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2 September/October 2014 www.techdata.ca

www.techdata.ca September/October 2014 3


7 Executive Address Opportunities Ahead

14 TechSelect Member Profile We catch up with Hubert Lau of Ekota Central Ltd.

15 Business Builder Tour Over 150 Solution Providers take part in Toronto show

17 HP and Tech Data Houston Invitational 20 TechSelect members take part in this year’s technical training

19 Happy Birthday Tech Data Canada! Employees celebrate this milestone achievement

20 Cisco and Tech Data Knowledge Plus One Step Ahead A memorable experience in Dubrovnik, Croatia

Comments, suggestions?Tell us what you think!

[email protected]

EditorJillian Cahill

Art Direction and DesignJulie MacAulay

Contributing Writers and EditorsIrene Buchan, Jillian Cahill

Project ManagerRalitsa Naydenova

Tech Times is published and distributed six times per year to channel resellers across Canada.

©2014 Tech Data Canada Corporation. Prices, promotions, offers & terms and conditions of sale subject to change without notice. Errors and omissions excepted. All manufacturers’ names are registered trademarks of their respective corporations.

This publication comes to you free from Tech Data Canada Corporation. We received your mailing address from your Tech Data customer account information. To make changes or to unsubscribe, please contact your Tech Data sales team at 800.668.5588 or notify us at [email protected].

www.techtimesmagazine.ca

6 January/February 2013 www.techdata.ca

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2014 has been a big year for us at Tech Data. In Canada, we’ve celebrated our 25th Anniversary and at the same time our parent organization in the US is celebrating its 40th Anniversary. It’s definitely an exciting year for Tech Data with many areas of growth and rewarding opportunities!

We’ve been extremely busy on the road, visiting customers across the country during our Business Builder Tour stops throughout the year, at our recent Cisco and Tech Data One Step Ahead Conference in the beautiful city of Dubrovnik, Croatia, and many other fabulous events and conferences with several of our valued vendor partners.

Many of the customers we’ve visited continually discuss the growth in demand for client PC‘s from their end customers. Tech Data Canada subscribes to NPD data, which provides us with valuable market information and analysis on a variety of categories. We are delighted to see that we are surpassing market growth rates in both notebooks and desktops in this robust market. Thank you to all of our reseller partners for making Tech Data your distributor of choice for client PCs!

I’d also like to mention that in partnership with Cisco, over $85,000 has been raised for the Connected North initiative through a combination of efforts this year. Connected North is a ground-breaking program using Cisco’s TelePresence technology to bring innovations in the field of learning to schools across Canada’s north. The Tech Data TechSelect community, along with Cisco, has adopted the Deh Gah School in Fort Providence, Northwest Territories, in support of Connected North, making the commitment to assist its students by opening up learning opportunities that would not have existed for them otherwise. We

are proud to participate in this initiative and we look forward to showing our continued support.

I’m also pleased to update you on our Cloud initiative, which has launched with the first phase focused on driving cloud education and training within our own organization and with our reseller partners across the country. You’ll be hearing further updates soon from our new Cloud Business Development Manager, Marcus Pozzan. Feel free to reach out to him at [email protected] with your Cloud related questions.

Thank you again for your continued partnership with Tech Data Canada and I look forward to a strong finish for all of us for 2014.

Sincerely,

Greg MyersSenior Vice President, Sales and Marketing

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Q: Tell us a little about your organization:Ekota Central Ltd. has been provid-ing Peace of Mind IT Consulting and Support Services to the Alberta market and across North America since 2000. Hundreds of companies rely on Ekota to provide them a single source of integrated technology solutions designed to improve business quality and productivity. Our technical team is exceptionally skilled and maintains a strong commitment to customer service that makes us a leader in the IT industry.

Q: What are your thoughts on the industry in general?These are exciting times in our industry. With several cloud services and mobile apps coming into play, the possibilities are endless of what we can be doing. We believe the integra-tion of these apps and services are currently very poor. In the next three to five years, we would expect that these integrations will have matured and their applications for business use will be tremendous. Those who create new standards and integrations will profit greatly. Those of us who support and implement these solutions will also benefit because of the many upgrades, changes and customizations that may be necessary in the industry.

