Tech Data Claims Early Success With SMB Program

The Clearwater, Fla.-based distributor plans to hold its second of 10 regional conferences June 21 in Houston for resellers focused on the SMB market. Future events are scheduled for Aug. 8 in Washington and Oct. 17 in Atlanta, and others will be announced for later this year, according to Tech Data.

SMBAccess, introduced last October, has signed more than 1,500 solution providers to the program, which aims to help solution providers grow their business with small-business clients, said Stacy Nethercoat, vice president of SMB sales at Tech Data.

Sales by SMBAccess members is on track to increase about 17 percent over last year, Nethercoat said.

"[SMBAccess] is hitting its stride. We're starting to see very good success with respect to coverage from a reseller perspective," she said.

Program benefits include a credit review--which has resulted in credit increases totaling $50 million--discounts on training and fast-track vendor certifications. Thus far, the credit increases have been the biggest hit, Nethercoat said.

"Financing growth for this customer segment is as important to them as staffing and ensuring they are focused on the right technologies. That is a role that Tech Data is playing a significant position in," she said.

Tech Data expects to handle a roster of 5,000 solution providers in SMBAccess.

"We don't want to leave any of these customers behind. That's why we invest in sales resources to support this customer segment. They're all important. They all contribute," she said.

SMBAccess has helped Tech Data better understand the needs of the SMB customer, which makes it easier to develop programs for that market, Nethercoat said.

"We are able to further segment these resellers. From our perspective, aggregating a lot of this information is meaningful," she said. "This program is by no means static. We believe we've put together a great program, but we don't feel we're hitting on every opportunity out there. Our objective is to have our ears to the street to learn what's important to business partners and act swiftly."