IT Group has united all its distribution operations across the UK, France, The Netherlands, Africa and the Middle East into a single international business under one brand, SDG (Specialist Distribution Group).
Its long-established specialist vendor and technology brands of ETC, Bestware, ISI, IQ-Sys and Interchange will be all known as SDG companies and command a single market positioning as the specialist distributor for EMEA whilst leveraging in country relationships.
Group chair and chief executive, Sir Peter Rigby, sees the rebranding as an important step in ensuring ongoing growth and expansion.
He said: “Distribution has changed dramatically from a local country operation providing IT products to a global business landscape competing with major US players with a background of distributing components or volume-related consumer goods.
“Specialist technology distribution has always been the core business focus throughout our 28 year history.
“Whilst we have been continuously investing in our value added offerings and facilities – especially in our Business Solution Centres which enable resellers and their customers to successfully deploy leading vendor technologies – because we have traded as a variety of brands in different countries, our market positioning has not reflected the size, capability and added value of our combined businesses.
“The single brand identity of SDG means we can clearly position ourselves as the specialist distributor for EMEA. At the same time, we see a real value in leveraging our existing brands in country. Under SDG we are a leading partner with all the major technology vendors including IBM, HP, Lenovo, Citrix, VMware and Symantec.
“Indeed, SDG customers have access to an enviable portfolio including mobile and desktop client, virtualisation, server, networking, security and storage together with services, solutions centres and a cloud based strategy.”
Paul Eccleston takes on the new role of managing director of SDG and will report directly to Sir Peter.
Formally the managing director of UK Distribution, Paul Eccleston is excited about the prospect of positioning SDG as EMEA’s number one specialist distributor.
He commented: “The ability to balance scale and local knowledge is becoming an increasingly essential criteria for resellers in choosing their distribution partner. Our reseller customers need a distributor who can not only leverage scope and scale to help them work effectively with their vendor partners but also deliver good local management and knowledge to execute in country.
“The demands of end users on both resellers and vendors have changed in the last five years and continue to change. Today, it is about selling solutions that meet a customer’s business need – as opposed to selling products.
“We are building our solution capabilities to complement all channels to market; from the smallest resellers looking after regional and local SMEs to national VARs and SIs. Our strategy is all about supporting and enabling them to deliver best of breed solutions to their customers.
“They need a distributor who can complement them and add specialist resource, capability and capacity so they can deliver the right solution – where and when their end customer demands it. Through SDG, we can leverage our scope, scale and vendor relationships to achieve this uniquely by working for them and with them across EMEA.”
Ends
Notes to editors
SDG key facts:
$2.34bn turnover
650 employees
The specialist distributor for EMEA
Top three distributor for HP, IBM and Software
Best of breed Hardware + Software + Services = Solutions for resellers and their customers
International coverage in over 47 territories
28 years’ successful track record
World-class supply chain and logistics operations
Contact details
Judy Groves
Group Marketing Director
Tel: 0121 766 2580 / 07850 622 488
Email: judy.groves@sch-group.com
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