Growing Your MSP with TDSynnex (EP 770)

[Uncle Marv]
Hello friends, Uncle Marv here with another episode of the IT Business Podcast, the show for IT professionals and managed service providers where we talk about all things tech and how to run your business better, smarter, and faster. I want to thank you for joining us and today I have my very first interview with a distributor in the channel and I will give a full disclosure. I use this distributor, but that's not why they're on the show.

They actually are very active in getting out there and letting people know who they are, what they do, and it just kind of worked out that way. But I want to do the disclaimer up front. I am a member of, well, that's probably not the right word there, but I'll ask my guest to help me along with that.

I have with me Meredith Payne and I believe the current title is Senior Director of Business Development, is that right?

[Meredith Payne]
That's right, yeah.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. Well, Meredith, welcome to the show.

[Meredith Payne]
Well, Marvin, I'm so happy to be here. I know we talked a little bit about it, but we are just super excited to continue getting the word out on what we're doing within this MSP space and more importantly, what we have to offer and how we can partner with MSPs in the market to ultimately help them and help them grow their business. So thank you for having us and yeah, looking forward to the discussion.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So I think the first thing we need to do is make sure everybody understands we are talking TDSynnex. That is the official name you guys merged or acquired.

I don't know exactly what the term was. I believe it was 2021. Tech Data and Synnex became TDSynnex, right?

[Meredith Payne]
That's right, yeah. So we went through a really exciting merger a handful of years ago and I think that's what makes some of what we're talking about today even more lucrative because we just have more to offer, right? Bringing the organizations together, we've been able to really successfully, I would say, take the best of both and enhance the offerings and that's why we're having this conversation today so we can spread a little bit more to the community on this is what it looks like to partner with TDSynnex in the MSP space and really how we're looking at this business as well.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So my history, as I mentioned, I am a partner with you guys. I actually started with Tech Data first.

They were my first big distributor. I had some other smaller ones but Tech Data was the first and I actually was signed up with all the distributors and people look at me interesting when I tell them that because I'm a smaller MSP but Tech Data, Synnex, Ingram Micro, Arrow, I had them all. I'll be honest, Synnex was not my number one.

Tech Data was and during that transition, I actually slid over to D&H for a while as my number one but I'll be honest, the last two years, TDSynnex, back on top.

[Meredith Payne]
Yeah, I know. That's great to hear and we certainly won't hold it against you, right? In fact, we love to hear that.

We love to hear that, hey, I've not just been working directly with this one organization but I actually have gone out and looked at what these other offerings look like and I'm back because I've seen the value and I understand what this partnership can do in your case for you and your business. So yeah, no hard feelings that you've kind of looked around there but glad to see that we're working together again and of course, it's been really exciting, Marvin, to talk to you even about this MSP Evolve program and what this looks like within the framework.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So I know that you've been there a while but I don't know if you were there before that transition, were you?

[Meredith Payne]
I was. So yeah, so I'm about 15 years in the space here and the majority of my time has been working with MSPs, right? So it's really exciting, I think, to have this kind of lens where I'm sitting because I've seen the evolution of what it looked like in the beginning, right?

When we think about, to use an older term, born in the cloud and the MSPs that were servicing the market at that time to now where we are and it's just the opportunity is much larger. Frankly, the ask is much larger when you think about a customer that's working with a managed service provider, what they look for out of those relationships and it's really a lot around how we've ended up here with what we're offering to the space because we're evolving with the needs of the business and making sure that we're helping our MSPs not only keep up with that demand but really go a step ahead and help drive it, right? So that's what our goal is as we work with managed service providers and folks like yourself.

[Uncle Marv]
All right, I'm going to ask you a question that I did not prep you for. Most of the people that have been in the space like me for as long as we were, we didn't have that born in the cloud mindset because we were just simply buying hardware and stuff from you guys. I know that probably two years ago, I actually started purchasing some of my products from you guys that are the cloud-based products, my 365 and stuff like that.

I don't know when that change happened for you guys. When did you guys start doing the cloud offerings?

[Meredith Payne]
Oh, wow. So very early, right? When we think about when Microsoft...

