TD SYNNEX Says Merger is Off to Fast Start

According to Kinlaw, COMMUNITYSolv, the umbrella organization for TechSelect, Varnex, and Stellr that he now leads, is a specific example of where TD SYNNEX is doubling down on the SMB channel.

“We have staffed up in a big way to make sure communities are supported,” says Kinlaw, noting that Urban, CEO Rich Hume, and North America President Peter Laroque have all personally emphasized the importance of communities to him.

Kinlaw spent 90 days devising a game plan for communities at TD SYNNEX. His thinking at the end of that process was very different from where he started. “I really had the intention to create one community,” he says.

As he pored through data about them, though, he soon realized that TechSelect, Varnex, and Stellr share very few members in common. “All these partners were disparate and different. They didn’t cross paths,” Kinlaw says. 

They also had different business models and purchasing habits. TechSelect partners, for example, sell a lot of back office, advanced solutions gear, while Varnex partners are bigger on endpoints. Stellr members, meanwhile, sell cloud solutions, mobility services, and other recurring revenue offerings. “The genetic makeup of the partners isn’t the same,” Kinlaw observes.

As a result, all three communities will continue to operate separately and under their original names. “It allows me to have swim lanes for vendors,” he notes. “It allows me to offer certifications and trainings that are different based on the community, and it allows me to offer industry insight that perhaps is different for TechSelect than it would be for Varnex.”