Dutkowsky: I Speak SMB
Since he doesn't come from the distribution sector, I'm certain many of you will be concerned over his credentials in the SMB world.
But Dutkowsky says he's confident that his experience with J.D. Edwards, which he described at the world's largest SMB ERP company (despite the apparent contradiction) plus his seven years as an SMB salesman with IBM have set him up well to understand your challenges as solution providers. Plus, there is the fact that he has walked in your customers' shoes as the head of a pre-IPO high-tech start-up, Egenera, which sells data center technology.
"I think anybody would agree Egenera is the classic SMB company," Dutkowsky told me and CRN Distribution Editor Scott Campbell in an exclusive interview. "Fast-growing, tough market conditions, competing against some of the biggest, most ornery companies in the world."
OK, I'll give him that. I'd also like to point out that his experience with IBM's AS/400 and RS/6000 product lines has also compelled him to think beyond the box -- which is something Tech Data really needs right now.
Back in January 2002, Dutkowsky (then the new CEO of J.D. Edwards) told one of our reporters that, "I don't consider myself a hardware or a software guy. I consider myself an applications guy, a solutions guy."
Here's hoping history will bear him out, in the many senses of the word.