In February of 2015, international IT distributor Arrow bought immixGroup . In my LinkedIn post I said this would change the face of GovCon IT products sales over time. Apparently the current investment bank owner of DLT agrees, at least to a point.
There have been numerous changes at the top levels of DLT over the past few weeks, but I have to say I was surprised to hear that Art Richer, one of the three architects of immixGroup (along with co-founders Jeff Copeland and Steve Charles) was moving into the top spot at DLT.
There are three major value-added distributors (VAD) in GovCon: Carahsoft (by far the largest), immixGroup (now owned by Arrow), and DLT. While DLT technically was first into this category, they have not experienced significant growth since Craig Abod (founder and CEO of Carahsoft) left in 2004.
Each of these VADs represents a suite of OEMs in the GovCon arena. Each has a good array of contracts (IDIQs, GWACs, BPAs and GSA) and each sells direct to Feds (and SLED) as well as working with other resellers in the channel.
So here's my take on why DLT has hired Art.
1) The owners are tired of being third in a three-horse race. Art is arguably the most talented person available and if anyone can spur growth, he's the one.
2) LPTA has made the channel tough for everyone, Each of the VADs has to work closer and more productively with OEMs and VARs to make this model profitable. I think Art will expand DLTs influence with the VARs.
3) There are other international distributors out there (Ingram Micro, TechData, Synnex and others) who are paying close attention to this as it develops.
Is Art at DLT to grow the business, sell the business, or both?
It makes me wonder why Arrow let Art go....
And it makes me wonder if Bob Laclede might end up at DLT as well. He knows the GovCon VAR community better than anyone I know.
(I do not currently advise any of the companies in this post. These are my thoughts as a market observor.)
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