Further making good on its commitment to catering for underserviced areas of the South African technology reseller space, Channelware has announced the opening of a new branch office in East London to service the needs of local resellers in the Eastern Cape area.

Located at 70 Stewart Drive in Bayville, the new branch opened its doors on the 7^th of December 2009 and features the same friendly environment, excellent stockholding and productivity facilities resellers in other parts of South Africa have grown to appreciate in their dealings with Channelware.

“We’ve worked hard on fine-tuning our in store environment so that it adds massive value to our reseller’s lives,” explains Stephan Van Rensburg, managing director of Channelware.

“As such, resellers will notice that our stock variety is far superior to that of some of the larger distributors in the market and that our stock of those products is held locally so as to eliminate the need for resellers to wait for an order to be fulfilled.

“Our productivity centres, such as two dedicated computing stations with internet access, printing facilities and other general office offerings such as laminating and faxing, have also proven to be a firm favourite with resellers,” he explains.

“For Channelware, it’s all about making the SMB resellers that have been neglected for too long, feel appreciated and valuable,” he says.

“From PCs, to notebooks, printers, peripherals consumables and even office automation equipment and supplies, we believe that our stock variety is strongly complementary to everything a technology reseller tends to be involved with today,” he adds.

“We’re convinced that our branch in East London will be as successful as the eight other branches we’ve opened in similarly underserviced areas around the country to date,” he concludes.

Channelware is 100% committed to the local technology reseller channel and its development. To sign up as a reseller partner contact 043-7058900 or visit the company’s website at www.channelware.co.za.

SMB-focused distribution company Channelware has announced the launch of a turnkey layout, design and short-run print operation at each of its six branches throughout the country.

The new offering is built on the back of HP’s PrintStation solution. Channelware managing director Stephan van Rensburg says the new initiative falls squarely within his company’s mandate to provide its resellers with services that simplify their operations, either through making Channelware more of a one-stop store or adding to resellers’ revenue opportunities.

“The new service allows for any of our registered resellers to avail themselves of a full-time graphic design team at each of our branches for the creation of their materials and have those materials printed on-site within minutes,” he says.

Van Rensburg says the HP PrintStation is capable of handling anything from business cards and brochures to complement slips, custom stationary, saddle-bound publications and virtually any form of full colour print job.

“Apart from this service adding just one more layer of convenience to doing business with Channelware,” he continues, “this service will also be available to our resellers’ as a sell-on facility, which allows them to add ‘short run print-brokerage’ to the list of services they have on offer to their customers.

“If resellers can get their printing requirements catered for at the same time as collecting stock, and boost their revenues by offering this facility to their customers, it’s a double-win,” he says.

“And as this scales, the cost benefits will become even more compelling,” he says.

“Right now however, we believe our resellers will be impressed by the economies of scale we’ve been able to bring to bear on the solution and just how cost effective printing with us in fact is.

“We’re confident our resellers will view this as a worthwhile service and a beneficial addition to the mix of value added services we currently have on offer,” he concludes.

Commits to serving the needs of the much-neglected SMB technology reseller sector in previously underserviced areas of South Africa

Channelware is a new distribution company aimed expressly at servicing the needs of small and medium sized technology resellers in previously underserviced areas of South Africa.

Stephan van Rensburg, managing director at Channelware says the company has designed its go to market strategy around the goal of addressing the need for a local distribution presence in many outlying regions of South Africa and in doing so, assisting smaller resellers with loyal and defined customer bases to overcome many of the challenges they face on a daily basis.

“Our primary differentiator is undoubtedly our regional stockholding policy, which ensures resellers have access to the products and solutions their customers require, moments after an order is placed,” he says.

Channelware has also gone to great lengths to ensure that an unusually wide variety of products and solutions are available at each of its branches.

“Our product line-up consists of both the products resellers would normally expect from a technology distributor, such as computers, notebooks, printers, accessories and networking equipment, but also office automation equipment and things as far afield as reams of bond paper and stationary,” he says.

“We have gone to great lengths to make the vast array of products and solutions, spread out across the companies in the MB Technologies group and beyond, available to our resellers,” he adds.

Van Rensburg says Channelware has pursued this stockholding strategy since it sees no valid reason for its resellers to have to visit more than one distributor or have a relationship with a raft of different companies, just because they need access to products outside of the pure technology realm.

“By addressing our resellers’ needs, both in terms of technology solutions and products that are complementary to technology solutions, we believe we’re fulfilling a vital need and saving them time and hassle,” he says.

While on the topic of convenience and time-savings, van Rensburg says the environment Channelware has created in the front-shop of its branches is one that generally invokes excitement and interest from resellers that haven’t frequented one of its outlets before.

“We have designed our branch environment to help resellers operate more efficiently. As such, from the moment a reseller arrives in one of our branches they will feel at home,” he says.

“We have friendly staff, tons of stock on display and everything from computing facilities to printing, copying, laminating and faxing facilities that have been placed in a hot-desk environment, for their convenience.

“Thus far our wide range of products and solutions, as well as the unique in-branch environment we have created, has received extremely positive feedback from the resellers that have already begun dealing with us,” he says.

Although van Rensburg says favourable credit terms are available to resellers that have undergone Channelware’s credit-vetting process, many of its resellers are still comfortable to deal on a cash-on-collection basis because of the vital niche it is addressing in the town or city.

“We have great aspirations for this company and faith that by continuing to address the needs of the SMB reseller market specifically, we will be able to expand the operation far outside of the branches we have already opened in Nelspruit, Pretoria, Polokwane, Durban, Bloemfontein and Boksburg.”

In fact, van Rensburg says that the wheels of expansion are already in motion.

“In the next six months we will open branches in Randburg, Midrand, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London and Witbank,” he confirms.

“Channelware is committed to blazing a new trail in distribution and in doing so, shaking this market up somewhat. We look forward to expanding our operation substantially over the coming years and bringing that much-needed local touch to the SMB resellers across South Africa that truly deserve it,” he concludes.