As the technology market begins waking up from the crisis that has plagued the international economy for the past two years, market pundits believe smaller IT resellers face one of the most difficult periods in the local technology market's history.
On one end of the scale, the small- and medium-sized businesses that smaller IT players have traditionally made a good living out of aren't yet ready to embark on a refresh of their entire IT environment.
And on the other end, the larger deals that are on the table today either require such competitive pricing that the margins are too low for smaller resellers to make a reasonable living; or require the kind of in-depth IT knowledge that these specialist resellers don't possess.
By drawing on the competency that has existed within technology distributors such as Tarsus Technologies for the past decade now, however, some of the more astute small resellers are finding a way forward.
“Over the past six months, there's been a steady increase in the number of resellers calling on us to assist them with the planning required for more complex rollouts, the kind of intellectual capital required for high-end network upgrades and the workforce required to staff large-scale rollouts,” says Greg Pothitos, HP ESSN business unit manager at Tarsus Technologies.
“And we're happy to report that we went out on a limb six months ago and invested in the resources to satisfy this need in the market appropriately,” he adds.
Pothitos says it's always been unrealistic for the market's smaller players to house the kind of skills and the sizeable workforce required for the kind of deals abundant in the market today.
“However, for a company the size of Tarsus with the competencies it has, having the skills and workforce required to cope with larger, more complex deals, made a great deal more sense.
“And by already having built this kind of competency, we've managed to create a vital differentiator that few of our competitors have on tap today,” he adds.
Today, Pothitos says this has translated into a scenario where smaller resellers are able to focus on their traditional core competency of understanding their customers' environments and making timely, well-thought out recommendations about their customers' IT decisions. Tarsus has specialised in the sourcing of equipment and logistics, and focused on the core skills and services required to make the sizeable and more complex deals happen for these resellers.
“We're delighted that things have panned out the way they have,” Pothitos continues, “since one of our goals has always been to allow resellers of all sizes to be successful through fostering a closer relationship with Tarsus.
“With our product teams being capable of assisting with any deal, regardless of complexity or size, we're confident that we have the mechanisms in place to bridge the gap between what resellers are able to offer today and what the market requires.
“We would like to encourage the market to come and see what Tarsus has built with regards to its skills base and demonstration centres, and to encourage resellers that are struggling with issues of size or expertise to draw on what we have to offer.
“Together with our resellers we are well positioned to capitalise on the opportunities in the market,” he adds.
“And as such, we're extremely confident about what the industry has in store for the coming year,” he concludes.
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Tarsus Technologies
With more than 25 years of experience in the ICT industry, Tarsus is the leading value-added distributor in South Africa, specialising in the supply of the world's foremost PC and peripheral hardware brands to the local reseller channel.
Tarsus strives to meet the channel's needs for credit funding, stock availability and efficient logistics, ensuring that resellers are able to deliver the highest quality service to their customers, focus on support and compiling the best overall solutions for their end-user customer base at the lowest possible cost.
The company prides itself on its flexibility, adaptability, knowledge, skills and successful track record combined with an industry-leading ability to manage large rollouts. These are the reasons Tarsus has consistently been rated as the top distributor in the country by international vendors, resellers and the IT media alike.
With its strong commitment to the South African channel, Tarsus is able to not only make the reseller channel more efficient, but more importantly, it plays a vital role in dramatically reducing the costs of doing business in the local ICT market.
Tarsus distributes a range of products from the world's leading manufacturers, including Acer, APC, Cisco, Dell, Gateway, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Meissner, OKI Printing Solutions, Toshiba and Samsung.
Tarsus' head office is situated in Johannesburg with branches in Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and Nelspruit. Tarsus has also extended its footprint into Africa with branches in Namibia, Botswana and Mauritius.
More information about Tarsus is available at: http://www.tarsus.co.za.
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