Distributor Tech Data signs managed services provider Zenith Infotech to bolster its MSP offerings for small and midsize business VARs. Tech Data has added meat to the bones of its managed services portfolio by Feb. 19 announcing a deal with Zenith Infotech.
The distributor and the managed services provider will look to aggressively recruit and train VARs in the managed services arena, kicking off with a marketing campaign the week of Feb. 19.
"When we looked at our SMB [small and midsize business] strategy, VARs were telling us that SMBs were struggling to keep pace with technology and labor costs, but they still need technology performance to help their businesses," Joe Quaglia, Tech Data senior vice president of U.S. Marketing, told Channel Insider. This, he said, is where offering managed services to SMBs can help.
Tech Data will now offer Zenith Server Watch, providing 24/7 remote monitoring of Windows servers; Zenith Remote Server Care, providing 24/7 remote monitoring and management of Windows servers with remote issue remediation performed by Zenith on behalf of the MSP; and Zenith Total Desktop Care, providing 24/7 remote monitoring of Windows-based desktops and notebooks, including maintenance such as anti-virus updates and spyware deletion.
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Tech Data will also offer Zenith's newest portfolio addition, Zenith Backup and Disaster Recovery, a 24/7 monitored and managed data backup and restoration service, and Zenith Virtual Service Desk, a 24/7 help desk support service staffed by Zenith technicians to provide support relating to server, desktop or network issues.
Zenith Infotech CEO Akash Saraf, one of The Channel Insider's Top 12 executives of 2007, said VARs would be able to pick and choose which services to offer, from just one to all of them. He added that 90 percent of Zenith's existing VARs currently brand the services as their own.
This is the first time Zenith has used distribution, according to Saraf. "What Zenith provides is part of an overall solution, and through this deal with Tech Data it means VARs can go to just one place to get our managed services and the rest of their solution," he said.
The deal will open up Zenith's services to 60,000 SMB VARs within Tech Data, Saraf said, and although Zenith currently has around 1,600 VARs of its own that it will still serve directly, it will encourage them to use Tech Data for the other parts of a solution.
Quaglia said the Zenith offerings will be added to Tech Data's existing managed services portfolio, which includes print managed services, offerings from N-able and SAAS (software as a service) offerings from Trend Micro. "This deal gives us a lot more to bring to market and fills a lot of gaps that we had open," he said.
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