Synnex's Bold Bet
This week at its national reseller conference, Synnex will formally unveil its MicroLite Portal (see story, < ahref="/sections/news/top_news.jhtml?ArticleID=165700977">page 67). The exclusive managed services offering stems from a strategic investment the distributor made earlier this year in Microland, an IT service provider in Bangalore, India, that manages IT operations for Fortune 50 companies.
Make no mistake about it. In taking a financial stake in a hosted managed service platform that VARs can resell, Synnex is making a far different bet here than its competitors, which are partnering with a number of vendors through more traditional arm's-length arrangements to offer managed services to VARs.
What's so exciting about the Synnex offering is that it opens the door for VARs to jump into the burgeoning managed services market without making a big up-front capital investment. This is no small matter when you consider that managed services offerings can require tens of thousands of dollars in infrastructure, not an insignificant amount for small VARs. Synnex's MicroLite offering is part of a steady march into higher-margin businesses that began when John Paget took the helm as president and COO a little more than a year ago.
Paget, who previously headed enterprise distributor GE Access, is clearly putting his stamp on Synnex. Besides the managed services foray, Synnex acquired BSA Sales earlier this year, a move aimed at bringing VARs qualified sales leads. Paget has also stepped up Synnex's Enterprise Solutions Distribution business, which features Avaya, Hewlett-Packard, Quantum, TippingPoint and Barracuda Networks. And in the past 90 days, Synnex has hired eight field sales reps for that group who are chartered with helping VARs close deals.
Solution providers say Synnex is stepping up its game by providing them with flexible, innovative offerings. "They are giving Tech Data and Ingram a [Micro] run for their money," said Jay Tipton, vice president at Technology Specialists, a Fort Wayne, Ind.-based solution provider. "Synnex thinks outside the box to help the small to medium-sized reseller be successful." Now, that's a hard-to-beat formula.
What do you think about Synnex's bold bet? Let me know at (781) 839-1221 or via e-mail at [email protected].