Tech Times Fall by Tech Data

Autumn 2016

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Autumn 2016

Executive Address

Cisco and Tech Data Calgary Stampede

WPC 2016

Lenovo TechWheels

Halifax Lobsterfest

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

#futurethisway

Yee Ha! Another successful event

Showcasing Tech Data Cloud Solutions Store Makes a stop at Tech Data Annual Maritime tradition another great success

Tech Data Reseller Adventure, presented exclusively by Lenovo

Digital Signage Spotlight

TechSelect Member Profile

An adventure of a lifetime in Prague!

Why now is the perfect time for Digital Signage We catch up with Contava of Alberta

Editor Jillian Cahill Art Direction and Design Julie MacAulay Contributing Writers and Editors Irene Buchan, Jillian Cahill, Gabriel Pawchuk Project Manager Monisha Sharma Tech Times is published and distributed six times per year to channel resellers across Canada. ÂŠ2016 Tech Data Canada Corporation. Prices, promotions, offers & terms and conditions of sale subject to change without notice. Errors and omissions excepted. All manufacturersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 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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Autumn 2016

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ExecutiveAddress

#futurethisway Dear Valued Partner, It’s been an exciting summer for Tech Data Canada as we had the opportunity to welcome solution providers from around the globe to our home city for the Microsoft World Partner Conference in July. For those of you who managed to get one of the sold out tickets this year, I am sure you were just as amazed as I was to witness so many different cultures and personalities in one location. The new technologies that were on display by several manufacturers always impress me. I hope that many of you stopped by the Tech Data booth to meet members of our cloud team from around the globe. It was an excellent display of partnership as the team came together to provide solution providers like you with the knowledge, expertise and tools you need to accelerate your cloud business. StreamOne, the platform that powers our award-winning Cloud Solutions Store, was definitely the highlight of our booth. The Solutions Store enables partners to offer and scale cloud and subscription services. Attendees learned about several new and exciting enhancements that will help solution providers solve their clients’ problems. These enhancements are available through the US and Europe today, and will soon be available in Canada. You’ll hear more from us about these new functionalities that include our own Private Label Marketplace and API’s to name a few, in the coming months.

providers require to be successful in the cloud. Many of you are familiar with Irene Buchan who previously managed our marketing services division including TechSelect. Today Irene also leads the efforts of the cloud team along with Ed Galasso, Director of Field Sales. Two very knowledgeable Business Development Managers support our vendor and reseller partners’ cloud businesses and are your resources as you enter the cloud journey with your business. I encourage you to contact the Tech Data Cloud team to help accelerate your own cloud practice. As always, we are committed to providing you with the right mix of solutions and programs to assist you with your business and cloud-based technology solutions that set your business apart. We continue to empower our channel partners by delivering cutting-edge cloud-based technology solutions via our Cloud Solutions Store and portfolio of business support offerings. Thank you for your continued partnership and we will continue to offer our support as our solution providers adopt the future of cloud.

Sincerely,

D.R. (Rick) Reid

We definitely have exciting things to come with Tech Data Cloud and I am confident that the team we have assembled to drive our efforts in Canada is the right mix of sales and marketing expertise that solution

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Autumn 2016

Yee Ha!

Thanks Calgary for another successful year under the Cisco - Tech Data Stampede Belt The combination of great partners and wonderful weather ensured that our 2016 Calgary Stampede festivities went off without a hitch. 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 600 reseller partners and end customers enjoyed the early breakfast feast and interacted with their partners. Partners also provided their support to the families of Fort McMurray, raising $645 through a raffle featuring great prizes! Working together to support fund raising activities to help families in the region is another testament to the exceptional partnerships we enjoy in Calgary. 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 our collective Cisco business. The people, food, locations and overall energy provided a unique Stampede experience to for all and we appreciate being part of this annual tradition. We are looking forward to coming back next year to celebrate our Annual Tech Data Cisco Stampede events once again with our great partners in the West! Thank you to everyone who attended and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget, the Cisco buck stops at Tech Data!

