immixGroup & Arrow Electronics: One Year Later

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Bob Laclede_65x85By Bob Laclede, Channels VP

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since immixGroup was acquired by Arrow Electronics, a Fortune 131 company. The acquisition, which was finalized at the end of March 2015, dramatically changed immixGroup for the better, making us the largest value-added distributor of enterprise IT products in the public sector.

What’s unique is that this is a reverse integration, meaning that immixGroup is now responsible for Arrow’s federal business and serves as the public sector arm of Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions. It’s been a smooth, but busy process over the last year. It reminds me of a duck swimming on a pond—everything looks calm above the surface, but there’s a lot going on down below.

So immixGroup channels director Pat Cruciani and I took about 10 minutes to detail all the changes in this on-demand Webinar. Don’t worry, the changes are all for the better. Here’s a little preview of what you’ll hear:

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A New Event for Government Sales and Marketing Professionals

Photo of Allan RubinWe’ve been hearing it quite a bit from our manufacturer clients and channel partners recently: it’s tough out there. Companies that sell technology to the government have faced one challenge after another. Most of us survived Sequestration, continuing resolutions, and the shutdown — often with some scars to show for it — and we hope those are in the rear-view mirror for good.

Uncle Sam is still spending a lot of money on technology products and services, but that growth curve has flattened, and budget pressures have increased competition for every order. Add to that the significant shifts we’ve seen in technology requirements, acquisition methods, the movement towards lowest-price technically acceptable (LPTA) procurements, difficulty in meeting face-to-face with customers…and the increased pressure you’ve probably seen from your corporate office to exceed revenue goals while cutting back on personnel, marketing, and other resources. There’s a long list of reasons for those in our industry to lose sleep.Print

Luckily, it’s not all doom and gloom. Pockets of technology, like cyber security, remain strong with growing demand. The state and local market is heating up. While some agencies and programs face budget cuts, others are expected to invest more heavily in IT products and services. There are reasons to be optimistic, but you have to know where to look … and what to look for.

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