To keep up with the firehose of news and press releases, we’ve decided to deliver some extra news to you on the side. Some of it is an extension of our own reporting on the channel that didn’t make its way into a story, while others might be content we’ve bookmarked for later reading and thought of sharing with you. We’re doing a similar thing at IT World Canada – check it out here. Missed last week’s CDN Morning Briefing? Read it here. Today’s CDN Morning Briefing is delivered by ITWC editorial director Alex Coop.
What you need to know, right now
It’s what you need to know right now – ’nuff said.
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Commvault’s FutureReady virtual event is tomorrow. Check out their agenda. (The event is available only to press and analysts)
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Microsoft Inspire is also this week! We’ll be on top of that as well, but check out their agenda in the meantime.
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To find out more about the uptake and impact of vendor financing programs, like the one’s Cisco and Dell Technologies rolled out near the beginning of the lockdown, we reached out to D&H Canada to learn more.
Q: How many partners or clients have reached out to you about these programs?
A: It’s difficult to track the actual number of accounts who have reached out. That said, since March, D&H has seen an increase of almost 50% in sales volume that has gone through our extended terms programs such as the DLL 60 day offering.
— Matt Riley, director of credit and financial services, D&H Distributing
Q: Is cash flow still the primary concern for most partners/clients seeking assistance?
A: Cash flow is a very real concern for small and medium-sized businesses as they fight to remain open and to identify new end users. Although our larger target channel partners find this a challenging environment as well, they have been managing better than smaller solution providers because of the increased scope of end-users they supply.
— Tom Guagliardi, vice-president of sales and vendor management, Canada, D&H Distributing
Additionally, many accounts are in need of higher credit limits as they win bids for meeting the increased demand for remote work/learning technology. Since March, nearly 120 resellers have received credit line increases resulting in millions of dollars in new credit, growing lines by 40 percent or more.
— Matt Riley
Q: Have you seen changes in how your partners operate – and what their clients are demanding – that you think represent permanent changes in the IT supply chain – in terms of what products are purchased, or how they are used, and/or how they are procured, deployed and supported?
A: Communication is more critical now than ever. As manufacturers dealt with the surging demand for laptops, monitors, and accessories, D&H Canada has been told that there could still be product shortages into Q3 of the calendar year. Procurement teams will be challenged to balance the long-term availability of goods. Our partners are asking us to bring in products sooner and have them held on reserve, or have asked if inventory can be protected for them. It’s important to manage how stock is deployed, making sure that we as a distribution partner can best provide a broad product assortment to our entire base of solution providers.
— Tom Guagliardi
Q: What product categories and/or channel business activities (or business models) seem best aligned with these changes?
A: Laptops, monitors, webcams, and accessories are expected to remain leading categories for our channel partner community. Ecommerce and retail should continue their strong performance as people remain indoors for social distancing purposes. Virtual events, like the D&H THREADcast, have been very successful in getting in front of our reseller base, delivering education, product showcases, vendor presentations, and Q&As. It helps to listen to the concerns of our partners in order to help us all navigate through COVID as an industry.
— Tom Guagliardi
In case you missed it
The recent news that we maybe didn’t get to yet, or it’s the news we’ve already reported on and feel is worth resurfacing.
Catch up on ITWC’s Digital Transformation Week in today’s ITWC Morning Briefing
We want to thank everyone who submitted a nomination form, as well as all of this year’s finalists. We want to extend our thanks to this year’s judges, sponsors, speakers, panelists, and everyone who registered and tuned in for the virtual event itself.
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Canadian icon to headline Women in the IT Channel Luncheon
Veronica Tennant, C.C., has reinvented herself many times since she danced as Prima Ballerina with The National Ballet of Canada with luminaries such as Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Tennant has garnered acclaim as a filmmaker and producer, written two children’s books and has served as one of Canada’s National Ambassadors for UNICEF since 1992.
Almost a decade ago she shared the story of her life’s journey during an early CDN Women in the IT Channel Recognition Luncheon. On Aug. 20 as part of 10th-anniversary festivities, she’s returning to speak again – virtually this time – to update us on the last decade.
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From Channel Daily News – Softchoice wins Microsoft’s Canadian Partner of the Year Award, Wipro, Architech, and RedBit also recognized [FULL STORY]
Microsoft says there were more than 3,300 nominations for this year’s Partner of the Year Awards from over 100 countries, and Softchoice took home the honour of Canadian Partner of the Year, while three other Canadian partners walked away with category awards.
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From The Register – Bad news: Your Cisco switch is a fake and an update borked it. Good news: It wasn’t designed to spy on you [FULL STORY]
Two types of fake Cisco switches – discovered after a software upgrade hobbled counterfeit gear at an unidentified IT firm – appear to have been designed for profit rather than espionage.
Reddit recap
The MSP subreddit community is growing rapidly. It’s also a chatty bunch. With more than 76,000 members as of today, it’s worth taking a look at what they have to say every once in a while. Here are the past week’s top posts. Click on the posts to view additional responses.
Outlook crashing immediately for multiple clients from r/msp
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Automating with PowerShell: Running scripts under the currently logged on user from r/msp
