Exertis: We are not bothered by Dell's growing distributor stable

Growth-hungry distributor says its seven-year history with the vendor sets it apart from the competition

Ambitious distributor Exertis has expressed its surprise at the speed of Dell’s latest distributor appointment (Tech Data), but said it welcomed the competition.

Speaking to CRN, Phil Brown (pictured), B2B sales director at the firm, said Exertis was enjoying strong growth after its rebrand last year – which saw the Micro-P and Gem names dropped.

“Feedback has been very positive,” he said. “The rebrand has been accepted well by resellers and vendors alike, and we have done a lot of work in the background to raise awareness and inform our customers that they can come to our business and access all products.

“We had a successful year last year, and as always have big growth aspirations for the year ahead and we are really pushing our enterprise message.”

Brown explained that the firm is putting extra resources into its server/storage business, recruiting seven new people to ensure its focus on vendors such as Dell, Lenovo and Fujitsu stays strong. And he said the launch of its Intelligent Configuration Engine (ICE) tool is already starting to bear fruit.

“Whether this is large, tier-one resellers or small SMB resellers, ICE allows them to ship the next day, and helps us differentiate ourselves in the market,” Brown said.

In terms of Dell’s rapidly growing distribution line-up, Brown said the appointment of Tech Data was quicker than expected.

“We definitely expected more to join, but it did happen a bit quicker than we thought it would,” he said. “However, we always welcome the competition and it will help drive Dell’s distribution message, which is still fairly new.

“We have a seven-year relationship with them and a great partnership in the UK, and a number of programmes out in the channel have been devised in conjunction with us, plus we have dedicated business teams matched to their technology, so we are feeling confident.”

He added that the distribution landscape is always changing, and said consolidation will continue in a competitive market, but Exertis is focused on building market share with its extensive vendor partners. “We are building on the relationships with vendor partners that we already have, and are seeing a lot of opportunity in the market,” Brown said.