HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- D&H Distributing, a major provider of SMB and consumer technologies to the North American high-tech channel, announces it saw double-digit overall growth during the past three months of 2017. Niche growth areas such as digital signage increased 51% year-over-year, and connected home solutions increased 42%.
Other steady areas such as security solutions, servers, workstations, and wireless solutions all grew between 36% and 17% in the same period. The distributor experienced 7.4% growth overall across North America in its Fiscal Year 2018 to this point, which began in May. These trends contributed to a profitable year for D&H, one in which the company has been aggressively recruiting new personnel and accelerating its vendor-based programs to drive sales as it moves toward its 100th anniversary.
Dynamic Enhancements, Increased Engagement
D&H expects a 5% increase in the breadth of its customer base over the next 18 months, based on ongoing expansions to its services and support programs. The distributor foresees significant opportunities for resellers who are looking to expand, as the industry faces a potential SMB back-office refresh cycle, spurred by the latest end-of-service dates for Microsoft Windows Server 2012 solutions.
Server upgrades are rarely an isolated phenomenon, since a server-based infrastructure encompasses a range of disciplines such as security, storage, back-up, email exchange, and web-based services. A back-office refresh also opens the door to discussions of cloud migration and the addition of hosted services. These present ample prospects for resellers, who can generate new projects, establish ongoing service contracts, and/or transition toward a higher-margin managed services model.
In addition, D&H’s trade show events began a critical evolution this year, moving from typical “selling” shows to an educational focus. This includes a greater emphasis on engaging VARs in opportunities to provide feedback on how D&H can structure offerings to meet their needs. These activities are conducted during the company’s ongoing “VAR Track” and “K-12 Advisory Group” meetings, which take place at the distributor’s trade events.
D&H has notably increased its partner enablement and VAR engagement efforts, involving close to 30% more resellers in its training activities in 2017 as compared to 2016. Trainings have been in the form of live, workshop-based sessions from vendor partner experts; peer-to-peer VAR engagement sessions led by D&H executives; streaming media Solutions Lab sessions on new technologies; specialized live “Boot Camps”; and vendor-dedicated road show sessions delivered at regional locations. Efforts will continue through 2018.
Industry Recognition, Exceptional Culture
D&H has recently been recognized by two prominent industry media companies for both its SMB expertise in the channel, and its internal company culture. The distributor won a “Tech Culture Workplace Excellence Award” from TMC (Technology Marketing Corporation), the publishers of Internet Telephony magazine, announced in October. This was based on a long roster of D&H benefits and internal offerings, including its ESOP program, its “D&H Cares” internal charity foundation, 401K matching, and other advantages that go beyond the standard company benefits plan. The TMC award “honors organizations committed to continuously improving the work-life balances of their employees including, but not limited to, growth potential, onsite culinary and recreational benefits, team building atmosphere, flexible hours, tuition and training programs, and attractive investment options.”
D&H was also named “Specialist Distributor of the Year” in the Channelnomics Innovation Awards program, based on D&H’s concentrated focus on the SMB marketplace. This award is designed to “recognize channel players across North America who bring innovation, forward thinking and excitement to the channel.”
“It’s been a banner year for D&H, and we have aggressive plans to develop our resellers’ businesses through comprehensive support. We intend to focus on robust technologies and urgent trends, from mesh computing, to cyber security solutions, to hosted opportunities,” said Dan Schwab, co-president at D&H Distributing. “We can help our VARs and MSPs create practices that address not just one category, but a regimented combination of solutions for SMB companies. VARs can profit from this holistic approach, and in the process, they will make their end-customers more agile and better positioned for growth through sophisticated, high-performance IT environments.”
Top Growth Categories at D&H, September to November 2017 (year-over-year):
| Digital Signage | 51 | % |
| Connected Home | 42 | % |
| Server Products | 36 | % |
| Network Security | 26 | % |
| Workstations | 19 | % |
| Wireless/networking | 17 | % |
| Notebooks/desktop | 14 | % |
| Printers | 13 | % |
About D&H Distributing
D&H Distributing believes the most important element of doing business is developing relationships for mutual success. The company continues to build upon its nearly 100-year-old culture by providing its manufacturers, co-owners, and partners with the utmost customer care, consultative guidance, and multi-market expertise. As one of North America’s leading technology distributors, it delivers a wealth of enablement resources and hands-on support services that empower resellers in the IT channel.
The company engages with solution providers, integrators, and VARs to meet current business challenges, as well as forecast their evolving, real-world needs and prospects for lucrative growth opportunities. D&H maintains a special focus on independent VARs expanding their competencies in areas such as hosted and cloud services, the modern mobile workplace, comprehensive SMB server networks, and cross-market expertise across the small business, education, healthcare, and government verticals, to name a few. The company's value proposition includes professional marketing resources, a new transactional service model, dedicated Solutions Specialists, and a highly-lauded webcast training venue; plus reseller engagement events such as technology trade shows, roundtable opportunities, training “track” sessions, and hands-on "lab" sessions.
The distributor is headquartered in Harrisburg, PA, in the US and in Brampton, Ontario, in Canada. Additional warehouses are located in Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Fresno, CA; and Vancouver, BC, Canada. Call D&H toll-free at (800) 340-1001, via www.dandh.com, or follow the distributor’s Facebook and Twitter feeds, https://www.facebook.com/DandHDistributing/ and @dandh.