I'll tell you, I guess this will maybe age myself a little bit, but I was around back in the BPOS days, you know? So when we talk about when we started with cloud, we started before it was as we know it today. And so it is exciting that we've been able to see that evolution.

But you're absolutely right. So today, the MSPs that we work with do not all look the same. And the way that we're going to market and how we're kind of framing our offerings are very much set up to be able to be tailored to every single size and type of MSP that may be around.

You've got those who manage services has always been a core piece of what they do. And now they're actually looking to maybe get into the endpoint business and the data center side and be able to come to their customers and offer that full solution. But on the flip side, and it sounds like where you're saying your journey has led, you've got the reverse where, hey, back in the day, like we were using our distributor to ship hardware.

[Uncle Marv]
Yep, servers, desktops, firewalls. Yeah.

[Meredith Payne]
But we've seen a need to be able to do much more than that for our customers. And so now we've got that MSP that has a more diverse set of offerings and they might have an MSP practice that sits within a more traditional side of the business. And we're really able to help both of those types of managed service providers, as well as everyone that might fall somewhere in between.

[Uncle Marv]
So let me ask you, I know that you've got a few programs and the one that I was most familiar with was that SMB Connect, which was, you know, the field services stream one, which is where I was buying my licenses and stuff from. But you guys now have a program called MSP Evolve that actually started last year.

[Meredith Payne]
Yep.

[Uncle Marv]
Let me ask, what made you guys come up with one specifically for MSPs and how does it different from the other stuff that you have?

[Meredith Payne]
Sure. Yeah. So, you know, the MSP Evolve program, and I really like to say framework, right?

More than a program, it's a framework. It's just a way of us addressing the needs within the market. But it was designed to really help managed service providers grow and optimize their business.

And through this program and this framework, we have a range of support services, we have training programs, we have solutions that are truly tailored to the needs of MSPs. And some of those key features you've mentioned just here, it's access to our stream one cloud platform, the tools that you need to manage that business. We're also looking at things like support, right?

Pre-sale support, post-sale support, all of the services that maybe you're not offering today, but you're starting to get a little bit curious about or your customers are starting to poke around a little bit about. We have all of that within this program. And in short, I would just say it aims to enhance the capabilities of the MSPs that we work with and improve efficiency and really maximize the market potential.

So we aren't looking to come in and replace anything that you may be doing today and doing well likely with your customer set, but enhance those things, fill in the gaps a little bit, and then work with you on how do we partner with a plan as you move forward, as you look to hit these growth goals that I'm sure that you have for yourself. So that's what MSP Evolve is set to do. We partner with a lot of our partners that sit within that SMB Connect program that you mentioned there, as well as our MSP team that is tied into that group as well.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. Let me ask more specifically, I mean, outside of just simply purchasing the licenses that we want and stuff like that, you mentioned being able to help us manage, you know, all the whole process, including billing and stuff like that. How does that work?

I mean, is it just simply being able to give us reports so that we can, you know, then throw it into our invoicing program or is there a billing management system in there?

[Meredith Payne]
Sure, yeah. So, you know, when we think about how our tools and our platforms are being used, it's another one of those kind of evolution things, right? The billing piece, that's the table stakes.

You know, that just has to happen. That just has to work. It has to be seamless, and it is.

Now what you're seeing is that we are going in and really enhancing those tools that we offer and thinking about what are these differentiated features that our MSPs are looking for that will truly set you aside from your competition, right? Because it can sometimes feel like a saturated market. I'm sure you would agree.

And so you've got to think, hey, the billing has to happen for sure. That has to be a smooth process. I need the reporting.

I need all of those things. But what are we able to do just above and beyond that? That's when you start getting into things like the API integration, our white-labeled storefronts.

You know, we've got a SaaS expand feature that taps into how we're addressing these other buying models that are out there now, right? When you think about the hyperscale marketplaces, and in some cases you might feel, hey, I'm feeling cut out of the cycle here with these new buying models. And so we're addressing that with our Stream 1 platform and the offerings that we have just to make sure that you're able to capture these opportunities regardless of how your customers are preferring to transact.

