Distribution Watch: ScanSource, Tech Data, 888 VoIP

Happy Friday, and welcome to Distribution Watch, our weekly wrap-up of what’s happening in the world of distribution. For your reading pleasure this week we have news from ScanSource (SCSC), Tech Data (TECD) and 888 VoIP, so settle in and let’s get this party started.

ScanSource: The international value-added IT distributor has named Yvette McKenzie president of ScanSource Latin America and Mexico. In this position, she will guide the strategic growth and direction of the company’s operations in Latin America and Mexico, overseeing the operations, sales and merchandising functions of the ScanSource POS and Barcode, ScanSource Communications and ScanSource Security sales units in these geographies.

McKenzie brings nearly 30 years of channel experience to this position, according to the company. She joined ScanSource in 2000 and has served in various management roles, including vice president of Merchandising for ScanSource POS and Barcode and ScanSource Communications, during which time "she has been instrumental in managing the launch and support of strategic vendors, overseeing channel marketing strategies and growing vendor relationships," the company noted. Most recently, McKenzie served as vice president of Business Operations for Latin America and Mexico.

Tech Data: The distribution behemoth  been named as PCM's (PCMI) 2013 Distributor of the Year for its business performance, exceptional customer service, loyalty and dedication, according to the company. The award was presented at PCM's Vision IT Conference & Expo, held in December at the Marriott LAX in Los Angeles.

"We are honored to be named the 2013 Distributor of the Year by PCM," said Pete Peterson, senior vice president, U.S. Sales at Tech Data. "We are committed to providing a best-in-class customer experience and are dedicated to the success of our channel partners. We thank PCM for their valuable partnership and look forward to continued success together."

PCM recognized Tech Data for its broad offerings, strategic services and high levels of engagement. During the past year, Tech Data delivered results that achieved improvement targets and increased success for both companies.

888 VoIP: Patton Electronics, the U.S. manufacturer of SmartNode VoIP equipment, has named specialty distributor 888 VoIP its U.S. Partner of the Year for 2013.

he two companies have worked together since 2008, when they joined forces to develop Patton’s VoIP Gateway business in the Unites States. At that time, Patton’s SmartNode Gateway was an established market leader in Europe, but had yet to break in to the U.S. market.

Much of the growth in SmartNode sales can be attributed to 888VoIP’s relationships with Patton and 3CX, whose phone system offers a software-based IP PBX for Windows, the company noted. Together, these companies provide 888VoIP’s resellers with the ability to migrate to VoIP at their own pace.

“The relationship between Patton, 3CX, and 888VoIP has been extremely successful,” said Sean Gerrity, U.S. Sales director at Patton. “It allows resellers to spend more time selling and less time losing deals as phone contracts and reliability concerns are no longer objections.”

And that’s Distribution Watch for this week. Tune in next week for another exciting episode. Until then, stay safe.