Tomlin takes Azlan top spot

Former SDG man becomes new managing director with immediate effect as acting head Andy Gass hands over the reins

Azlan's new managing director is stressing it is business as usual while he gets his feet under the table in his new role.

Rob Tomlin (pictured) joined Tech Data in 2012 after the distribution giant acquired SDG, and he will be charged with spearheading the next stage of Azlan's development, working closely with its stable of VARs, system integrators and MSPs, and vendor partners.

Tech Data's UK and Ireland managing director Andy Gass has covered the role on an 'acting head' basis for the past 18 months while the integration of SDG took full effect.

Gass said the transition had been important to ensure the two companies were comfortably merged together.

"My role has been necessary to concentrate on the cultural integration of SDG and retaining and securing what we had," he told CRN. "That certainly wasn't an inconsiderable amount of work. In the last three to four months we decided that we needed a full-time Azlan managing director role; someone to lead the company into the next stage of its development and make sure it operates as one entity rather than three or four subdivisions.

"We are pleased that we have found in Rob somebody who really wants wants the role and can do it," Gass added.

With more than 15 years' experience in various distribution roles, Rob Tomlin said he was well placed to lead Azlan in its next phase of growth.

"I'm very excited," he said. "I've been around for 15 years in enterprise distribution and the key thing for me is making sure we do the basics right and making sure we don't change too much in a short period of time. I need to make sure all areas of the business are collaborating and that we are positioned to grow. It is also important to keep developing our own talent within the business. I have done every role from buying account manager up to my new role and the basics are important.

He added: "There is a rapid transition to the cloud, and TD Cloud is something that we are going to be doubling down on, as well as being innovative in the marketplace and exciting our vendors. Five years ago people were questioning the role of distribution, but I really feel that the move to cloud and software-defined everything means the role of distribution becomes even more important to both vendors and partners.

"Resellers are evolving and changing all the time, and they need us to guide them on their journey. As long as we are innovative and are helping our partners identify new trends and are investing in the right areas, we will continue to grow and stay relevant in the market."