Autumn 2016

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Spring 2016

Showcasing Tech Data as the world’s premier Solutions Aggregator powering tomorrow’s technologies today

Tech Data had the opportunity to participate in WPC 2016, Microsoft’s most important partner event of the year, in Toronto in July. It was our privilege to support this year’s event as a Diamond Sponsor. We were excited with the opportunity to showcase our Cloud Solutions Store and to introduce innovative new enhancements to our portfolio to the solution providers in attendance. Members of the Tech Data Cloud team from around the globe were in attendance and collaborated to provide valuable information and insights to solution providers looking to build their cloud business. Thank you to Microsoft for the opportunity to participate in WPC 2016 and to all of the solution providers who stopped by the Tech Data booth. We look forward to helping you accelerate your cloud business and thank you for your continued partnership. #futurethisway 10

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Autumn 2016

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Lenovo TechWheels at Tech Data

After traveling across North America, the Lenovo products truck made a stop at Tech Data making us the only Toronto distributor to host Lenovo TechWheels! This event brought together 45 solution providers along with their end customers, Lenovo and Tech Data executives and the Tech Data sales organization. The day was filled with engagement and conversations focused on how to expand and grow your Lenovo business. In addition to the fabulous warm weather, the Lenovo products truck was a huge hit and showcased over 40 Lenovo products that the attendees enjoyed testing. The products ranged from accessories to client products and enterprise servers, showing innovation in notebooks, desktops, workstations, and data centre technology. Solution providers had the opportunity to meet with the expert team from Lenovo to discuss new technology and opportunities. Thank you to our partners for attending this event and helping to make it such a great success!

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Annual Maritime Tradition Another Great Success! For the 8th consecutive year, Tech Data hosted Halifax-area reseller partners at our annual Lobsterfest on June 23 at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel. In what has become a great Tech Data tradition, reseller partners had an opportunity to see new product and program offerings before sitting down to a fresh-from-the-sea lobster feast. Thanks to all the reseller partners who joined us as well as our outstanding sponsoring vendors!

See you next year!

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Autumn 2016

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23 reseller partners and their guests joined Lenovo and Tech Data executives in Prague, Czech Republic July 20 - 25 for an adventure of a lifetime. The Annual Tech Data Reseller Adventure, presented exclusively by Lenovo, brings an elite group of partners together. The attendees stayed at the 5-star Mandarin Oriental Hotel where they had the opportunity to network, share ideas, build upon initiatives and opportunities and share in several exciting activities that allowed the group to experience the local culture. Each year, the Tech Data Reseller Adventure, presented exclusively by Lenovo, strengthens business relationships, allows partners to discuss strategies to meet their business needs and learn ways to accelerate growth. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attendees also enjoyed a walking tour of the Old Town including Prague Astronomical Clock and the Old Town Hall, the Gothic Charles Bridge in the Lesser Town, a private tour of Prague Castle, toured the city in antique cars, enjoyed cocktails with Prince William Lobkowicz followed by private dinner at his Palace, a private opera performance at the famous Prague Opera House, a once in a lifetime dinner on the opera house stage and much more! Thank you to all of the attending reseller partners for making this a true adventure of a lifetime! Stay tuned for all of the exciting details of our 2017 Reseller Adventure.

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Autumn 2016

No matter the device, environment or space there’s a LapCabby for you From static and compact, to portable and mixed device carts, we have a solution to charge, store, sync and transport any device. Our compact, static, multi device solutions offer the flexibility to deploy new devices without the need for new charging and storage solutions. And our range of portable carts are ergonomically designed and easy to manoeuvre with purposebuilt wheels and rubber facings to enhance safety and protect devices, users and surroundings. Built from scratch, delivered fully assembled, tested to highest global health and safety standards and our comprehensive lifetime warranty are just a few facts that set LapCabby apart! LapCabby for Education With today’s education technology environment perpetually diversifying; solutions that charge, secure, sync and transport only one device type no longer fit the needs of most establishments. The LapCabby range covers every learning space and requirement, from static solutions to stay in the classroom to transportable solutions to move devices from class to class or to support field trips. 20

