Small, customer-focused resellers that are committed to certifying their staff to sell and support the products they represent are finding the local channel environment easier to navigate than ever before.
"That`s because vendors such as Cisco are beginning to treat certification as one of the most important criteria when it comes to ranking their partners," says Alan Hawkins, national sales manager at Tarsus Technologies, "and this is changing the status quo in the market to some degree."
Hawkins is quick to point out that the market previously favoured the larger players, but now, provided they have the adequate certification, all the players are being afforded the full support of their vendors.
"In the competitive market we`re operating in, technology vendors are under as much pressure as resellers," he continues. The difference is that vendors are looking to grow their channels and to expand their reach into unexploited areas such as the SMB space.
"By supporting minor players, vendors can build small specialist resellers with expertise in specific niches," he says. "And since the IT environment is becoming far more niche-centric, this is an important step in future-proofing their strategy."
Hawkins says the support vendors are giving to these smaller, certified resellers often comes in the form of additional price breaks and training support. This allows them to be more competitive when it comes to going up against larger resellers and in some case, to exceed what these players are able to deliver when it comes to expertise.
"Vendors such as Cisco do, however, want to see the reseller taking the first step," he adds.
"I recommend that resellers wanting to compete with the more prominent players in the market and begin realising the opportunities of strong vendor support start on the certification trail today.
"They will undoubtedly see their vendors reciprocate," he concludes.
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With more than 20 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 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.
Brands represented by the Tarsus stable include industry leaders like Acer, Cisco, HP, IBM, Lenovo, LG, Logitech, OKI, Samsung, TallyGenicom, Targus and Wyse Technology.
More information about Tarsus is available at http://www.tarsus.co.za.
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