SDD and HP have cemented their partnership with a view to improving service to their dealer base. Steven Kramer has been appointed as general manager of the HP business unit at SDD. Kramer says: "We want the market to view SDD as HP and vice versa."
SDD, the only distributor in SA to stock the entire range of HP products, has taken several steps to improve the value that dealers get when working with them. The first of these was the appointment of a technical expert to provide dealers with skills support.
"At the moment," states Kramer, "this service is provided free of charge to our clients." The HP business unit has also teamed a marketing and sales rep with the technician in order to offer a value-added customer service to the dealer. "We want to offer our clients a full service solution, through comprehensive pre- and post-sales support and added technical assistance," says Kramer.
"We have consolidated the HP team at SDD and are confident that the 12-member team is invigorated and determined to offer dealers the highest standard of service and support," explains Kramer. In addition, dealers have access to the Team HP Web site (www.teamHP.co.za) which provides access to all things HP at SDD, including information on the latest HP products and promotions as well as upcoming HP and SDD events.
A link to the DealerWeb is also present along with the latest drivers and software updates. The launch of the new, revised Team HP Web site took place on 11 September at the Montecasino Cinema Prive, where dealers were introduced to the site at the premiere of the movie "A Knight's Tale". SDD has also created an 'HP hotdesk' on their premises for mobile HP staff to work at when visiting the distributor, showing the close synergy between the companies.
Kramer concludes: "The HP division at SDD was profitable during July and August for the first time in many months. We want to keep it that way. We also intend to become responsible for 65% of SDD's business within the next six months. We want to make sure that it's as easy as possible for our customers to work with us, so that we can achieve this goal."
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SDD, the focused IT company in the Siltek Technology Chain Group, is SA's largest broad-based distributor of information technology. SDD encourages black empowerment opportunities and is the partner of choice of several leading vendors.
It distributes a wide range of 'best of breed' hardware and software products, as well as peripherals, components and consumables. SDD configures branded hardware and builds-to-order Xylo, Vision and Fujitech, its own range of PCs. SDD has branches in Gauteng, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, Bloemfontein, Nelspruit and Namibia. Outside SA, the company has partnerships in Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Siltek Limited
Siltek Limited leads the Southern African technology supply chain. Listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1969, Siltek comprises several complementary operating companies, each of which is a key player in its niche focus area.
Siltek Limited is grouped into three main operating divisions, namely Volume Distribution, Specialist Distribution and Supply Chain Services. Companies in the Volume division are SDD, Workgroup and Memtek-MMW. Specialist Distribution consists of Siltek Telecoms, Chemetrix, Siltek Healthcare Solutions, Siltek Midrange Solutions and Intelligent Systems. Imperitek, Merchandise IT and Siltek Finance make up the Supply Chain Services division.
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