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D&H strategy illustrates distributor priorities
Firm shares its views around areas of interest, with many echoing the thoughts and experiences of their counterparts in the UK
Distributor D&H has shared its views on where the priorities should be this year, indicating that providing training and support remains a crucial element for disties.
But the US-based firm’s strategy will also resonate on this side of the Atlantic, and chime with efforts being made by distributors in the UK.
D&H decided last year to resist cutting staff and invest deeper into its ability to support growth areas, including artificial intelligence (AI) threat-countering security tools, the ongoing shift away from Windows 10 and the arrival of more transformative workplace technologies.
Among the factors the firm is expecting will feature heavily in 2024 is a rise in the opportunities for managed service providers (MSPs). Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are continuing to look to MSPs to take the IT burden, and this will particularly increase on the security front. D&H is also betting on strong server, networking and infrastructure sales continuing, with those areas providing decent levels of growth.
The end of Windows 10 service should spark a more aggressive refresh on the PC front, which will also start to occur at a moment when hardware suppliers make their AI-capable devices available to the market.
AI is also an area that will have a significant impact, and the distributor views one of its roles as a translator, sharing vendor strategies and priorities in this area with the reseller and MSP communities.
The firm has also indicated it will continue to provide training, conferences and roadshow events, and make enhancements to its own partner programmes to make life easier for the channel.
Tech recovery hopes
The expectations of security, AI and modernising workplace technology driving revenues have been echoed by channel leaders in the UK as hopes of a tech recovery gather pace.
“We’re bullish for the future, and have every intention of keeping our channel investments on a positive trajectory,” said Marty Bauerlein, chief commercial and consumer officer at D&H. “In 2024, we’ll continue to examine the market, extend our resources and deliver those resources to prepare our partners for these next-generation opportunities. We’re committed to generating another year of growth for our company and the IT solution providers we serve.”
D&H revealed it generated double-digit growth last year, and had been able to increase its customer base by 20% in areas including mobile solutions, the SME market and MSPs.
Dan Schwab, co-president of D&H Distributing, was the guest on the most recent Global Technology Distribution Council Beyond distribution podcast, speaking about the prospects of AI to make a difference in 2024.
He argued that the emergence of more use cases would arm the channel with the illustrations they needed to encourage more customer adoption.
“More and more of our partners are migrating to an as-a-service consumption model, so we pivoted there,” said Schwab. “We’ve leaned in on specialised managed services such as security management, because that’s going to continue to grow, especially with AI creating growing security risks. We see cloud providers looking for distribution partners who have adapted this hybrid workplace. So, it’s really both and different consumption models.”
