Broadline Distributors: Go Home!

A few minutes earlier, Raymund had announced his company, distributor Tech Data, would hit the new year with an overall focus on digital products for the home and business environments. The usually reserved Raymond had been hinting at some type of digital focus for months. But, despite the talk, the company had not announced a solid strategy; strange considering Tech Data rarely speaks publicly about an initiative until all pieces are firmly in place. So, Raymund was asked, why all the chatter without a formal announcement?

"Maybe I'm out of my mind," he said after his announcement, smiling as he talked about Tech Data's increased sales in most things digital, "but we see tremendous growth opportunities in the digital markets."

Raymund's far from crazy. In fact, he's in good company.

Most major manufacturers and distributors (D&H Distributing, for one, has been a strong player in the digital market for more than a year), along with many solution providers, have formed some strategy over the last few months to serve the digital home and business markets. CRN, in conjunction with CMP Media's Residential Systems, will shine a guiding light on the markets with its new magazine, Digital Connect, which launches this month.

The channel's move to digital solutions makes sense. Digital technology needs in homes and businesses - from broadband to entertainment centers to wireless connectivity to media servers to security systems to conferencing and on and on -- have increased, with more manufacturers meeting the demands. And the complexity of the solutions will only intensify, begging for the expertise of solution providers and integrators skilled in networked IT.

It won't be an easy ride, though. Distributors like Tech Data and Ingram Micro, for all their talk of value-added services, will have to follow up with strong training and service programs to help its current base of customers, as well as the professional audio/video integrators it hopes to gain, find the growth opportunities that Raymund and others are so optimistic about.