TechSelect, Tech Data’s community of IT resellers, celebrates its tenth anniversary Nov. 12 through Nov. 15 at the TechSelect Partner Conference in Orlando. The event will be held at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
“When we established TechSelect in 1999, there were only 20 members representing a fraction of our total U.S. sales,” recalls Tech Data senior vice president of U.S. sales Murray Wright. “Now, the TechSelect community is nearly 450 members strong and combines for more than $1 billion in technology purchases from Tech Data last year.”
The Power of Partnerships
TechSelect is comprised of IT resellers from around the country who share best practices with one another, and partner to build their businesses.
“Our participation in TechSelect has been fundamental to our growth and success,” says Advanced Vision Technology Group president and TechSelect Advisory Council president Sam Ruggeri. “We built our practice by learning from others willing to share their experiences, successes and failures.”
Rory Sanchez, president of SLPowers, says TechSelect helped his company provide greater value and support to its customers. “The focus on building stronger businesses creates tremendous ROI for members,” he says. He adds that his company’s TechSelect partnerships have helped grow the business and “forge tighter relationships with vendor partners.”
Conference Events & Education
TechSelect hosts two Partner Conferences each year. At these events, tech data executives, leading vendors, and industry experts discuss emerging technologies, sales and marketing strategies, and business-management best practices.
“There are a lot of channel conferences out there where you can meet and interact with vendors,” says Allan Walters, senior vice president of partner Saratoga Technologies. “The TechSelect Partner Conference was the first event I had been to where the intent was for you to talk to other VARs and learn from each other.”
In 2004, TechSelect introduced TechSelect University. TechSelect University enables members to send their sales, technical, and marketing employees to attend free or discounted training.
Since its inception, TechSelect says it has provided members more than $1 million worth of training.
“TechSelect University provides excellent training sessions for our people,” says Sanchez. “TechSelect University enables us to send techs and field people, further strengthening our technical capabilities as well as our ties to other member companies.”
At the events, TechSelect has introduced its peer groups and expert-led peer-to-peer workshops. Members share operating plans and balance sheets, providing valuable benchmarks to identify areas for improvement.
Peer Group topics include profitability and sales and services management. New workshops are planned for next year.
Internet Commerce Council and Member Rewards
The Internet Commerce Council (ICC) is comprised of TechSelect members. It was a driving force behind MyOrderTracker, Tech Data’s order tracking tool available to all resellers.
The ICC also provides guidance for improvements to Tech Data’s Web site, which is used by 55,000 resellers each year.
Tech Data says the Technology Solutions Tour and the TechEDG Government and Education Services events were modeled in part after the success of TechSelect’s Partner Conferences, “bringing valuable business-building and engagement opportunities to resellers and vendors throughout the channel.”
TechSelect provides resellers with an array of benefits. These include two Partner Conferences and discounted technical certification training at TechSelect University workshops and annual marketing development funds.
In addition, members receive discounted shipping terms on all Tech Data purchases; extended terms for commercial, government and education solutions through Tech Data’s third-party financing partners; money toward vendor promotions; and discounts on many Tech Data services.