Tech Data Corporation of Clearwater, Fla., is ensuring IT resellers have access to the information and resources they need to capitalize on the unprecedented economic investment the federal government is making through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Tech Data launched Economic Stimulus Watch, an initiative that will help resellers track the billions of dollars in IT spending that is expected to result from ARRA starting as soon as this summer.
“The federal government has never invested this much money in an economic stimulus program,” says Tech Data President, The Americas, Ken Lamneck. “The total economic stimulus package is expected to top $780 billion, and undoubtedly that will create tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars in IT spending. While a tremendous opportunity for resellers, there remain many questions: How much money will each government agency receive? What are their spending priorities? Will the money be spent through normal purchasing vehicles? How will this impact IT spending state-by-state? How will the stimulus dollars impact key verticals like education, healthcare and energy?
“Our public-sector team has the answers to these questions, tracking developments daily and making this information available to resellers free of charge through the Economic Stimulus Watch resource center (www.techdata.com/stimulus),” concludes Lamneck.
Tech Data Vice President, Government, Technical and Integration Services, Barb Miller will head the Economic Stimulus Watch. Miller leads Tech Data’s team of public-sector sales, business-development, and bid specialists that supports resellers focused on IT spending opportunities in the government, healthcare, and education markets. Additionally, Tech Data’s Specialized Business Units, and Technical Services, Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Client Systems, Networking, Peripherals and Software divisions will identify solutions and key technologies aligning with ARRA spending objectives.
For example, modernizing schools, expanding the nation’s broadband infrastructure, and digitizing medical records have been identified as IT spending opportunities by the federal government. Through the Economic Stimulus Watch resource center, Tech Data will identify solutions resellers can deploy to enhance children’s learning environments, bring online public services to a broader group of constituents, and implement secure, paperless record-keeping for small doctors’ offices.
The Economic Stimulus Watch Web resource center will do more than aggregate Tech Data’s product knowledge, technical expertise, and public-sector sales support. It will be an interactive forum in which resellers can post questions and comments, as well as communicate with Tech Data systems engineers, credit specialists, and other members of the team for bid and pricing support. The resource center also will include the latest ARRA news and developments; links to federal and state government procurement Web sites; whitepapers for in-demand solutions; Webinars and podcasts; and advice for writing grant proposals, building bids, and responding to RFPs.
The Economic Stimulus Watch also will host a series of summits, and live and virtual online events, featuring industry experts discussing the impact ARRA is having in the channel and how resellers can capitalize on this unprecedented spending opportunity. During these events, resellers will engage leading vendor partners in the government, healthcare, and education markets to learn about the latest public-sector products, programs, and promotions they can use to strengthen proposals and win contracts.
ARRA has already been a topic of in-depth discussion at Tech Data conferences this year, including the spring Technology Solutions Tour and TechEDG Government and Education conferences in Washington D.C.; the SMBAccess Healthcare Market Summit in Clearwater, Fla.; and this week’s TechSelect Partner Conference in San Diego.
To learn more about the Tech Data Economic Stimulus Watch, visit www.techdata.com/stimulus, send e-mail to stimulus@techdata.com, or call Tech Data’s public-sector sales and services specialists at 800-436-5353, ext. 80014 or visit www.techdata.com.
