TD SYNNEX Unveils New PartnerFirst Portal to Better Serve Channel Partners

For years, global technology distributor TD SYNNEX has equipped its channel partners with a wide range of digital tools and resources to do business with the company, but the experiences were not always fully integrated or easy to use.

Now, in a move to streamline and strengthen its digital partner tools, the company has launched a new TD SYNNEX PartnerFirst portal, which offers a redesigned approach that brings together sales and services involving hardware, cloud, and renewals, including educational resources, enablement, and communities, according to the company.

The PartnerFirst portal also includes a centralized dashboard to streamline purchasing, AI assistance for personalized recommendations and sales opportunity identification, and access to product exploration, partner health and fitness, loyalty programs, and more.   

While the new portal is initially only available to partners in North America, it will be expanded to partners worldwide in the future, according to the company.

Nate Herz, TD SYNNEX’s senior vice president and CIO for North America, told ChannelE2E that previous digital partner tools and platforms included fragmented user experiences that needed improvement.

“PartnerFirst is an evolution of our platform strategy that collects our portfolio and unifies these offerings and functions in one place, creating a more seamless experience,” he said. “This goes beyond commerce by also bringing together our loyalty program, partner communities, and partner health and fitness resources all in one platform.” 

Herz said that PartnerFirst is “more than an upgrade” of its previous partner tools. “We are evolving our partners’ digital experiences by providing a degree of self-service while simultaneously creating an easier way to work with our people.”

PartnerFirst removes fragmentation and delivers significantly more capabilities than partners had before, said Herz. “It offers an enhanced business dashboard with insights and intelligence on the partner’s business, improved search functionality across products and solutions, and a single transaction for all purchases – whether cloud services or hardware products – with flexible payment terms for each.”  

For example, PartnerFirst now includes a digitalized price and service quote process that enables the company to provide quotes to partners quickly while connecting them directly with TD SYNNEX for additional discussions, said Herz. “This simplifies the vendor quoting experience.” 

Before launching the new partner portal, TD SYNNEX piloted its use and performance with more than 100 partners who were already enrolled in TD SYNNEX’s PartnerLINK program.

“Their feedback helped us prioritize the features, capabilities, and experiences that matter most to our partners when they are transacting with us,” said Herz. “For example, we now can offer different payment terms for hardware and cloud services in a single place because MSPs and partners let us know they like to pay for those technologies in different ways.”

The company’s previous partner portal was focused on transactions, he said. But now it is a “holistic experience where partners learn about their business from TD SYNNEX-provided business intelligence and are connected with products, tools, and services that accelerate their business.” 

For MSPs and other channel partners, the new PartnerFirst portal will bring important new opportunities, said Herz.

“PartnerFirst exemplifies how channel collaboration drives innovation that reflects the needs and priorities of partners,” he said. “It is about being able to access the totality of the capabilities we have for all partners and creating a more coordinated experience. For MSPs and their customers, it means faster access to solutions, smarter recommendations, and a more connected partner experience that keeps them competitive in a fast-moving market.”

Reduced Partner Portal Complexity is a Laudable Goal: Analyst

Jessica C. Davis, a Canalys principal analyst who covers MSPs and MSSPs, told ChannelE2E that TD SYNNEX is making a smart move to make the use of its partner portal easier for partners.

“PartnerFirst is an evolution of TD Synnex’s distribution engine, unifying the box-moving of the past with the digital SaaS offerings of today and adding in the promise of AI personalization,” said Davis. “MSPs already use multiple portals and platforms, so if this new one can truly deliver the frictionless experience that TD Synnex is promising, it could be a welcome addition.”

But it better be ready for prime time at its release, she said. “If it misses the mark on providing a reduction in complexity, it may run into trouble.”