D&H’s New AIM Training Is Helping Partners Become MSPs

D&H Distributing’s new AIM (Assess, Implement and Manage) methodology is powering more partners to make the leap from reseller to MSP (Managed Service Provider), said D&H Co-President Dan Schwab.

“With AIM we’re being much more proactive to help partners migrate their business to become MSPs,” said Schwab “It’s a new framework that makes it easy for the partners to identify and attach services to their hardware and software. It completely changes the sales process. It is really a question of how they migrate to the MSP model.”

Schwab called the new AIM methodology a matter of D&H rolling up its sleeves and working with partners one at a time to make the shift to a recurring revenue services model.

“This is the old-fashioned D&H going from fox hole to fox hole to help partners become MSPs,” he said. “It is old-fashioned blocking and tackling to help our partners leverage best practices, sharing with them and helping them connect with one another.”

As part of the shift from capital expenditure to recurring revenue service solutions, the D&H AIM methodology works with partners on each and every deal to assess, implement and manage solutions that drive recurring revenue profitability, said Schwab.

D&H Co-President Michael Schwab said the training is focused on helping partners commit to the MSP model with a “different mindset” focused on sales force compensation, billing cycles and revenue recognition.

“Partners need to embrace this as a future opportunity. You don’t want to be stuck in the past,” he said. “This is perhaps the largest opportunity the partners need to consider for the foreseeable future.”

The D&H Co-Presidents spoke with CRN about the AIM methodology, new credit terms to commemorate the company’s 105th anniversary and other issues. Below is an excerpt from the conversation.