Andrew Harris, chief sales and marketing officer, DCC Technologies.
Digital transformation is often spoken about as if it is a switch you flip. In my experience, it is anything but. It is a balancing act. You have to evolve systems, culture and processes while keeping the engine running strong. That tension, building the future while running the now, is the reality for every distributor and every reseller.
The challenge is simple to explain but tough to live: how do we give resellers more control without losing the personal relationships that matter?
In another piece, I referred to banking as an example of how industries shift when customers are given more control. Years ago, everything went through a private banker or a teller. Today, most of us hardly set foot in a branch. Self-service apps and online banking did not replace people, but they gave customers control of their own experience. Let me take that a step further by bringing it back to distribution. If a reseller e-mails for a quote, they hand control of that interaction to someone else. If they can log in, see live stock availability, build a basket and place the order themselves, they keep the control and gain time.
That’s where our broader digital transformation efforts come in – building systems that give resellers more control while removing unnecessary friction. It’s not about cutting salespeople out of the picture; their role remains vital for relationships, guidance and support. But when routine transactions move seamlessly through digital channels, sales teams are freed to add value where it really matters. We’ve already begun introducing these improvements with selected partners so we can refine them in real-world conditions before extending them more widely across the channel.
Change, of course, is never easy. South African resellers are no different to anyone else – we all tend to stick with what we know. Many smaller partners run lean operations, often with just one or two people handling everything from sales to deliveries. For them, any shift in process can feel like extra pressure. That’s why building trust, creating awareness and showing tangible value are essential. Digital transformation isn’t about flipping a switch; it’s a gradual journey that takes persistence, patience and partnership.
And the payoff is real. The more we digitise and integrate channel activity, the richer the data becomes. That data improves our own decisions – what to stock, in what volumes and how to price effectively. Every reseller interaction and purchasing pattern feeds smarter forecasting, reduces dead stock and improves availability for everyone.
We have also learned that simplification matters. Take the print environment. With hundreds of models and slight variations between them, the choice can overwhelm even experienced resellers. By creating clear customer personas and mapping products to those needs, we reduce complexity and guide smarter decisions. The catalogue becomes a conversation, not a guessing game. That is what distribution should be doing: removing friction and helping customers make confident choices.
Digital transformation is not a distant vision. It is a daily balancing act. We have to build systems that let a two-person reseller in Kuruman compete with a national player in Johannesburg, without breaking the relationships and trust that keep the channel alive. That is what “inside-out” transformation looks like, modernising from the core while keeping operations steady.
The message is clear: transformation is not a switch. It is a journey of a thousand small steps, each one making the channel stronger. And if we, as distributors, can balance building the future with running the now, we will create an ecosystem where everyone – from the top 5% to the smallest corner reseller – has the tools to thrive.
