Technology Reseller - v17 2019

01732 759725 NEWS : DISTRIBUTORS 06 Exertis SCS receives support from disruptive technology fund Citrus brings greater personalisation to Tech Data InTouch In a partnership with digital advertising system provider Citrus, Tech Data is bringing sponsored product search and targeted banner advertising to its online sales platform InTouch. InTouch gives partners access to thousands of products, solutions and services from the distributor’s end-to-end portfolio and each year handles more than 5 million purchases. The enhancements to InTouch will give resellers a more personalised user experience, including customised search results, product suggestions and banner ads based on their buying behaviour and search history. They will also enable vendors to target advertising to specific customer groups, connecting resellers with propositions as they search for products and make purchasing decisions, and manage their sponsored search advertising with a fully automated, cloud-based, self-service process. Andy Gass, Tech Data Senior Vice President, Digital and UK & Ireland, said: “With these updates to InTouch, we are making a best-in-class e-commerce platform even better for partners and vendors alike. Supported by Citrus’s cutting-edge digital advertising system, we can more effectively connect resellers to margin-making opportunities and new value propositions, making it easier for them to make the right purchasing decisions in less time.” He added: “For our vendors, we can now provide more granular analytics and richer insight on user behaviour, helping them to choose digital marketing activities that deliver clear return on investment.” Sales award for DSales (UK) DSales (UK) Ltd, the UK distributor for the Develop range of multifunctional document imaging systems, won the award for Top Colour A3 Sales 2016-2018 at the recent Develop Distributor Summit in Edinburgh. The Award was presented to Jonathan Whitworth, Managing Director of DSales (UK), by Keiji Okamoto, President of Konica Minolta Europe. The Develop range of document imaging systems is manufactured by Konica Minolta Business Technologies Inc.. www.dsales.eu First Swiss acquisition for Midwich Midwich is continuing its European expansion with the acquisition of MobilePro AG, a Swiss value-added distributor of audio visual products, from Omega Handelsgesellschaft m.b.h, an IT/AV distributor headquartered in Vienna, Austria. Midwich’s first acquisition in Switzerland will be carried out through the Group’s German subsidiary Kern & Stelly GmbH. Based in Zurich, MobilePro has a turnover of 25 million CHF and distribution agreements with Samsung, NEC, Barco, Legrand AV and SMART. www.midwichgroupplc.com Andy Gass The Exertis Supply Chain Services Blockchain in the Technology Product Supply Chain project is one of 27 programmes to receive funding from the Irish Government’s € 75 million Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF). Exertis SCS will lead the project in collaboration with the Centre for Applied Data Analytics Research (CeADAR) at University College Dublin (UCD) and the Dublin-based software company Sonalake. Over the next three years, Exertis SCS and its partners aim to commercialise a Blockchain platform for the technology product supply chain, providing visibility of orders across the supply chain, from component manufacturer to consumer; product provenance information based on product serial numbers to reduce counterfeiting and manage warranty liability; simplified financial reconciliation for promotional rebates; reduced IT integration overheads; and improved market analytics across the entire supply chain. Announcing the successful projects at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said: “The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund is our way of stimulating private investment in new technologies and ways of doing business and building stronger links between higher education, multinationals and Irish SMEs.” www.exertis.co.uk Westcon community built by technical people for technical people To help partners develop and improve their solution design capabilities, Westcon has launched a vendor-agnostic community created by technical people for technical people with a strict no sales or marketing policy. The Westcon Tech Xpert Community is led by Westcon’s pre-sales solution architects and open to all partner system engineers and technical support and pre-sales staff looking to expand their knowledge and develop their skills. Members benefit from exclusive access to community events, both online and offline, where they can engage in an open dialogue with guest speakers, vendor technical leads and the Westcon pre-sales team. They also get priority invitations to seminars, training courses and workshops; fast-track access to Westcon’s support team; and individually curated technical news updates. Mike Cox, Westcon Vendor and Alliances Director, said: “By sharing experiences and building relationships with technical peers, the Tech Xpert Community gives individuals the opportunity to learn from each other and deepen their understanding of technologies. Ultimately, everyone will be able to design and build better solutions at the crucial pre-sales stage and deliver greater customer value.” www.westcon.com Mike Cox L-R: Irish Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD; Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar TD; and Professor Cathal Kelly, Chief Executive of Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), pictured in the Wet Lab at RCSI, Dublin. Photo courtesy of RCSI.