Q: What challenges are you facing and how do you overcome them?We have found that cloud solutions have cut into our traditional server rollouts and profit margins. As a result, we have been working on different models that will create hybrid cloud and in-house networks. In addition, we have found that partnering has helped us reduce our risk as well as increase

the capacity to scale up. Training focused on new technologies as well as how to become a better MSP has been instrumental in our definition and transformation into a new and improved company. TechSelect mem-bership has played a big role in helping with this change.

Q: What would you like to see from vendor partners?We would appreciate a balance between the technical and sales train-ing that we receive from our vendor partners. By providing us with an in-depth technical understanding of the solutions offered, we can be assured that we are recommending the right solutions to our customers.

Q: What are your organization’s goals for the next five years?Our five year goal is to continue to have fun and look after our custom-ers with fantastic service and techni-cal solutions. We will also continue to support our local community and charities. The challenge we have put

in front of ourselves is to continually improve how we do business and learn from our mistakes of the past, present and in the future. We will then share these learnings with others.

Q: How has the TechSelect program helped you? Or helped you meet your organization’s goals?TechSelect has been a wonderful ex-perience and we are very proud to be a member. The main benefits include the fantastic training and exposure we receive from the vendor community and the great group of people we are now able to rely on all over Canada

Q: What is your outlook for 2015?We believe the Alberta economy will continue to grow stronger and stronger which is very exciting for MSP’s like ourselves. We believe that if we adapt and change with the times, we will always have a relevant business in the IT industry because there will always be people who need assistance with their computers or devices.

TechSelect Member Profile In this issue of Tech Times, we sit down with Hubert Lau of Ekota Central Ltd. to find out how TechSelect membership has helped provide his organization with the tools and resources they require to accelerate their business.

Jae Steen- Vice President, Hubert Lau- President, Jamie Swanson- Vice President


Over 170 solution providers attended our Business Builder Tour stop in Vaughan in September making it our largest show of the year. Previous shows took place in Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa. Once again, solution providers spent the day enriching business relationships and discussing opportunities with close to 40 IT manufacturers as well as Tech Data’s executives. Solution providers also participated in seven educational seminars with discussion topics designed to accelerate their business. Over $10,000 worth of prizes were awarded at the close of the evening’s reception. Thank you to everyone who attended the show and made it a great success!


20 of Tech Data’s TechSelect members and executive team joined HP, Intel and Microsoft in Houston September 8-11 for the 8th annual Technical Conference in Houston, Texas. The attendees took part in exclusive HP training sessions and had the opportunity to gain further market insight with presentations from complementary vendor partners, Intel and Microsoft.The attendees spent two days at HP’s leading-edge Customer Experience Centre where industry experts outlined HP’s PC, Print, Server, Storage and Networking emerging technologies. A trip to Houston would not be complete without the opportunity for the group unwind and build stronger relationships. They took some time to enjoy some fabulous southern food to round out a great couple of days.Thank you to all of our TechSelect members who attended and made this year’s event another great success!

May 19 marked Tech Data Canada’s 25 year anniversary and that gave the team a reason to celebrate! The parking lot was taken over by a few fantastic food trucks allowing the team to meet, mingle and share stories of their successes over the years.

Tech Data has grown over the past 25 years and our people really do make our team the difference in distribution. Thank you to all of our dedicated employees for your continued support and best-in-class service that you provide our reseller partners every day.

Celebrating a Milestone Achievement for Tech Data Canada Employees

Eighteen partners had the opportunity to join Cisco and Tech Data executives in one of the most magical cities in the world, Dubrovnik, Croatia this past September!

The event was a perfect balance of business and pleasure – four days of exchange and discussion combined with great networking and leisure activities.From historic walks in the old city of Dubrovnik, a car rally across the beautiful countryside and delicious home cooked meal with delicous grappa at Kreso’s house, to a sunset cruise on the Adriatic sea and spectaculars fireworks, it was full of incredibly memorable experiences that strengthened friendships for Cisco and Tech Data partners across Canada.

Thank you for your continued partnership with Cisco and Tech Data. Stay tuned as we start spreading the news soon on programs designed to enable you in the development of your strategic Cisco plans for 2015!

Remember, although different roads sometime lead to the same castle in Dubrovnik, all roads lead to Cisco and Tech Data in Canada!



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