So there's a wealth of things that we're doing that above and beyond to just the daily billing and management, you know, the adding and removing of license, that's the table stakes. And now we've really been able to go in and offer some unique things. And we've got a very exciting roadmap, I must say myself, as we look to the rest of this year and how are we continuing to add to what we have in that platform today and build on those when you think about things like capturing the security business with our SecOps offering within Stream 1, you know, a lot of things, exciting things coming around the FinOps space as well.

AI, of course, you know, I'm surprised that I don't know how many minutes we are in and we're just saying AI, but that's going to be a key piece of what we have within our offerings and how we look at the path forward here.

[Uncle Marv]
Well, for the record, we went 13 minutes without saying AI.

[Meredith Payne]
There you go.

[Uncle Marv]
I like that. That was not in any of the questions that I had planned for you. Although I did want to ask, so I went back to the billing stuff.

So the integrations that you talked about, the API stuff, so that will be a direct plug in with a lot of the PSA connectors for all the platforms that most MSPs use, right?

[Meredith Payne]
Yep, 100%. So PSA, you know, IT service management tools, whatever it is that you're looking at there, our goal is for our MSPs to really have the choice. We want to give you the choice, not tell you how you need to transact or where you need to manage your business but let you kind of make those decisions for yourself.

And then we're going to go do all of the work on the backend to make it a smooth process, regardless of what you're choosing to do there. So a number of those PSAs we've already got, you know, strong connections in and a long list of we're continuing to build their listening, right, to our MSP community to make sure that we're meeting those needs as they think through how they're looking at their business and what sort of support they do need from the tools that we're offering at TD Cenex.

[Uncle Marv]
All right, another question is, well, let me first say that I've probably either ignored or missed my Cenex emails, my TD Cenex emails that talked about the white label storefront. So let me ask you about that. Are we talking about being able to take the products that we're using from TD Cenex and face up an actual storefront?

Are you talking about some sort of, what is that, EDI, not the EDI, but whatever, where we can download the price list and all that stuff and use it?

[Meredith Payne]
No, we're actually helping our MSPs stand up their own white labeled storefront, leveraging our tools. And it's just totally complimentary, right, with the offerings that we have. If you're working with us in Stream 1, super easy setup.

It's allowing you to customize purchase rules. So if you've got customers that you want to allow them to go in and add up to five seats, if we're talking about our cloud providers there, they can do that. Or you can say, hey, I want them to be able to go in and see their pricing, but don't really want to open up adding and removing seats like this.

They might not be quite ready for that yet. You've set all of those rules on your side. Again, the pricing by customer quotes can be pushed to the storefront.

We've got dashboards there for Azure, for Microsoft usage. And really, it's just allowing you to spin up a storefront, leveraging our tools and technology that your customers can use. And hopefully freeing up time for you, Marvin, and for your team so you can go focus on selling and not feeling like you're in the weeds of managing that day-to-day business that should be automated, frankly.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. We may have to revisit that after we're done here.

[Meredith Payne]
Yeah, for sure. That would be great.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So let me ask this. Is there, because I'll be honest, I don't even know if I'm part of MSP Evolve.

I know I'm in stream one. But is this something that if you're a purchaser of TDSynnex products, do you automatically get in? Do you have to apply?

What's the onboarding?

[Meredith Payne]
No, it's a great question. And maybe I'll even back up a little bit to answer that question of how did this program come to be and why does it exist as it does today? And it was based on some feedback from our MSPs.

One thing that we're really good at, if I do say so myself, is we're good at listening and taking that feedback and then applying it, right? So one of the pieces of feedback that we were getting on a pretty regular basis was, wow, didn't know that you did that when we dug into our MSP offering specifically. And so we paused and said, this isn't good.

There's a lot of really great things that we're offering to this community and they're telling us they didn't know that we did that. So how do we solve this? And so that was kind of our first step here was to really be able to take all of the MSP services and offerings and value added things that we offer because we are a big organization, right?

But we want to make sure that we're making it easy for MSPs to find out about these things, easy for them to consume and to leverage these offerings. And so that's really why it was born was let's bring all of these things together along that feedback journey. We found out some things that we needed to even go and build and add.

