Andrew Harris, chief sales and marketing officer, DCC Technologies.
I’ve always believed that one of the best ways to earn trust in the channel is simple: act like your own toughest customer. If we expect resellers to change behaviour, we need to put ourselves through the same process first.
That means living with the same platforms, pushing them to breaking point, and fixing the rough edges before we ever suggest anyone else should use them. It’s not enough to say “we’ve built something great.” Until we’ve sat on the other side, clicked through the screens, and asked “does this make my day easier or harder?”, we haven’t done the work.
Resellers aren’t short of options. What they want is confidence that the tools they’re being asked to adopt are tried, tested and actually useful. For me, that credibility comes from being willing to behave like a customer. It’s a discipline that keeps us honest.
The truth is, distribution has never been about glamour. It’s about credit, logistics, stock, and cashflow. Unromantic, yes, but those are the things that make a reseller’s business tick. When we innovate in that space, even in small ways, we free resellers to spend more time winning customers and less time chasing admin.
Think about how South African banking shifted. When apps first appeared, most people still preferred a branch visit. Over time, that balance tipped. Standard Bank reports that by late 2024, in-branch cash withdrawals had dropped by 64% compared to 2019, while transactions on its mobile app surged by 200% [1]. That change didn’t happen because of glossy marketing. It happened because the banks relied on their own platforms, ironed out the flaws, and made digital easier than standing in a queue.
Discovery Health did the same with Vitality. It didn’t just talk about gamification; it lived it, measuring behaviour and building the programme around real experience. The result was stickiness and loyalty.
The lesson for distribution is clear. If we want resellers to embrace digital tools and self-service systems, we need to walk that road first. Test every integration. Push every workflow. Break it and fix it again. That discipline underpins every digital improvement we introduce, from the internal tools we refine to the new capabilities we’re developing for partners. Then, when a reseller asks, “does this really work?” the answer isn’t theory, it’s experience.
I know adoption isn’t easy. Many smaller resellers run lean operations, often with only one or two people doing sales, admin and deliveries. The last thing they want is another login to manage. That’s why pressure-testing matters. If we can’t show that our own systems and tools save time, remove duplication, and cut costs, then it’s just another burden.
South Africa’s digital economy is expanding quickly. The GSMA estimates that the mobile ecosystem alone will contribute almost 20% of GDP by 2025 [2]. ICT is the backbone of that growth. Resellers will only share in the opportunity if they can operate more efficiently and at scale. Our role in distribution is to enable that, and the only way to do it credibly is to live what we sell.
So when I talk about acting like our own best customer, I mean this: if we don’t trust the systems ourselves, why should anyone else? Walking the talk isn’t marketing spin. It’s the only way to build trust. And in this market, trust is everything.
References:
1. https://www.standardbank.co.za/southafrica/news-and-media/newsroom/as-the-shift-to-digital-accelerates-who-is-still-relying-on-cash
2. https://www.gsma.com/about-us/regions/sub-saharan-africa/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GSMA_South-Africa-Report_Nov-2024-FINAL-VERSION.pdf
