Synnex's New Mobility Business Unit Strategy Targets Channel

The newly formed global mobility solutions business unit of Synnex has launched a systematic initiative aimed at helping the Fremont, Calif.-based distributor's channel partners engage customers with comprehensive solutions that address expanding opportunities in the mobility space.

As initially reported in a CRN March interview with Synnex CEO Kevin Murai, the new business unit is charged with support for the sale and provisioning of scalable and secure mobility solutions that simplify management, reduce costs and fully support mission-critical applications.

"We've created an organization that oversees the strategy and also connects a lot of the dots within our organization because the different components resources and capabilities that drive our mobility strategy reside in different parts of our organization," said Murai. "We see an emerging need in the enterprise to help with managing and integrating mobile devices in a secure way that is also productive to the overall business."

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Synnex's global mobility business unit officially kicked off near the end of last year, and it reports directly to Murai. "I think this really stresses the strategic significance of this market, as well as our commitment to mobility," he said.

The first initiative of the business unit involves the rollout of "MobilitySolv," which is the branding umbrella for the overall value proposition that includes devices, as well as carrier services. Part of this initiative focuses on a new platform aimed at helping the channel sell and manage the products and services of various vendors competing in the mobility space.

"It's not a bundling strategy as much it is a strategy around platforms," explained Adnon Dow, who serves as vice president of Synnex's global mobility solutions business unit. "It's a machine-to-machine platform, an intelligent network platform and a security platform brought together for the development of solutions that maximize the investments that the people have already made and need to extend."

The tool is designed to help channel partners access not only Synnex resources but also the tools and capabilities of participating vendors.

"The opportunity for the channel is that they can go to one entity and be able to bundle different types of products and services to solve enterprise challenges that include the mobilization of resources, as well as the ability to control and secure the devices accessing the network," Dow said. "This can be based on a pure hosted model, an on-premise model, a hybrid model, an agent model, a referral model or a co-delivery model."

NEXT: Taking The Initiative On The Road

Synnex also has an expanded alliance with Verizon that will enable channel partners to deliver a wide variety of carrier services, including T1s and T3s, as well as 3G and 4G services. "VARs have never been able to deliver the services unless they were an agent of the carrier," said Synnex's Dow. "Verizon is now going out to the VAR community and the IT community to sell access."

To help spread the word about the overall mobility initiative, Synnex has begun a campaign of 12 road shows that will be carried out over the next eight weeks in metropolitan areas throughout the United States. Each road show will feature specific vendors participating in the campaign.

MobilitySolv and its related initiatives are already underway, but Dow said a variety of enhancements will be added to the platform over time.

PUBLISHED APRIL 11, 2013