And so there's a lot of goodness there as well when you think about what we're doing from a training perspective with certifications and things like that. So some cool things there. But that was the why.

That was why we went and built the MSP Evolve program as it sits today because the feedback was, hey, this is a lot and I happen to have a day job. I can't just dig through the TDSynnex site and try and find all of this for myself. And so we pulled it all together.

We put it into a program. So to answer how do you get involved? There is a process, right?

And part of that goes back to what I was saying earlier around we believe that it's not a one size fits all approach and model to service this space. And so each MSP has different needs. And so the way that this program is structured is that there's an opt-in.

We ask a few simple questions in a survey. I can certainly share a quick link, a QR code. Of course, any MSP can always email me directly.

I would love to connect with our MSPs that I'm not already working with today as well. But we have an opt-in and then we go through a consultation. So the first call with our team is anywhere from a 30 to 60-minute consultation to go line by line.

What does your business look like today? Where do you seeing success within the products that you're offering your customers as well as the services? And we talk through where there might be some immediate opportunity and where we could work together to really accelerate that business.

And we've seen partners that say, I've been trying to get in with, I won't say names, but I've been trying to get in with this large security partner for months, but I'm just not big enough and I'm not getting the mind share that maybe I need. And so we've had scenarios through this program alone where MSPs have added up to seven new partners into their portfolio in a matter of weeks. And normally that could take quite a while longer when you think through just understanding the authorization programs and getting in touch with the right person.

And so it's really accelerating the work within the MSP space by leveraging this framework.

[Uncle Marv]
Nice, nice. You made a comment about being a big company. So I did my research.

You guys are the largest distributor globally, 23,000 employees, and you guys are in more than 100 countries.

[Meredith Payne]
That's right. Yeah. Nice.

[Uncle Marv]
All right.

[Meredith Payne]
And now I want to go back to- It's a good point that you have there, Marvin, because this program, a lot of the offerings we do have available within our other regions. And so when you think about that consultation process and what that looks like, part of it is understanding, hey, do you have desires as an MSP to scale into other markets? And if the answer is yes, we're set up really nicely to help do that with us being one company, one organization with that large footprint across the globe.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So when this program was announced, I imagine that you already had MSPs that you were kind of doing the beta, I guess, with and stuff. So since the launch, any idea on the growth and acceptance of MSPs?

[Meredith Payne]
Oh, it's been great. So we've gotten really good feedback with the program itself. We have now thousands of MSPs that are working with us in this way.

And I would say the number one piece of feedback, I said it earlier, but didn't know you did that. But then also on the flip side of going through it is just excitement, right? On, hey, we were able to close this big deal where in the past we felt like we were only servicing this one component of the deal.

And then we were having to outsource the other components. That's what we don't want to happen. We want to see our MSPs supporting their customers end to end.

Even if TD Senex is having to come in and white label some of these specific services that you might not have today, that's the preferred model is that we're able to gap fill for you. And then as an MSP, you can think through, wow, there's a big opportunity here. Maybe I wasn't quite ready to pre-invest in maybe the engineers or those search that we need to be able to capitalize on this.

But after you get a few under your belt working with TD Senex, maybe you kind of look at it a little differently and you're thinking, all right, this is something that we want to work towards doing ourselves when it makes sense. So it allows our MSPs to kind of say yes. And that's kind of the ultimate goal, right?

We want you to always say yes, even if that's, hey, we're saying yes. But TD Senex is going to be helping us with 90% of this deployment. You said yes.

And then next time, maybe it's 50, three months down the road, you're doing it all yourself if that's the desire for you to do that. But that's where we've seen a lot of success and really great feedback is just being able to take advantage of the full scope of the opportunity. You know, we're helping MSPs maybe feel and seem bigger than they are by leveraging our capabilities.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So besides being on shows like this and trying to get the word out, what kind of things can someone like me help you with?

[Meredith Payne]
Sure. Yeah. So, well, first of all, I appreciate kind of the shout out on the front end of I'm working with TD Senex and I'm having a really great experience that goes a very long way because I can say it, you know, until my voice is gone.

