The information technology (IT) reseller market in the Middle East region is coming towards its maturity, asserts the Tech Data Reseller Research 2001 report. The market is being divided between high end-resellers who service the large enterprises’ needs for IT products and services, and those who are increasingly focusing their businesses on the small to medium enterprises (SMEs).
The company’s market research shows that the majority of the resellers’ business growth today comes from the small home office and small to medium enterprise markets. “With the region’s spending on IT hardware and software expected to rise due to the developing nature of the business, the region’s resellers’ have an untapped opportunity in targeting the small to medium businesses who are today converting to technology based operations,” explained Eliot Shepherd, marketing director at Tech Data.
Resellers’ revenue generated from walk-in business constitutes 30 percent of reseller income on average, while the small and home office market constitutes 24 percent of revenue, the Tech Data Reseller Research 2001 showed. A further 26 percent of average reseller revenue is from the small to medium business market, an area expected to show significant growth in the region over the near future.
“With that, resellers around the region need to become specialized in technology areas to be able to advise, implement and support the technologies they sell and this is what we aim to achieve from our year 2002 resellers program.”
Tech Data FZ-LLC, a Middle East information technology logistics management and distribution company, recently announced a year long program that aims at creating new revenue opportunities for the region’s IT resellers by building the skillsets required to strengthen technical specialization in the regional reseller channel.
“Building the IT value added business in resellers markets is important to us in this region,” explained Steve Lockie, managing director of Tech Data, “We want to provide, along with the most cost efficient and effective logistics management capabilities in the region, business growth opportunities to resellers through strong technical and marketing support. This initiative is an important vehicle for that.”
“The end result that we are seeking is to enable resellers across the region to better service and strongly retain their clients. The market today demands that resellers not only sell information technology products, but understand the underlying technology and be able to support it on end-users’ sites,” said Lockie. “Build VAR business with Tech Data” develops the expertise of resellers, thus giving them the tools needed to establish profitable and long term relationship with the front end of the market.”
“Building the Information Technology VAR Business” program of Tech Data will involve technology vendors, the specialized teams of Tech Data and the entire reseller channel in the Gulf and the Levant in on-going knowledge-transfer process that creates more revenue to the entire channel.
Tech Data Corporation, founded in 1974, is a leading global provider of IT products, logistics management and other value-added services. Ranked 95th on the Fortune 500, the company and its subsidiaries serve more than 100,000 technology resellers in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. Tech Data’s extensive service offering includes pre- and post-sale training and technical support, financing options and configuration services as well as a full range of award-winning electronic commerce solutions. The company generated sales of $20.4 billion for its most recent fiscal year, which ended January 31, 2001. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
