Tech Data Middle East will serve as value-added distributor for Oracle Middle East in Saudi Arabia, the two companies announced. "Our partnership with Oracle aims at opening up new business opportunities for the reseller channel in the Kingdom by bringing world-leading solutions supported by a team of Oracle experts from Tech Data," said Eliot Shepherd, marketing director at Tech Data.
The agreement falls within Tech Data's 'Build Value-Added Reseller (VAR) Business with Tech Data'- a year-long programme that aims at generating new revenue streams for the information technology reseller channel in the region.
"There is a trend of increased spending on software in the Saudi market; by expanding the choice of software solutions to resellers, we allow the channel to capture demand by expanding its own product mix," explained Shepherd.
A Tech Data-sponsored research on the Saudi market, carried out by Dubai-based research consultancy Paradigm, shows that more resellers in the Saudi market are trading with software. In 2000, 50 per cent of the Saudi resellers traded with software compared with 80 per cent in 2001. "The sale of software goes hand-in-hand with supporting value-added services," said Shepherd.
VAR not only provides software to customers, but also delivers a range of services including consulting, software installation, training and upgrades. "Our agreement with Oracle will bring resellers the opportunity to expand their software marketing mix on the one hand, and provide value-added services to their clients on the other," commented Shepherd.
"We believe that the team handling the Oracle brand at Tech Data brings not only fast and efficient availability of Oracle solutions to the information technology resellers in Saudi Arabia, but also technical and marketing support to the channel that will help them service Saudi businesses' needs with VARs."
Jamal Qakeesh, Oracle's general business manager, said the agreement was a natural outcome of the achievements gained by Tech Data with the Oracle brand around the region.
Oracle Corporation is the largest enterprise software company in the world.
Founded in 1974, Tech Data Corporation is a leading global provider of IT products, logistics management and other value-added services. Ranked 95th on the Fortune 500, the company and its subsidiaries serve more than 100,000 technology resellers in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.
Tech Data's extensive service offering includes pre- and post-sales training and technical support, financing options and configuration services as well as a full range of award-winning electronic commerce solutions. The company generated sales of $20.4 billion for the fiscal year which ended January 31, 2001.
