Synnex says it plans to stay on track after the departure of John Paget, the former president of Synnex’s Technology Solutions Division. And it’s certainly been keeping busy over the past week.
The distributor announced plans last week to acquire Link2Support, a technical support and contact centre company based in Manila, the Philippines, that offers technical support through voice, e-mail and chat communications. Synnex plans to offer technical support as a service to its VARs and their customers – but rather than offshore this service, the distributor wants to maintain control by doing it in-house.
This isn’t the distributor’s first foray into this area. Last year it acquired Concentrix, which provides call centre, database analysis and print-on-demand services. Synnex resellers currently have access to these services, but the Link2Support acquisition represents a broadening of those services.
Synnex says more VARs are turning to the organization for support – because even if VARs have their own in-house support, it’s hard to provide higher levels of support to customers for more complex solutions.
Link2Support will be integrated with Concentrix to provide technical support, remote management and integrated marketing services to VARs. Together, Link2Support and Concentrix have about 2,700 employees, which Synnex says will be a boon to its North American customer base – particularly because it will be able to offer more services to VARs and vendor partners alike.
And this isn’t the only acquisition Synnex has made in the past week. Only a few days ago, Synnex announced plans to buy PC Wholesale from Insight Enterprises for US$10 million (plus another US$20 million for other assets). The deal is expected to close by early March.
PC Wholesale is a distributor that focuses on end-of-life and refurbished equipment. Insight acquired PC Wholesale back in 2002, but it was always a strange fit for Insight, which focuses on selling direct to end users rather than through the channel. Recognizing this inconsistency, it handed the division over to Synnex, which will integrate the business into its own.
PC Wholesale’s business represents a new vertical for Synnex, which will bring in new VARs and customers, not to mention offer additional services to current reseller and OEM partners. On its Web site, Synnex is inviting PC Wholesale resellers to become authorized Synnex VARs. And this could be a good thing, since former Insight resellers likely didn’t get the attention and resources they required from Insight.
The distribution market is continually shifting, with mergers, acquisitions and changing business models. And Synnex certainly isn’t standing still. There will likely be some short-term disruption, but those resellers in it for the long haul should see additional business opportunities and better technical support.
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