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From kindergarten and secondary school to libraries, colleges, universities and other tertiary education, LapCabby’s compact, multi-device solutions slot perfectly into any educational space – to deliver classroom ready devices and support the digital curriculum, every time. LapCabby for Health IT is now an integral part of the healthcare sector, with medical organisations fast looking to use tech to ease the burden on stretched staff and improve patient experience and service delivery. That’s why LapCabby delivers space saving solutions to keep devices, with private patient data secure and away from prying eyes, yet easily transportable and fully charged for when they are needed most. LapCabby solutions for Health are compact, to save space in surgeries, labs and on the ward and are designed to be easily transported, secured and cleaned. LapCabby for Corporate Fast paced organizations demand technology to accelerate business performance. And as companies purchase more and more devices – securing, charging and syncing them must not be overlooked. LapCabby has a solution for any space or device – to protect your investment and ensure your workforce has devices that will accelerate your business.

Why LapCabby? All our solutions are fully compliant with the Canadian Information Technology Equipment Safety Standards and undergo stringent third party testing, by international testing house TUV and always come with the LapCabby Lifetime Warranty. Sold exclusively through our Canadian distribution partner, Tech Data with all prices provided in CAD and stock held in Canada for rapid delivery and lead times. Committed to our partners We are here to help you sell and have a wealth of resources and dedicated team to simplify the sales process and build your pipeline! As well as our feature rich and diverse product range, talk to us about our seed unit and demo program as well as competitive deal registration and tiered pricing - ensuring you get the best margin every time! We can also support our partners with value add content and deliver bespoke end user marketing campaigns to help drive LapCabby business. Visit lapcabby.com for more information or speak to your Tech Data representative.

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Autumn 2016

Flashy images and videos surround us every day in hopes of grabbing our attention. Most of these images are seen as distractions that only grab our attention for a few short seconds. The need for a successful digital signage deployment is the key to maximizing attention spans. Partners who have already been involved with these projects are reaping the benefits with increased sales, increased traction and immediate return on investments. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not suggesting that just because you put up a display with some advertising or scrolling images that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll enjoy immediate

success. There is a lot of planning, budgeting, marketing, content creation, etc that has to be considered first to make sure that all the dollars invested in these projects do not go to waste soon after the project gets deployed. It is vitally important that adequate training takes place and that content is frequently refreshed. Successful digital signage becomes a team effort, followed by analysis, change and making the right adjustments as required to keep the content fresh for the audience. There are more than 250,000 networked displays across

Canada and that number is increasing every day. Tech Data is seeing significant growth in the large format display category from many of our partners involved in large national projects. Implementations are also taking place by corporate customers who are replacing old boardroom technologies with new interactive boards as they are creating a collaborative work environment where clients can walk in, plug in and share their ideas immediately without the use of dongles or extra media boxes. Any static sign is an opportunity for solution providers to introduce digital

signage to their end customers, especially those doing print marketing. Digital Signage creates an immediate impact to visual marketing with dynamic content changing on the fly and can save thousands of dollars in ink and printing costs. The key verticals that are expected to grow dramatically in the next two years include retail, quick serve restaurants and outdoor. End customers are also looking for new displays, new deployments and content creation in 2016 and beyond. The technology that will have the most impact in the coming years is likely going to be NFC communication with mobile devices, touchscreen/multi-touch and social networking integration. There is also the increasing need for customers to manage “big data” or real time tracking in their sales departments, emergency notifications or retail touch points. This allows for businesses to use analytics for marketing and setting targets and goals based on the data they receive. For customers who are still unsure about Digital Signage, there’s never been a better time than now to speak to a specialist. It is becoming more cost effective and able to meet most budget needs as we see the cost for large format displays decrease and “prosumer” or commercial lite models being offered. In addition, solution providers have support from Tech Data’s digital signage specialist, Gabriel Pawchuk to assist with building a solution to meet the needs of their end customers. Tech Data also offers digital signage related services through our configuration centre, including; dead pixel testing, power testing, color calibration, asset tagging and loading any software onto media players as well as many other services as required. Our Advanced Technology Solutions Centre is like no other and allows us to showcase solutions and provide demonstrations live or remotely for solution providers and their end customers on many of our top display products. Digital signage is set to accelerate at a staggering rate beyond 2016, so don’t get left behind. Tech Data is your number one stop for all things digital signage. To learn more, contact Gabriel Pawchuk at Gabriel.Pawchuk@techdata.ca.