But to have an MSP, you know, you speak up and say this has been my experience and it's a positive one and here's what we're doing together just really speaks volumes. So what we try and do is listen to the community, take that feedback, apply it, work really quickly to enhance, you know, where you might want to see enhancements and move forward from there. We also have a lot of opportunities coming up this year, you know, both virtual and in person for MSPs to come together.

And so that's one thing that we're continuing to focus on is how do we support you from a community perspective when you think about just being able to navigate through a new solution or a new problem that you're solving for and speaking with somebody directly that's already kind of done that. So that's one thing that we're working toward. We're seeing a lot of success there, but there'll be, of course, more opportunity throughout this year.

And then the next one I would just say is leveraging these offerings, right? Specifically, when I talk through Stream 1 and all that we're doing there, I mean, we're investing in a really big way into our platform. And so we want to do a better job at telling you what those things are and how you can kind of take advantage of those.

We've got a mobile app that'll be coming here soon. So taking a look at that, if it's a way that that would be supportive for you to be able to make some of those transactions. But just leveraging those things, right?

The future is certainly digital. And so we want to set you up in a way to where you can support your customers in a digital way and hopefully meet those needs of the market. A lot of really cool things that are coming.

We have a digital bridge initiative as well. And so that's something where we're able to connect into the applications that you're using as an MSP and just work with you in a new and a different way that supports your business as you're on the move, as you're supporting your customers.

[Uncle Marv]
I'm going to ask you to explain that digital bridge in a little more detail. Are you talking about being able to provision, let's say, 365 licenses and then actually being able to go into the 365 portal from TD Sentences or is that something completely different?

[Meredith Payne]
Nope. So it's exactly that. So we're connecting into the applications that you're using today.

So for instance, directly from Outlook, you can search and find, is this product available? Can I chat with my rep? And using the technology that you're already in today to connect into the TD Synex system.

So that's the framework at a super high level, what the goal is of that program. Of course, I’m happy to get you more information and plugged it into. But there's a lot of, I'm sure you've seen it.

There's a lot of stats out there when we talk about how customers are preferring to transact with us. And it's digital, like over 70% of customers say, I want to transact digitally. And so we have to think about that.

The sales motion looks different today. So we've got to provide you as an MSP the tools to support this evolving framework.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So that means that people like me that don't talk to my rep, you'll make things even easier for me.

[Meredith Payne]
Right. That's right. Yeah.

And that's the goal, Marva, to be fair. I mean, traditional sales isn't going away. Like our sales reps, they're going to continue to have a crucial role in the overall cycle.

But for us, and I'm probably sounding a little bit like a broken record, but we truly do aim to do business on the terms of our customers. So that means we aren't going 100% digital because some customers, that's not what they prefer. You know, they do want to pick up the phone and they do want to make a call.

But we want to have those tools available. So for the customers in the MSPs specifically, we're getting a lot of feedback there that just maybe have smaller teams, they need to work untraditional hours. We can support them in that framework.

So our goal is to be able to work on the terms of our customers, provide the both. And give that hybrid model. So you're truly getting what you need when you need it.

Yeah. I give the example of when we're flying, right? So something goes wrong with the flight or it gets changed or rescheduled.

For me, I'm going to pick up my phone and get on the app and talk to somebody probably before I've even made it back to the gate. My mom, on the other hand, you know, she wants to pick up the phone. She wants a customer service rep to tell her everything's going to be okay.

Like I've got you rebooked. And so in a similar way, like that's how we're looking at it is how do we make sure that these different preferences and customer types are all being met with the needs that they have. And I would imagine you as an MSP, you're kind of facing or you're being faced with those same challenges.

And so for you to be able to rely on the tools that we have and we're able to push those through so you can better service your customers. That's ultimately what we're trying to do and what I would say we're seeing a lot of success with.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So let me clarify. I do talk to my rep.

It's not that I don't. And I'm actually excited because I've had the same rep at least two years that I know of, maybe three. And I email, he responds.

I call, he picks up. So yeah, I try to do as much through the portal as possible. But the fact is my rep is there.

