Rick Reid, president of Tech Data Canada, orchestrated another major deal with Dell paving the way for the vendor to enter the tier 2 channel.
The Dell deal was significant from an industry-wide perspective, but from an internal perspective Reid’s decision to create a new business unit that would combine mobility and retail might end up, long-term to be what he will be remembered for in 2014.
Reid went and hired Wendy Franklin, a 16-year veteran of the channel, away from rival Ingram Micro Canada to drive this new division. Franklin and Reid worked together to plan out the strategy for the new mobility division.
Also in 2014, Reid was instrumental in bringing Tech Data’s StreamOne platform for cloud and software-as-a-service to Canada.
Wrapping up the year, Tech Data Canada launched a new marketing service in response to the need among small and medium-sized businesses in the channel for more marketing services.
Called resellerCONNECT, the program aims to better spend a company’s marketing dollars and will target those in the channel who already have established commerce relationships that Tech Data.
