Tech Data Launches Services Desk

The Clearwater, Fla.,-based distributor so far has IBM and Hewlett Packard onboard and hopes to enlist other vendors as it moves forward. So far, the desk has contributed to an increase in services contract revenues of about 200 percent, said Barb Miller, vice president, government, technical and integration services.

The move is the latest in the distributor's drive to generate more revenue from services contract sales and renewals. Earlier this year it launched MyOpportunityTracker, a Web-based service that alerts resellers when service contracts are expiring.

"Service is something [customers] want to buy, you just have to make it easy, efficient and accurate for them," said Miller.

The desk can help resellers with the creation of custom manufacturer-branded service contracts in addition to helping with pricing, creating quotes and processing orders and renewals.

As for growing the list of participating vendors, Miller said the sky's the limit.

"If service is important to the vendor and it will drive margins for the reseller and Tech Data, that is a good thing in this day of falling profit margins, so we should be prepared to take on any business partner or vendor that wants to grow their services revenue," said Miller. "All of those things that need to have service on it I plan to eventually run through the service desk."

For Jay Kishor, president of California Integrated Solutions, a Phillips Ranch, Calif.-based solution provider and TechSelect Council member, the services desk is a good move on the part of the distributor and will be helpful to resellers looking to expand their contracts revenue streams. "It's an excellent, excellent program that is going to help us hit some of our customers and at the same time be more active with our current customers," he said. "We are very much in line with Tech Data on that."

Kishor has not been satisfied with his company's sales and renewal rates on services contracts as it's hard to keep track of what is sold and what does go out the door without contracts, let alone whether they're renewed. "We get busy now every day with sales calls and something these things do fall off the cliff," he said.

He thinks the desk and MyOpportunityTracker are steps in the right direction, but Tech Data could do more.

Kishor said he would like to see the distributor integrate its online ordering system with its services desk so that customers can be notified as to what kinds of contracts are available. "[I'd like to see] something that says, 'Here are the services that come with the project that you're trying to quote.' That way it reminds us of those services as we're generating the quote," he said.