He pretends like he knows who I am. So that works.

[Meredith Payne]
I'm sure that he knows you well. I feel like Uncle Marv would be hard to forget. But that's just me.

I am curious to ask you. So what trends are you seeing? Are you seeing a shift here when I talk about, hey, there's a shift in the market and the needs that our customers are bringing to us when we talk about AI and not just generative but agentic AI?

How does this play into what you're seeing within your customers?

[Uncle Marv]
Well, some of my customers, let's face it, some of them are old school because most of my customers are in the legal field. So they're slow to change.

[Meredith Payne]
OK.

[Uncle Marv]
So I'm not seeing that. But I will be honest where I'm looking to gain the most traction is kind of in this predictive AI thing where we can help them see down the road what their trends are telling them and how to prepare down the road for purchases, services, cybersecurity, all of that stuff. So that's where I'm going there.

The thing that probably will stick out the most is this marketplace model that everybody's trying to do where we're putting together this portal where our customers can just go and purchase without us. I think you mentioned that that's the fear that a lot of MSPs have is that we're being pulled out of that funnel if we give customers direct access.

[Meredith Payne]
Yeah. Yeah. We're set up.

That's great feedback. So thank you for sharing that. I would just say we are set up well to support as we think through where we're headed there.

And it's really two things for me, I would say, that it supports here. One is the model itself. Some might say, hey, I've made some transactions within the marketplaces and maybe they've gone pretty smoothly.

So I'm just going to keep dipping my toe in over there. We want to make sure that you as an MSP, you're able to go alongside them and not be removed from the cycle. But the second is that solution piece.

We have a very in-depth and just large set of offerings and solutions already that we support at TD Cenex. But it's continuing to change, right? There might be a new offering while we're talking here that's already being rolled out.

And then we've got to think through, how do we go and onboard this partner? So the marketplace and we call it SaaS expand feature within our Stream 1 platform allows us to really be able to take advantage and support those right from the start and not have to go through more traditional onboarding path internally. So those are kind of the pieces for me.

But our team and my team, we talk a lot about just selling the full solution. And if it's Microsoft or another cloud provider that's getting you in the door, how are you thinking about cloud security? How are you thinking about the backup piece?

And just asking those right questions to make sure that your customer is well supported and that as an MSP, you're not missing out on any piece of that opportunity.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. I want to throw a curveball at you. Are you ready?

[Meredith Payne]
Maybe, we'll see.

[Uncle Marv]
So a lot of the Stream 1 stuff and a lot of what we're doing as MSPs can be traced to services, licenses, all of that stuff we can do in the cloud. There's a fair number of us that still supply physical hardware, whether it's servers for customers that still need to be on-prem, desktops, that sort of stuff. Obviously, that's probably been the biggest shift where margins are shrinking.

A lot of technicians, MSPs feel like they're competing directly against other distributors or Amazon, if Amazon buys through distributors and stuff. Can I ask you, I know that your entire career, I think, has been in the cloud, right?

[Meredith Payne]
Sure, yeah.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. So you probably can't answer this, but I was just wondering from a TD Senate's point of view, where does hardware sit on the horizon in the overall portfolio? Can you answer that or should I ask somebody else?

[Meredith Payne]
No, I mean, I can certainly speak to it and it's a little bit tied into what I was just alluding to on that full solution. It is part of the evolution that we're seeing. We're not seeing an opportunity that needs four or five different partners to get done anymore, whereas maybe in the past that was the case.

They'd say, oh, I'm going to go over here to my MSP for the services. I'm going to go over here to somebody who's selling me these licenses and I'm going to go over here and get the hardware. Now it is all coming together and I think there's a stat your average customer has certainly less than seven trusted partners that they're working with.

So maybe that's not a super small number, but it's also not a large one. That means that you've got just a handful of folks that you're looking to go to and help you accomplish this thing. So for us, the evolution is even on that end point side of the business, it's still moving to a digital framework.

And that's where digital bridge that we talked about earlier certainly comes into play because we've got to make sure that the traditional business is still evolving and that we're able to help you do that and service that side of the business in an effective way. So I guess that's how I would answer your question. I don't know if that directly answered it, but my answer is hardware is a key piece of it.

