I was invited to attend the 2023 TD SYNNEX Executive Print and Imaging Summit in Greenville, South Carolina, June 7-10. I have known Synnex for several years and was aware of the acquisition of Tech Data on September 1, 2021. But I was not fully aware of the size and scope this merger has yielded. It is a national distribution organization that provides many options for dealers to aid them in diversification.
The audience at the Summit included 35 select partners, many of whom we know quite well. Among the attendees were LDI Connect, Gordon Flesch, and Marco Technologies. We were also happy to see Ed McLaughlin co-founder of Predictive InSight in attendance.
The TD SYNNEX Meeting Agenda
The meeting was kicked off by Desiree Cruz, senior director of product management for TD SYNNEX. After welcoming the guests, she introduced Gary Palenbaum, executive vice president, end point solutions, TD SYNNEX, who presented an overview of this well-established national distributor. He reported that TD SYNNEX has 22,000 employees and has enjoyed 50 years of success.
He shared some interesting statistics starting with the company’s total revenue of $63 billion in FY 2022, with $2 billion of that coming from print. TD SYNNEX carries the full HP portfolio. This is the 20th month of the merger with Tech Data, and the combined organization currently has 150,000 customers.
At the time of the merger, the combined value of the company was $57 billion. That means TD SYNNEX grew by $6 billion since 2021. The company is now #109 on the Fortune 500.
Palenbaum was followed by Dan Middleton, VP of sales, print solutions. He acknowledged the sponsors of this event, including HP, Xerox, Canon, Brother, Ricoh, and Epson. He then shared with the audience where TD SYNNEX is today.
Middleton revealed a 17% increase in revenue for the first half of the year that allowed the company to realize a 74% market share. He also discussed the hybrid office and how it has impacted page count. Contributions to TD SYNNEX’s print revenue were 20% from the print fleet while nonprint IT solutions representing another 20%. This was followed by another 20% from a print sales mix. Rounding out the rest of the portfolio are PC notebooks, displays, peripherals, and networking products.
TD SYNNEX Drives Diversification
TD SYNNEX can help dealers diversify their businesses. The organization has the expertise and a delivery mechanism compatible with how dealers like to do business. As Middleton noted, “Customer first is our underlying strategy for every facet of our business.” Our observations and the dealers we spoke with underscored that message.
TD SYNNEX and Managed Services
TD SYNNEX partners are ably assisted with 2,800 SMEs (subject matter experts) who can support those dealers that lack sufficient resources to build their own managed network services organization. It is a broad-based structure that can go a long way toward building a managed network services solution for dealers. One dealer, that asked not to be quoted, indicated that he has embraced the support of TD SYNNEX to develop an IT services business within his dealership. He emphasized that he could not have done it on his own.
Middleton identified major growth segments in the managed services segment as the government and education vertical markets and security solutions. The latter represents $4 billion from the cybersecurity business. It is the first time any vendor we are aware of has equated cybersecurity revenue as equal to government and education areas of the business.
On the panel I felt privileged to sit on, I addressed the sustainability of print, opportunities outside of the office, and more. My contribution was something our subscribers have read on many occasions. Our fundamental presentation to this audience was simple. Print is not dying and will not die. It is merely moving to different substrates.
It was interesting to me that ITMA (International Textile Marketing Association) was opening its doors in Milan, Italy for its exhibition, the day after I presented to TD SYNNEX’s audience. You can learn more about ITMA and the companies that have invested heavily in textile printing in my next Frankly Speaking column.
Attendee Comments
I have shared with you what I learned at this conference. I thought it would be appropriate to share the impressions of some of the guests who attended this event.
The summit was an opportunity to hear from LDI Connect’s leading distribution partner along with our manufacturing partners discuss how the print business can succeed in a challenging economy. They have adopted new technologies and are finding new markets in which to grow. By leveraging TD SYNNEX’s extensive portfolio, they are uniquely positioned to help LDI Connect grow our business with complementary solutions and services that align with each of our core disciplines. Jay Feldman, senior vice president, client management & strategy, LDI
One of the most memorable things I heard during TD SYNNEX Print Summit was how “dealers must diversify” and production and industrial printing is where our industry is heading. I thought the panel you participated in was one of the best we had during the event. William Quintanilla, purchasing manager, Gordon Flesch Company
The Print Summit event hosted by TD SYNNEX was another first-class event. The panel showed the commitment of TD SYNNEX regarding print. The TD SYNNEX team, led by Desiree Cruz, all added value to their messages. The commitment by the manufacturers and the availability they provided each dealer is extremely beneficial, especially to the small to mid-size dealers. The reseller and industry panels presented a solid discussion and provided food-for-thought for the audience.
It was also great to hear from the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion panel and hear their commitment to making a difference in the world we live in. Of course, anytime you can drive in the BMW Driving experience is worth the price of attendance. Jeff Candea, product fulfillment manager, Marco
Aside from dealers we add the comments from a notable guest.
I would say that it was an open and informative dialog showing that TD SYNNEX want to play a bigger part in helping the dealer community manage their operations more economically, and they can bring significant value. Ed McLaughlin, co-founder, Predictive InSight
We also asked TD SYNNEX’s Desiree Cruz to express her views on the Summit.
The goal of this event was to really Engage, Educate and Enable our partners; empowering them to achieve great outcomes through their core business model(s), while also unlocking their ability to diversify into other adjacent markets. TD SYNNEX has a strong bench of vendor partners and solution services, really allowing our partners to succeed.
TD Synnex Offers Dealers an Array of Opportunities
In our view, TD Synnex has the resources and expertise and has broadened the concept of what national distribution is all about. It is more than just hardware and software. When you employ close to 3,000 SMEs the services aspect of the business creates a plethora of opportunities for dealers.
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