Michael Costigan - Tech Data Asia Pacific vice president of marketing, education and supplier management.
Tech Data’s Technology Solutions business has partnered with e-commerce, shipping and customer engagement software solutions provider, Pitney Bowes.
The new agreement will see Tech Data’s Technology Solutions business deliver new customer experience solutions to Australian and New Zealand channels via Pitney Bowes’ software solution suite.
Tech Data said its team will further support partners through consulting services, training, and enablement to ensure partners can get access to the full potential of the solutions.
According to Tech Data Asia-Pacific vice-president of marketing, education and supplier management, Michael Costigan, Tech Data Technology Solutions and Pitney Bowes first began talks about a partnership around nine months ago.
“Discussions came about when we first launched our solutions Specialist Approach and Specialist Business Units (SBU) for cloud, mobility, security, data analytics and IoT [Internet of Things],” Costigan said. “Pitney Bowes quickly recognised that Technology Solutions wasn’t your ‘traditional distributor’ and were very interested in tapping into our ecosystem of strategic suppliers and partners.
“Pitney Bowes has some unique, innovative solutions around customer information management and location intelligence, coupled with a strategic intent to build a rewarding channel program.
“We jumped at the opportunity to help them build this and take something unique to market through our partners,” he said.
For Pitney Bowes Australia and New Zealand software solutions managing director, Nigel Lester, the alliance with Tech Data is a great fit as it pursues opportunities in high-growth technologies, including cloud, data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), mobility, and next-generation security.
“We recognised the need to partner with system integrators and influencers with deep skills and vertical expertise to better connect with customers and we feel that Tech Data has the right knowledge, expertise and the reach to complement our business objectives,” Lester said.
The deal follows the launch of Pitney Bowes’ new data practice, aimed at helping businesses accelerate their digital transformation initiatives.
The initiative also aims to solve the emerging challenges posed by the volume and velocity of data and the applications necessary for better insights. The new offering, along with the entire Pitney Bowes solution portfolio, will be available to Tech Data partners under the new deal.
The distribution agreement comes as Tech Data Technology Solutions vice president and general manager for Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ), Darren Adams, decides to leave the business which, until earlier this year, was a division of Avnet.
Tech Data's US$2.6 billion acquisition of Avnet's Technology Solutions business reached completion in February.