The end point side of our business is going to remain intact there, but it's more we've got to upscale and support our customers and our MSPs so they do feel comfortable supporting that full solution. And they don't say, oh, we work over here, but I'm going to have to refer you. We don't want to see you referring your business away.

You own those customers. Those are probably valued relationships for you. And so our goal is to just get you to a spot where you feel comfortable servicing that piece of the opportunity.

And then we have just a number of skills training and certifications that we're offering as well that you can extend to your teams.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. That was a good answer. I knew it was a curveball, but you answered it well.

[Meredith Payne]
Yeah. No, hardware is not going anywhere, right? If it's going anywhere, it might be going to somebody else's data center, but it's still there.

It's still a critical piece of the overall opportunity. And more so than not, you're seeing that end point business evolve and the technology is evolving. So it does support the future of where we're seeing things go from an AI perspective and certainly within the cloud and security side as well.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So I know that we pretty much talked all about the MSP Evolve, and that was the newest program that I was aware of. Of course, you introduced this digital bridge that apparently is brand, brand new.

What else is on the horizon? I know you mentioned you guys are going to be out there. I know you guys do webinars all the time.

Are we going to see you at events? I mean, not you specifically, maybe, but are we going to see TDSynnex out and about? What's next?

[Meredith Payne]
You are, yeah. So you're going to see us at events. We're going to be certainly out there at the industry events that go on throughout the year.

We also have a number of events that we offer ourselves. So we'd love to extend the invitation to our MSP community to show up to those and really just continue to learn and evolve with us as we move forward. But the goal is to continue to get the word out there on all that we're doing within this space.

And ultimately, for us, success looks like seeing our MSPs thrive and seeing us go solve really exciting things together. So you see the tagline maybe here behind me, when together, but that's what it's all about is for us to partner, for us to win together and solve problems for our mutual customers. So lots to come, some exciting enhancements.

I kind of gave maybe a little bit of a sneak peek too, but some exciting enhancements. So I would just encourage you and maybe the other MSPs that are listening along to stay engaged with us throughout the year. Certainly join the program so we can go through that unique consultation process and figure out where there's opportunity to partner.

But we've got some exciting things to come. That's the sneak peek that I'll leave you with, I guess, Marvin.

[Uncle Marv]
And I will obviously follow up now that I have a pathway into TD Senate. So I'm going to ask.

[Meredith Payne]
That's right. I want you to. I want you to ask.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So Meredith, thank you very much for coming on the show. Wasn't that bad, was it?

[Meredith Payne]
No, this was great. I'm hoping that you'll maybe have me back again sometime.

[Uncle Marv]
Really? Already? Look at you.

[Meredith Payne]
Yeah, it was really exciting to be here and appreciate you having us.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. Well, we'll make that happen.

[Meredith Payne]
Sounds good. Thanks, Marvin.

[Uncle Marv]
Thanks for coming on. And folks, there you have it. Meredith Payne with TD Senate, the senior director of business development.

Oh, so senior director, but you're still working directly with some MSPs?

[Meredith Payne]
Of course. Yes, of course.

[Uncle Marv]
OK, well, you say, of course, as if every senior director does. But most senior directors are like pushing them away and stuff.

[Meredith Payne]
No, no, not at TD Senate. I'll speak for me and my peers. We really are open to just hopping on, rolling up the sleeves, having those conversations directly and ultimately solving the problem.

So yes, we're in the weeds with you, Marvin, on the day-to-day basis. And sometimes we're pulling in folks. We want to ultimately make sure that you've got access to the subject matter expert that's going to get you to the solution the fastest.

But absolutely.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. If anybody out there is working with Meredith, let me know, because I want to hear how that is. Meredith, thank you again.

Thank you, folks, for tuning in to this edition of the IT Business Podcast. Head over to the website and subscribe to your favorite podcaster if you are not getting these on a regular basis. And sign up for the social media so that when we go live, you can see us there as well.

That's going to do it. I will be back soon with much, much more of the IT Business Podcast. We'll see you soon.

Holla!