Distribution: Thriving In The Face Of Adversity  

Distribution is going through a wide range of changes, whether it’s outside money coming in to shake up the industry—think of the merger of Tech Data and Synnex to form TD Synnex or Platinum Equity's purchase of Ingram Micro—or whether it’s events such as the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic or supply chain constraints. The challenges in 2021 have been particularly high.

Change was a key theme for a panel of distributor executives held this week as part of the GTDC Forum 2021 conference. The panel, sponsored by the Global Technology Distribution Council, saw GTDC CEO Frank Vitagliano discuss key issues with Rich Hume, CEO of Fremont, Calif.-based TD Synnex; Paul Bay, executive vice president and president of global technology solutions at Irvine, Calif.-based Ingram Micro; and Alessandro Cattani, CEO of Vimercate, Italy-based Esprinet. On the table was the changing face of investment in distribution and how distributors changed—and are changing—in the face of the pandemic, supply chain constraints and more.

Here’s what the panel had to say about the future of distribution and what it means for the solution provider community.