VAR500: Insight Enterprises Helps Kids In Need; Microsoft Honors CDW

VAR500 Solution Providers In The News

Despite dismal job and economic news, the CRN VAR500 has shown that the top North America's top solution providers can still move ahead. This week, Insight Enterprises joined with HP, Lenovo, and Major League Baseball to revamp a Boys and Girls Club in Phoenix, Ariz.; CDW was recognized for excellence by Microsoft; McAfee honored Dimension Data; and an Accenture study showed a woeful lack of digital customer relationship management (CRM) capabilitiess among executives.

Insight Enterprises Gives Back

Insight Enterprises is working with HP and Lenovo to outfit a state-of-the-art computer lab and office at a newly renovated Arizona Boys & Girls Club, called the MLB All-Star/Arizona Diamondbacks Branch. Major League Baseball also partnered in the project.

Amy Gibbons, president and executive director of Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix, said this week in a statement that research has shown a correlation between technology and success in school. However, at least one quarter of the members of this Boys and Girls Club do not have access to computers and the Internet at home. The deal with Insight provides members with computer access and engages them in activities that encourage computer use.

And The Winner Is...CDW

For the second consecutive year, CDW has been named a Microsoft Volume Licensing Partner of the Year. CDW, which offers IT and cloud computing services, was honored among a global field of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology.

Awards were presented in multiple categories, with winners chosen from a set of more than 3,000 entrants worldwide. The Volume Licensing Partner of the Year Award recognizes partners that provide innovative volume licensing solutions and services and provide ongoing attention to customer service excellence.

And The Winner Is...Dimension Data

Following the March announcement that McAfee had signed its first Global Solution Provider Agreement with Dimension Data, the security software vendor named the solution provider its Global Partner of the Year 2011. ’Dimension Data has been a local and regional McAfee Elite Partner for more than 10 years. This latest award underscores our long-standing collaboration history, particularly around global and multinational opportunities," said Neil Campbell, global general manager of Security Solutions at Dimension Data. "With the rise in the number of security attacks on corporate networks, it is critical that we ensure our clients have a secure operating environment by leveraging McAfee’s security technologies."

Accenture Surveys IT Executives

A recent study by IT consultant Accenture found that 95 percent of the executives surveyed indicated that they did not have strong digital customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities. Further, more than half (58 percent) say they are still in the early stages of developing such capabilities.

Accenture’s Global Media & Entertainment High Performance Study noted that fewer than 10 percent of the executives indicated that their companies have a fully integrated view of their digital consumers.

The study comprised 130 senior industry executives across Europe, North America, South America and Asia Pacific.