Following the lead of its American parent, Tech Data Canada is now making account information available online to its customers here.
According to Jose Brito, director of credit services for Tech Data Canada, the service lets customers find out the status of invoices and credit instantly instead
of waiting for sales or credit department staff to look up the information.
“I would say we spend a half an hour to an hour of an employee’s time a day providing that information to our customers,” he said. “Now this is information (customers) have at their fingertips.”
The benefit to his 24-member credit department, he added, is that “now they can concentrate on what they’re good at, which is supplying customers with ways of financing their business.”
Access is through a password-protected link called “My Credit Summary” on the Tech Data Canada Web site. Customers can find a complete credit summary showing account balance, details on every invoice, debit and credit memos, available credit, credit aging, payment terms. Statement summaries in comma delimited form for export to a spreadsheet are also available. Customers can also limit access to financial information to select personnel.
With an increasing number of customers buying products online – an estimated 25 per cent of the company’s sales are done by the Web – the ability to check accounts online is a natural offering, he said. “As they feel more comfortable with the tools we offer online they will naturally go that route because its easier to do business that way.”
Meanwhile, ASCII Canada said its relationship with Tech Data Canada is continuing even as the ASCII Group Inc. ends its partnership with Tech Data Corp. in the U.S. ASCII Canada represents 400 resellers here.