Future Delivery

Over the years, more than a few so-called channel leaders at vendors have questioned the value that distributors bring to the party. And time and time again, they have been proven wrong. Those very same naysayers are the ones who question how the channel generates demand for their products.

STEVEN BURKE

Can be reached at (781) 839-1221 or via e-mail at [email protected].

What's ironic is that these vendor executives are usually leading the charge at the companies with the poorest supply chain metrics. And they're usually the ones who try to ship products direct themselves and end up losing sales because they simply cannot deliver. Unbelievable. The fact is, most CEOs and top executives at major technology companies have absolutely no clue as to the true costs involved with the distribution and sale of their products.

In our cover story this week, we take a look at the future of the channel and distribution in a package tied, fittingly enough, to distribution giant Tech Data's 30th birthday. What is amazing as you consider history is how often VARs have reinvented their business models and how often the distribution sector has provided a lot of the muscle to make those changes possible.

There are few true pioneers left in this business. Tech Data Chairman and CEO Steve Raymund is one of a rare breed of executives, moving from distribution wunderkind to distribution elder statesman over nearly a quarter of a century at the company founded by his father. As Tech Data has grown and changed with the times, so have its solution provider customers transformed themselves into managed service providers, ISVs, and services and solutions experts exploiting vertical niches. Those VARs are confident that Tech Data will see them through the next paradigm shift.

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