Getting the Global view

I have just been in a room filled with the chief executives of all the major global distributors and I have to say it was a surreal experience.

The event was the Global Technology Distribution Council’s (GTDC) first European-based investor relations conference, which aimed to tap some of the greatest minds in distribution and get their feelings on the state of the market.

All the big names were at the event, held at the swanky Wyndham Grand Hotel in Chelsea Harbour, including Greg Spierkel from Ingram, Roy Vallee from Avnet, Don Bell from Bell Micro, Fabian von Kuenheim from Magirus, Gary Coburn from Horizon, Tom Dolan from Westcon Group and Robert Dutkowsky from Tech Data.

It made for an interesting event ­ but obviously a lot of the answers were guarded because nobody wanted to give away any trade secrets in front of a room full of their biggest rivals.

However the feeling from the room was overwhelmingly positive ­ the general message was that distribution was holding its own in the market, despite the threats of the credit crunch, rising oil prices and shrinking margins.

Interestingly, the majority of distribution heads that had a US presence admitted the market was weaker in that territory, but hinted it was nothing to get alarmed about.

The event also had speakers from two vendors that are flying high at the moment ­ Apple and VMware ­ both of which said they included distribution as a key part of their business going forward.

This inevitably translates into a positive message for resellers because if the distributors are feeling confident, then credit will keep flowing and vendor investment will continue to be diverted into channel coffers.

Watch out for my full report on the GTDC event coming soon.