'Networking Confidence' seminars graduate more than 200 resellers

The seminars, built around giving technology resellers enough confidence to install and support Cisco wireless and security networks, aims at providing resellers with opportunities to add value to customers and take a more vital, driving role in building the adoption of Internet technologies in business across the region. Pradeep Angeveetil, Cisco unit business manager at Tech Data comments:" The turnout in Riyadh, Bahrain and Oman has been more than we expected and the interaction with resellers have surely created a different level of expertise in the market."

"We cannot simply sell a networking solution; clients today, especially in the small to medium businesses market, ask for consultancy, installation, and continuous support and this is where our value and profit will really come from. Networking Confidence gave us hands-on tools and skills to approach our markets with enough confidence," says Taha Al Khiary, President and CEO of ARCOM, a Riyadh based technology reseller. Tech Data awarded ARCOM with "Best 2001 Tech Data Wireless Partner in KSA" award and Al Gosaibi Services Company Ltd with "Best 2001 Tech Data Security Partner in KSA" award.

Networking Confidence seminars came as a response to alarming research results in the region that show that fewer resellers are focusing their efforts on networked systems. The research, sponsored by Tech Data and carried out by Dubai-based research consultancy Paradigm, shows that while 68% of resellers surveyed in 2000 counted networked systems as part of their key product mix, that number has dropped to 51% in 2001.

Stephen Fernandes from Al Moayyed International in Bahrain said: "We no longer need to convince the market that networking is good for their business or that they need to secure their networks; but rather, we need to prove that we have enough capability to support the continuity of performance of their systems and the seminar delivers that capability." Tech Data awarded Al Moayyed International for "Excellence in Cisco Sales for 2001" and Fakhroo technical Services for "Best 2001 Multi Services Networking Solutions Partner in Bahrain."

Networking Confidence seminars are scheduled to go to Kuwait, followed by Jordan, Egypt, and the UAE. "The end result that we are seeking is to enable resellers across the region to better service and strongly retain their clients. The market today demands that resellers not only sell information technology products, but understand the underlying technology and be able to support it on end-users' sites," said Angeveetil.

Networking Confidence seminars fall under Tech Data 's "Build VAR business with Tech Data" program launched earlier this year. The yearlong program aims at developing the expertise of resellers and expanding their sources of revenue by giving them the tools needed to establish profitable and long-term relationship with the front end of the market. "Building the Information Technology VAR Business" program of Tech Data will continue involving technology vendors, the specialized teams of Tech Data and the entire reseller channel in the Gulf and the Levant in on-going knowledge-transfer process that creates more revenue to the entire channel," ended Eliot Shepherd, marketing director at Tech Data.

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