Tarsus Technologies and A.C.T. have jointly announced that the companies will be hosting South Africa`s first cross-brand conference focused solely on uplifting and empowering the local value added resellers channel.
Simply called `The Channel Conference` brought to you by Tarsus and A.C.T., the content will break with the traditional product and technology trends in the industry and deliver vital information and business insight to SME resellers looking to further and grow their businesses in the tough South African market.
Slated for 10 March 2005, the channel conference will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre and will be the first iteration of what the two distributors intend to make an annual event.
"The channel conference is yet another value-add Tarsus Technologies and A.C.T. are providing to their loyal customer base," says Jo-Anne Viljoen, marketing manager for Tarsus Technologies. "We are anticipating a very positive response and the content has been tailored to deliver a healthy mix of trends and business advice to the largest segment of resellers in the country, namely the SME`s."
Viljoen says that the provisional programme for the conference consists of four plenary sessions and numerous break-out sessions, aimed at improving business acumen and fostering a sustainable channel.
"The plenary sessions will provide resellers with insight into trends in the ICT market, as well as the best way to deal with business issues, like communicating with banking institutions, and developing foolproof strategies," Viljoen continues.
"The break-out sessions will be jam-packed with valuable content. These are divided into sales, marketing and business tracks, with topics like selling in the channel environment, generating sales leads, using commission to motivate sales teams, branding yourself and using `guerilla-marketing` tactics, taking the limelight."
"As the first foray into these types of activities, both Tarsus and A.C.T. are extremely excited about the value this channel conference will deliver to our customers," says Gary Pickford, sales director of A.C.T. "With so many ICT conferences focusing on technology and products today, we believe our channel conference will be a breath of fresh air for many resellers and help us to keep the channel both successful and sustainable."
"After all, with over 80% of the ICT business in South Africa still being conducted through the channel, sustainability and success of the channel is not only in the distributor and resellers` interest, but in the interest of the whole ICT market," Pickford concludes.
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Tarsus Technologies is rated by suppliers and channel partners as South Africa`s leading hardware distributor for its stability, service ethos, product knowledge, excellent support, competitive pricing strategies and channel focus.
Distributing a wide range of products from the world`s leading manufacturers, including Acer, APC, HP, IBM, OKI, Samsung, Tally, and supplementing this range with its own brand - the Tarsus PC - Tarsus focuses strongly on long-lasting partnerships with its suppliers and resellers. In line with this philosophy Tarsus provides a comprehensive range of services to its resellers that enables them to add value to their own offering, and assists them in growing their business.
It is this service offering that has afforded Tarsus a number of Channel accolades. The latest include: Channel Executive Awards - 2002; Best Distributor Overall - 2002; Compaq`s "BDG Distributor of the Year" award - 2001 and CRN Outlook Awards - 2002.
More information about Tarsus is available at: < http://www.tarsus.co.za.
A.C.T.
Advanced Consumables Technology (Pty) Ltd (A.C.T.) is a focused supplier of high quality IT consumables.
The company`s products and value-added services support cost-effective print management, risk management in the data storage arena, and quality output to all media formats, including speciality papers.
A.C.T. is committed to the delivery of world-class products and services to a national network of Premier Business Partners and resellers who address the entire potential market for IT consumables in SA and neighbouring states in the SADC region.
The company operates as a fully-authorised supplier of a comprehensive range of high quality products that are manufactured by the world`s premier brand name vendors.
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