC to hear how TechSelect membership has helped them build strong relationships with key industry executives and resolve business challenges.

Tell us about your organization. Established in 1999 in Barrie Ontario, SYDNIC primarily sold various hardware and software products into the Public Sector markets and had only a few private sector customers. As the smaller private sector (SMB) began adoption of PC and Server-based solutions, SYDNIC started a Service Department, with focus on Network Integration using Microsoft technologies. Adapting technology strategies to our customers’ ever-changing needs has been our formula for growth over the years, and we never forget this. SYDNIC’s Service Department operates two Help Desk environments offering 7x24 contracted services. Despite decreasing margins and increased competitiveness in the new economy over the last few years, we have managed to increase our profitability in the services side of the business. Our format provides service levels 1-4 using several industry software tools to monitor and manage requests. Our Service Department has evolved into a ‘Full System House’ today, offering support to many customers using Cisco, HP, IBM and Lenovo. Security posturing is truly at the forefront of all activities within our business delivery today. Q: What challenges are you facing and how do you overcome them? I am interested in having more experienced individuals within the organization, yet understand that the younger ‘Y’ generation is needed to help us move SYDNIC into millennium 2.0 (or whatever version we are at right now?). Do you pay higher for a senior employee or do you go skinny with younger bodies and potentially lose business because they lack experience? Clearly, we need both, so the need to develop a really great training program here at SYDNIC has never been more evident. Another challenge is that we continue our investment in Security posturing and adhering

Kipling Morton, President of SYDNIC Computer Systems Inc.

to industry compliance as it gets squeezed. As the needs of our customers become more complex, I have noticed we have injected our Legal Counsel more frequently for specific requirements rather than simply ‘create me a no holes contract’ approach to doing business. Delivering technology in a very timely and responsible manner today is costing more to the VAR, so we need to simply offer more services to entice and entrench them? They are expecting it.

the TechSelect community has brought me closer to key industry executives and technologies. I have been able to share and resolve many of my business challenges through TechSelect. I really like being able to discuss the trials and tribulations VAR’s face in the industry and get great insight and clarity on trends and pitfalls. The TechSelect community as a whole is genuinely interested in mutual success for all parties concerned.

Q: What would you like to see from vendor partners? Continuing to reduce program complexity on all levels is always my own personal quam. I believe now more than ever, that all vendor partners must continue to simplify processes for the reseller and it would be nice see ‘warm business leads’ actually be a part of the process and relationship development between one another.

Q: What is your outlook for 2015? Although analysts are conveying encouragement for very slight growth, we are feeling similar effects of a down-turned 2008-2009, which seems relative to the newer shortened business cycle of seven years. I do believe resellers really need to focus on maintaining and exploiting what they already have and invest in their abilities to better appeal to the marketplace within grasp. I believe that spring 2015 will see an increase in corporate technology spending, and remain confident there are great opportunities for resellers for the remainder of 2015 and certainly the next few years to come. We simply need to understand, manage and support even more. The Big Irons can’t do it like we can. Rock on TechSelect Community!

Q: How has the TechSelect program helped you? Or helped you meet your organization’s goals? Truly, I cannot say enough about TechSelect. SYDNIC has been involved for many years now and have made many partnership relationships as a result. Getting to know

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July/August 2015

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Congratulations to Tech Data Canada’s Nasir Habib and his family for recently becoming Canadian citizens!

We sat down with Devlin Norris, who has been Intel Canada’s Distribution Channel Business Manager for 21 years to hear what he had to say about this exciting accomplishment for Nasir and his family. Devlin and Nasir first met via teleconference while Nasir was working for Tech Data in Dubai many years ago. He was being interviewed for the position of Intel Product Manager in Canada. Devlin was immediately impressed with the level of knowledge and understanding Nasir had of the complex market forces that impact Intel’s business worldwide. He had an impressive depth of knowledge and broad range of contacts that he networked with to maintain a global perspective on the Intel business. Prior to his move to Canada, Nasir talked with Devlin to learn about our beautiful country and the many advantages of living here. He first arrived on his own to find a home and prepare for the arrival of his family, and since their early days here, Nasir knew the goal for them all was to become Canadian citizens. Over the years, Devlin built a strong relationship with Nasir on both a business and personal level. Devlin attended the citizenship ceremony to honour their friendship and Nasir’s decision to move his family to this great country we all call home. While at the ceremony, Devlin reflected on what it means to be a Canadian in our increasingly small world. He was moved by the ceremony itself and at the happiness expressed by each new Canadian as they were presented with their citizenship certificate. Congratulations Nasir! www.techdata.ca

July/August 2015

The Tech Data sales organization from across Canada met at our Mississauga, Ontario office for three full days of interactive workshops and strategy sessions designed to arm them with the tools and resources they require to be able to effectively assist solution providers with their business needs. The group spent valuable face-to-face time with leading manufacturers to hear about the latest technology trends and solutions available in the channel today in educational workshop and knowledge update sessions. The teams had the opportunity to meet with premier vendor partners including APC, Apple, Avaya, Cisco, Dell, HP and Lenovo in educational workshop sessions for two full days while vendor partners including Intel, Lexmark, Microsoft, Symantec/VERITAS, TrippLite, ViewSonic and VMware also spent time updating the teams on their solution offerings in knowledge update sessions. More than 25 vendor partners participated in a technology showcase in our state of the art logistics centre where the sales organization had the opportunity to connect with manufacturers to build new and existing relationships and hear about new products and solutions. Thank you to all of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s participating vendor partners for spending time with our sales organization to ensure that they are equipped with the knowledge and insight required to help accelerate business for solution providers across Canada.

