Tech Data UK steps up strategic investment to build on healthy year-on-year growth in security business

By Simon Meredith | 4th June 2018
  • Tech Data looks to capitalise on strong double-digit increase
  • Further recruitment will see heads added across Security Business Practice
  • Centre of Excellence being established at Warrington

Basingstoke, 04 June 2018 – Tech Data (Nasdaq: TECD) is aiming to build on healthy year-on-year growth in its security business, double its headcount and create a dedicated Centre of Excellence at its Warrington location.

This latest round of commitments takes the total investment made in Tech Data’s Security Practice over the past year into seven figures, as the company executes on a strategic plan to establish itself as the go-to trusted advisor on security solutions in distribution. It is doubling the size of its Security Practice team over the next six months. Staff will be recruited in all areas – including professional services, account management, business development, marketing and operations.

Rob Tomlin, Managing Director, Tech Data Advanced Solutions, UK and Ireland said: “We’ve seen amazing growth in our security business. Organically, we have doubled over the past two years and we’ve seen a significant acceleration over the last 12 months. These achievements demonstrate that that our strategic and scalable approach is working. Our vendor partners and our customers are showing great confidence in us and we are ready to capitalise on that success.

“This further investment will see us expand our support to partners around digital security and data protection. We are taking a very different approach and getting really positive results, as are the partners that are coming with us on that journey.”

Tech Data has seen significant growth in all its key vendors, including Cisco, IBM, McAfee, Symantec and RSA and it will be underlining its commitment and demonstrating its capability to support partners at InfoSec 2018 early next month.

Tech Data will be looking to discuss potential business development opportunities with both resellers and vendors at the conference and exhibition, said Alison Nixon, Business Unit Director – Security at Tech Data Advanced Solutions, UK.

“As organisations transform and move to hybrid infrastructures, and as their needs with respect to compliance and data management change, we need a much more integrated approach to digital security. The way IT security is being bought, deployed and consumed is changing significantly. We have to understand those shifts and the business outcomes and aims they are intended and expected to deliver. We need to build vendor ecosystems that are scalable and address specific requirements – such as GDPR, ransomware and endpoint protection – and help resellers to deliver security propositions that meet customer needs across modern workplaces and infrastructures.”

The Centre of Excellence is being established to give partners a clear focal point for security.  “It’s a challenge for resellers to keep pace with changes in security products – and services and support are also vital to success. The Centre of Excellence will be the go-to place for partners on security. It will give them access to information and intelligence on the latest developments and to expertise that can help them fill the gaps in their own capabilities.

“We believe we already have the best and most expert security people in distribution, and this new round of recruitment will make us even more capable of enabling and supporting partners in developing their own practices and taking propositions to the market.”

As well as knowledge and skills across all vendor technologies, resellers that work with the Tech Data’s Security Practice will have access to a customer briefing centre and demonstration facilities at the Centre of Excellence, which will be located at the company’s offices in Warrington. This will become Tech Data Europe’s main security knowledge centre and a focal point for innovation and development of new propositions and managed services.

All this, Nixon noted, is backed by the extensive capabilities of the Tech Data organisation. “Our foundation capabilities, the marketing and the credit support and logistical resources we can offer are simply unrivalled and that gives our partners added confidence that Tech Data can deliver as a trusted advisor to the channel on security.”

Tech Data will be actively seeking additional security vendors that can add value to its current ecosystem. “We are constantly on the look-out for vendors who can help us and our partners grow in new areas, such as hyperconverged infrastructures, edge computing and hybrid cloud.”

Picture: Rob Tomlin, Tech Data.

Azlan Rob Tomlin

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