Tech Data Helps VARs Track Opportunity

Tech Data has delivered on its promise to offer an online tool to help VARs take advantage of sales that are as ripe as low-hanging fruit —renewal opportunities for manufacturer-branded service agreements and warranties.

The distributor, based in Clearwater, Fla., first announced plans for the free online tool during its partner conference in May. MyOpportunityTracker provides partners with the information they need to win those sales. It follows on the heels of another successful online tool, MyOrderTracker, which allows VARs and their customers to view shipment tracking information under the VARs brand.

Tech Data said the tool leverages its own transactional database to provide each reseller with its own renewal opportunities for services and warranties.

“Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of manufacturer service agreements and warranties sold by resellers go unrenewed each year,” said Doug Riccardi, director of IT at Tech Data, in a statement. “Thats because resellers have a difficult time tracking the expiration dates for every service and warranty they sell, as well as what specific products those agreements covered and to which customers they were sold. With MyOpportunityTracker, resellers no longer have to spend time and resources tracking these valuable revenue opportunities.”

MyOpportunityTracker sends participating resellers notice of service and warranty renewal opportunities up to 120 days prior to coverage expiration. They also receive weekly MyOpportunityTracker e-mail alerts and can access their opportunities anytime at the distributors Web site.

“MyOpportunityTracker was created by Tech Data in close consultation with our TechSelect Internet Commerce Council,” Riccardi said. “It was extremely important that we develop the tool ourselves with reseller guidance and not share their transaction data with third parties.”

The tool lets resellers sort and prioritize renewal opportunities by manufacturer, expiration date and the user to which the service was originally sold. Each opportunity includes pricing information for new service agreements or warranties, as well as potential alternatives such as upgrades to more comprehensive coverage offerings, according to Tech Data. MyOpportunityTracker also offers a quote-building tool and pulls content directly from the techdata.com product catalog, easing the purchase of any renewal option.

MyOpportunityTracker currently supports service and warranty agreements for almost a dozen peripherals, systems and networking manufacturers, and the company plans to add more in the future.