Bull`s Eye Awards: Distribution Executive of the Year - CONTENDER
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Andy Bryant, Arrow
Andy Bryant has led Arrow’s computing division, now known as its
Enterprise Computing Solutions group, for a decade, bringing his 26
years of technology industry experience to bear on the challenges that
face today’s vendors and solution providers. And those challenges
haven’t been small in 2009. Faced with a collapsed credit market,
retracting IT budgets, double-digit declines in revenue and a generally
gloomy outlook, 2009 was one of the toughest years technology
executives have faced in a long time.
Bryant greeted the year with the grace and experience of someone who
has worked in the technology space for a long time. With a pragmatic
approach about what was possible during a downturn, Bryant acknowledged
that the downturn was driven by the financial markets and they would
have to return to normal before sales in the technology industry could
return to normal. Because of that, IT decision makers would have a
tougher time ahead, having to prove three-to-six-month ROI to corporate
executives.
At the same time Bryant recognized the need for suppliers and
resellers to move closer to what he calls a “channel management” model
– one where Arrow works more closely with suppliers to develop the
mutual reseller community.
For resellers, Bryant said, that means helping them grow their
businesses faster than the market and faster than the competition by
assisting them in finding a niche and providing enablement services to
support their growth. For example, the company sought to help resellers
reach out to industries such as health care, manufacturing, financial
services, wholesale/distribution, professional services and government.
