D&H Helps Partners With Business Continuity for SMBs
Distributor offers MSPs and VARs resources, guides, and information to aid customers during COVID-19 pandemic
Business continuity has moved high up the list of priorities for many businesses in light of the disruption brought on by the COVID-19 crisis and the ensuing lockdowns and economic fallout. D&H Distributing is rolling out a range of tools and resources partners can use to help their SMB customers to continue to move forward despite the pandemic.
The Lowdown: D&H is aiming to help small companies, healthcare facilities, and educational institutions adapt to rapidly changing business models, from mobile workforces to telehealth to distance learning, which have been thrust on them due to the global public health crisis.
The Details: The distributor, based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, this month unveiled a business continuity initiative that includes:
> Dedicated mini-site: The site includes guidance, tips, statistics, links, and strategies that focus on three key categories: data access and security, communication, and desktop hardware. It includes solutions from such vendors as Cisco, Asus, Aruba, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, and Lexmark.
> PPE guide: The offering helps partners market personal protective gear to help businesses more safely reopen. Solutions include health monitoring devices (electronic no-contact thermometers and digital pulse oximeters), sanitizing solutions (soap dispensers and stands for hand sanitizer stations), wet wipes, and clear kits.
> Sales guides: Topics covered by the guides include business continuity for SMBs and education. There also is detailed product information, strategies, solutions, and prep questions for partners as they develop plans for their customers.
> Solutions Lab webcast: The on-demand “Business Continuity: Planning Now and for the Future” webcast includes information on how products from such manufacturers as Dell, Logitech, and Intel can help MSPs protect customers from potential problems.
> D&H’s ThreatCast events: Business continuity will be a key topic during the virtual events in Canada on Sept. 16 and in the United States on Sept. 30 and will address such issues as remote networks, telework, distance learning, and enhanced home networking.
> MSP and VAR checklists: Partners can use the offering to create a record of the vendors and services to which their customers subscribe to help them prioritize network technologies critical to keeping customers running in case of a disruptive event. The checklists include everything from services and hardware to client devices and communications applications.
The Impact: The business continuity initiative is only the latest move by D&H to help partners during the pandemic. The company in March created a mini-task force to address challenges brought on by the suddenly remote workforce, product bundles for SMBs, educational content for MSPs, and resource lists and checklists for partners. A few weeks later, the distributor offered new credit options to MSPs and VARs.
The Buzz: “Recent events have created a unique and challenging scenario for the SMB community, but the channel has stepped up and has been learning through it all,” said Peter DiMarco, D&H’s vice president of VAR sales. “Small businesses have come to realize how imperative it is to have a contingency strategy in case of a major disruption. We need to work together to implement effective business continuity plans for these companies. D&H has developed a series of assets to help our partners keep businesses connected to their critical processes, applications, data, work centers, and networks. And this needs to apply not just to the recovery from COVID-19 restrictions, but over the long-term, to guard against future emergencies.”
Related Links:
CHANNELNOMICS:
>D&H Creates Task Force for Partners During Coronavirus
>D&H Offers New Credit Options to VARs, MSPs
