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Tech Data's new role

The Clearwater company - a distributor of computer-related products - expands to help clients make their big-dollar deals.

By Madhusmita Bora, Times Staff Writer
Published February 23, 2008

In a mock hotel room set up by Tech Data Corp. of Clearwater, Steven Robb, vice president and general manager of LaSalle Soutions, tests the configuration of a bed, a plasma screen TV and computer software that acts as personal concierge.
	[Joseph Garnett Jr. | Times]

CLEARWATER - Last year, Steven Robb chanced upon a project that entailed hooking up hundreds of rooms at a national hotel chain with plasma screens, computers and a particular software.

There was just one hurdle.

The vice president and general manager of LaSalle Solutions, a 60-employee Chicago technology services firm, knew he didn't have the resources to clinch the multimillion-dollar deal.

So, he approached Clearwater's Tech Data Corp., a large computer products distribution business and, based on revenues, the Tampa Bay area's biggest public company.

Within weeks, Tech Data set up a mock hotel room at its corporate headquarters with a bed, a plasma screen television, and computer software that acts as personal concierge to the guest. It also offered to configure and assemble the products and ship them to the hotel chain on LaSalle's behalf.

The partnership reflects the new, friendlier face of Tech Data. The distribution giant no longer just picks, packs and ships. It helps its clients - also known as the value-added resellers - with credit, system configurations, sales tools and tech support.

"I knew the capabilities Tech Data had," Robb said. "But what was really impressive was when they decided to step outside their comfort zone and build the hotel room."

The new strategy would help Tech Data grow its business, said Robert Forsythe, dean of the University of South Florida's College of Business in Tampa.

"Until recently, their margins were paper thin," Forsythe said. "By adding these complementary services, they are trying to change that."

While Tech Data has been offering some of the services for quite a while, "it's a little-known secret," said Barb Miller, company vice president of government, technical and integration services.

The company became more aggressive in the past two years, focusing "on doing things instead of waiting for things to happen," Miller said.

The strategy mirrors the changes sweeping the industry, said Timothy J. Curran, chief executive of the Global Technology Distribution Council. The St. Petersburg-based international trade association represents the $90-billion distribution industry.

Companies have diversified and ventured into newer territory since the Internet bubble burst, and they have become more efficient, Curran said. "They have changed with the breadth of product category and breadth of vendors," the former Tech Data executive explained.

It's no longer about selling personal computers, but network equipment, scanners and servers, too. Between 2002 and 2006, overhead costs at U.S. distribution companies dropped to 5.8 percent from 7 percent. At the same time, sales boomed, reaching $100-billion in 2006.

"The bigger companies are leveraging size and scale to provide additional services," Curran said. "I think you will see more of that in the future."

Tech Data clients such as LaSalle aren't complaining.

The company won the pilot project of 500 rooms after hotel officials toured the mock room in Clearwater. LaSalle's Robb now has his eyes on the future.

"This is just one hotel chain," he said. "There's a 4.5-million room opportunity still out there."

Tech Data Corp.
Headquarters: Clearwater
CEO: Bob Dutkowsky
Founded: 1974
Number of employees: 8,000 worldwide
2007 net sales: $21.4-billion
Source: Tech Data Corp.

Madhusmita Bora can be reached at mbora@sptimes.com or (813) 225-3112.

[Last modified February 22, 2008, 22:40:29]