Autumn 2016

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Autumn 2016

In this issue of Tech Times, we catch up with David Sime, President at Contava and learn how TechSelect membership has helped strengthen his business.

Tell us a little about your organization:

We are a physical security integrator. Our business is designing, deploying and servicing enterprise video surveillance, physical access control and intrusion systems. CONTAVA was formed when the industry began converting from analog, proprietary, closed systems to IP based systems where shared networks, servers and storage infrastructure were leveraged. The company was founded to exploit this revolution in architecture and need for new capabilities. Although we were a niche offering at first, we quickly established ourselves as the best option for the largest organizations in Canada. As a result of how physical security is delivered, we had to build a company with enterprise IT, professional project management, construction management, professional engineering, as well as the cornerstone physical security electronic competencies. Our vision is to become the most trusted relationship for our customers. The environments we operate in are incredibly interesting as we’re generally working on the most secure facilities in Canada. From containing pathogens in biomedical environments, to monitoring dangerous violent offenders, to securing Canada’s largest data centres, the work is very stimulating. In addition to the evolution of the underlying IT infrastructure, we also get to participate in independent evolutions in physical security detectors, imagers, software and other specialized physical security technology. Our people are passionate about the technology and the reasons why we do what we do. This combined with living our corporate values has resulted in a young, fun, high energy, professional culture. Q: What are your thoughts on the industry in general?

As a relative outsider to the IT industry, I’m fascinated to see the lifecycle and trends playing out. We are fortunate (or unfortunate) to see a lag in these changes affecting our industry and therefore we have time to prepare and potentially avoid some landmines along

Autumn 2016

the way. The rebound in focus towards on-prem infrastructure aligns with our high bandwidth needs for video. Also the success of mature managed service providers has shown promise for our plans, and I’m in envy of what my peers have done to provide value while securing their business for the future. The recent rise in consolidation of service providers is interesting, and I wonder about the long term consequences and how long it will last. Q: What challenges are you facing and how do you overcome them?

Our largest challenge is commoditization in the market as has happened with IT in years past. Buyers are making choices without putting value on services. As such, new competition has arisen with organizations that don’t have the same overhead and dedication to a competent workforce. Q: What would you like to see from vendor partners?

First and foremost, I would like to see our vendor partners continue to come to the table with valuable solutions that will differentiate our offering and allow us to win. Also as part of the TechSelect community, manufacturers sit in a position that can educate the community. I would like to see our vendor partners bring their international industry experience and educate the TechSelect community so we can provide better services, and be stronger businesses.

Q: What are your organization’s goals for the next five years?

Although we have national reach, we intend to further differentiate our geographic market to help reduce the impacts of regional economic changes. Managed Services is still in it’s infancy in our industry and we’d like to mature the model inside of our organization. Q: How has the TechSelect program helped you? Or helped you meet your organization’s goals?

I cannot understate the value TechSelect community has provided our organization through collaboration and support. We’ve been exposed to rich and varied experiences from other partners and we receive unparalleled support to develop markets from the manufacturers. Q: What is your outlook for 2016.

Our primary market, Alberta, for lack of a better description, is still reeling from the crash in the energy sectors and bottom likely has not been found. We will continue to face the consequences of short term cost based decisions by purchasers, and desperate moves by our competitors. However, through this adversity we will end the year at around 75% top line growth and a much stronger team. Also the economic situation BC and Ontario will strengthen our position in those markets.

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Autumn 2016