July/August 2015

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Lenovo and Tech Data 2015 Tech Tour a great success! This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lenovo and Tech Data Tech Tour event in Raleigh, North Carolina brought technical server experts from across Canada for a three-day event that provided all participants with valuable information and the opportunity to enrich business relationships. Fifteen customers joined Lenovo, Microsoft and Tech Data at the New 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 making 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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July/August 2015

By Robert Dutt

Microsoft WPC 2015: Cloud Solution Provider goes mainstream ORLANDO – At this year’s Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC, Microsoft has “turned the rocket boosters on” on its Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program, expanding the number of products the program covers, and the markets in which the program is offered. Introduced at last year’s WPC, CSP is the long-awaited program that allows Microsoft partners to finally retain full control over customers when selling the software titan’s cloud-based offerings. For the first time, it gives solution providers the opportunity to sell one or more CSP-eligible offerings, as well as their own services, on a single monthly bill to customers. Previously, the program was primarily available only to larger partners who were capable of meeting the Microsoft-mandated requirement of 24/7 customer support, which Redmond said was necessary to ensure customers get the same level of customer support and experience as they would if buying the same cloud apps backed by Microsoft. But with this year’s expansion, the company is acknowledging the role distributors and, for the first time, large cloud hosting companies, can play in helping smaller solution providers meet those requirements. Canadian solution providers can now connect to CSP-eligible products through distributors

July/August 2015

and hosting partners, including Tech Data Canada. “Over the last year, we’ve discovered that this is the way we want all our partners to transact services in the future,” said Gavriella Schuster, general manager of the Microsoft Partner Network. “It’s the best way for partners to create unique offerings on top of our services, and helps our partners differentiate and distinguish themselves in front of their customers.” Schuster said hosting partners were added as tier-two partners for the program because of their existing capabilities around customer support, billing and provisioning. Canadian channel chief Jason Brommet said Microsoft Canada currently has 23 partners engaged in CSP on a tier-one basis, as well as the five tier-two partners previously mentioned, with another 20 new partners en route to joining the program. “We see [Microsoft] fiscal year 2016 as the opportunity to turn the rocket boosters on that platform,” Brommet said. “You’re going to see this program broaden very quickly.” As well as bringing on more ways for more partners to get involved, the company has good broader (from 40 countries to 135), and deeper – whereas before CSP just covered Office 365, Azure and CRM Online now join the program, and Schuster said Windows InTune will soon be added, making CSP

available for all of Microsoft’s cloud-based offerings. The company has also made CSP more flexible for solution providers by introducing a series of APIs. For the last year, CSP partners have had to use the company’s backend and tools to provision, manage, and bill for customers sold through CSP. But Schuster said the company quickly figured out that many of its partners that meet the requirements of CSP already have their own tools for those kinds of capabilities, either third-party tools or homegrown. Through the APIs, partners can write their own integrations between the tools they already use and the CSP system. And Schuster said the company is working to understand “the top systems and the top ISVs” creating third party tools that solution providers use to manage cloud customers, and to make sure those systems connect to CSP via the new library of APIs. All in, the changes suggest that CSP is going to rapidly evolve from the ground of relatively few partners to a much more accessible program for the majority of the company’s channel, with the majority accessing the program via distributors or hosting partners. Schuster said she expects significant growth on the number of partners currently transacting through CSP, currently numbering “a few hundred” worldwide.

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Opening Up Surface It’s taken longer than a lot of partners may have liked, but Microsoft has finally confirmed plans to make its Surface tablets, and eventually other Microsoft hardware products, available to a broader group of its channel community. At this year’s WPC, the company announced plans to expand the number of partners worldwide that can sell the tablets at least ten-fold with the help of distribution partners. At its launch in 2012, the company went with a direct-only approach with Surface. Microsoft quickly added retail and a handful of large solution providers, with then-channel chief Jon Roskill saying the company was taking “a phased approach” to introducing Surface to the channel, one that sought to minimize pain as Microsoft was still learning the game when it came to stocking the Microsoft-branded tablets. In Canada, the Surface channel started with eight partners, which expanded to 15 partners as of April, at which time Microsoft Canada was involved in the beta test of offering Surface through distribution to more channel partners. Currently, there are about 100 partners authorized to sell Surface tablets in Canada, and Brommet said that number will at least double in the near future as the program goes broader. “There’s really a high demand from both partners and customers who want more choice in terms of how they acquire Surface,” said Schuster. “We want to go from a couple of hundred partners today to a few thousand partners globally, and we’re working with authorized distributors to make sure we can support all of them.” Canadian distributors have long had access to Surface and have stocked it for sales to those authorized partners. They have also long been interested in expanding that business beyond the few authorized partners on board, so Microsoft’s decision to take off the kid gloves should play well with distributors. The distributors play a key role in the new channel plans for Surface, as they, along with Microsoft Canada, will work to define the next group of solution providers to get access. Brommet said Microsoft Canada is looking for a few qualities in potential Surface partners. First, the company is looking to ramp up on volume. Brommet said the company currently has about 10 per cent share in the space where Surface competes – two-in-one devices priced north of $800. “So there’s still 90 per cent of the market we can go after.” The company is also looking for partners

