IT distribution challenge

For a company which represents 21 top information and communications technology brands, four of them on an exclusive basis, MSI Digiland (Phils), Inc. insists on having an intimate relationship with its thousand re-sellers.

"We have invested in a customer relationship management solution to stay close to all our channel partners. We are also upgrading our enterprise resource planning system to the Oracle eBusiness Suite," said president Jimmy Go.

MSI Digiland is a partnership between Microcircuits Systems International, which Go put up in 1982 as an authorized distributor of Apple and Fujitsu computers, and Singapore-based regional distribution giant Digiland.

Since the partnership in 1998, sales have increased tenfold, in part because of the 20% to 30% growth in the IT business in the late 1990s and early 2000s and in part because of the company’s staff of 160, which include product managers who market their respective brands independently.

"We have a very professional team with a strong orientation towards serving our customers. We always deliver on our commitments. When we say we will deliver on this date, you can be sure we will. When we say we will price-protect you for a certain period, we will do it, even if we have to lose on that transaction. That’s why re-sellers prefer to deal with us over other distributors," said Go.

Focus

Since 1998, MSI Digiland’s objective has been to become the leading IT distribution company in the country. To do that, the company obtained the authorized distributorship of leading brands in information and communications technology to create a huge portfolio of products and IT solutions for its channel partners or re-sellers. It also opened in two locations, one in Metro Manila to service Luzon and the other in Cebu City to service Visayas and Mindanao.

"Our philosophy is to present only products and networking solutions of good quality. The vendors themselves must be able to support our distributorship with the best quality and service, which we, in turn, pass on to our re-sellers," said Go.

As proof of its outstanding performance, the company has received recognition from vendors, including wholesaler of the year for 2001 and best authorized service provider for 2002 and 2003 from Hewlett Packard, distributor of the year for 2001 from Cisco, excellence in growing new business award in 2002 from IBM, and outstanding sales award for 2002 from Sony.

"There is no standing still, even for market leaders. If you stand still or just try to stay in place, you’re bound to get left behind," said Go. "We have to monitor developments on the vendor side. A brand we are representing and promoting can disappear when it is bought by another company. There is no guarantee the leading brands we carry now will still be the leading brands tomorrow or that the products we are selling will not be overtaken by newer ones in a few months."