with heavy SMB focus, as Surface plays particularly well in that space, and is also looking for partner with relevant vertical or solution experience in spaces where the Surface tablet plays well. Schuster said that in the coming months, Microsoft will introduce a Windows and Devices competency in the Microsoft Partner Network program as a way to make sure that Surface partners are well-represented in the competency model for MPN. There’s no doubt that the company is hoping the launch of Windows 10 later this month will result in a second wave of interest in the Surface Pro 3, as well as the more recently-introduced Surface 3.

“Over the last year, we’ve discovered that this is the way we want all our partners to transact services in the future,” said Gavriella Schuster, general manager of the Microsoft Partner Network.

At the same time, the company is starting to think about channel plans for its next Surface product, the newly announced Surface Hub collaboration and communications panel. Brommet said Surface Hub will initially be available through the current members of its Advanced Device Reseller (ADR) program, the same program used to gate access to Surface tablets. But he also hinted that Microsoft would be looking beyond its traditional partner base, engaging more professional AV resellers as well as those with experience with collaboration and telepresence offerings from other vendors as a channel for Surface Hub. That’s not surprising, because the company has big plans for the Hub technology, the ultimate form of the whiteboarding solution it acquired from Perceptive Pixel three years ago. But while Perceptive Pixel was U.S.-only in

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scope, Microsoft is thinking worldwide with Surface Hub. Microsoft Canda SMS&P boss Dennis Cerasoli said Monday that Microsoft has “ambitions to take over the conference room” with the Surface Pro products.

Destination: Toronto 2016 For the third time, WPC will come north to Canada, with Microsoft announcing that Toronto will once again host WPC in 2016, from July 10 to 14. Usually announced at the end of the final day of keynotes, the venue for next year’s WPC was announced this year at the end of the first day of keynotes, by former Microsoft Canada boss and current worldwide channel chief Phil Sorgen. Toronto also hosted WPC in 2004 and 2012. The last time Microsoft brought WPC to Canada, the event was the debut for thenMicrosoft Canada chief Max Long, and saw the introduction of former Compugen executive Greg Lardner as channel chief. At the event, the company introduced the longrequested (or perhaps demanded) Office 365 Open model, and set a release date for Windows 8. While the 2012 instance of WPC in Toronto has been feted as one of the best WPCs ever, the story of the show’s first appearance in Toronto was an interesting and twisting tale. The company was headed for The Big Smoke for the 2003 edition of its Fusion event, but hastily changed in the spring of 2003 due to the outbreak of SARS in the city. The show was moved to New Orleans’ sprawling Morial Convention Center for that year and held in October as opposed to its usual summer date. That was also the first year that Microsoft integrated its major partner-centric shows into a single conference. Microsoft made good on its promise to come to Toronto, though, the next year, after the city had been given a clean bill of health, bringing the combined July WPC that Microsoft partners have come to know ever since to Toronto. The 2012 event had a much smoother path from announcement to delivery, but was widely celebrated. Brommet said his goal is to outdo that event. “I’d love for us to have thousands of Canadian partners in Toronto at WPC,” he said. “My goal is to get the broadest participation of this ecosystem as possible.” That participation may go beyond the current four walls of the Microsoft Partner Network. Brommet suggested that “the doors were very much open” for Canadian solution providers who are not currently working closely with Microsoft to check out WPC and see if there’s an opportunity to get on board.

July/August 2015

Annual Maritime Experience another Great Success! Seven years in the running and Tech Dataâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lobsterfest has become a staple to our maritime reseller partners! More than 80 solution providers attended this annual event featuring face-to-face exposure with premier vendor partners and the Tech Data executive team. The event provided the opportunity to discuss strategies, develop plans for growth, prospect for new partnerships and make new connections. After attending a series of informative seminars by Cisco, Eaton, HP, Kodak and Lenovo along with the technology showcase at the beautiful Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel, attendees enjoyed a delicious lobster dinner and authentic maritime experience at Murphyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on the Water Restaurant. Thank you to all of the solution providers and to our sponsoring vendor partners for making this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s event another great success! See you next year!

July/August 2015

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Congratulations to this year’s President’s Club Members! A Tradition of Excellence!

Tech Data Canada is proud to recognize top performers in the organization for their outstanding contributions in FY2015. This elite group will enjoy President’s Club status and the exciting rewards and privileges that go with it throughout 2015! All of this year’s winners were selected from Tech Data Canada’s quarterly “Over the Top” departmental awards program. The executive committee then selects each winner based upon their continued leadership and success over the past year. Thank you for your tremendous and valuable contribution to Tech Data.

July/August 2015