Vishal (Vish) Chhatralia is right. How we work, and the businesses and relationships we create, should be about purpose, giving back and enhancing lives. It’s a message that’s been instilled in him since Mrs Grey, an early teacher he still cites as a key inspiration today, kicked him into action. The fact that Vish can list several other key mentors who spotted and nurtured his enterprising spirit is as much testament to his obvious passion for his work as it is anything else.
“I’ve been very lucky,” he reflects. “Having people throughout my career who supported and challenged me, taught me about the power of leadership and that success comes from execution and driving real progress has been transformational.”
Fortunately, it’s a sentiment that’s perfectly in tune with the vision and mission of DCC Technology, which Vish joined around five years ago. DCC Technology is a collection of specialist businesses that act as enablers between leading technology brands and the people and organisations that use their products. It provides innovative technologies that are a catalyst for progress, improve lives and the world we live in, and enhance outcomes and experiences for those that use them.
Vish, who joined DCC Technology after a 15-year stint at global industrial and electrical products distributor RS Group, holds the role of Group Chief Digital and Innovation Officer. “Essentially, my mandate is to support and drive the businesses within our group forward, to make progress and leverage all of the 2.0 opportunities around us,” he explains. “That covers opportunities such as AI, digital, modern marketing, innovation and championing a more inclusive workplace to drive our evolution. I also sit in our North America business— our biggest region— as Senior Vice President of Commercial and Marketing. My work is about hands-on progress, strategy and execution.”
Providing technology the world needs
DCC Technology works with leading and emerging brands to take their products to market across three core sectors: professional technology (Pro Tech), which is predominantly pro AV as well as specialist infrastructure solutions from server, networking, AI and Cloud solutions; lifestyle technology (Life Tech), which is mainly consumer electronics and kitchen technology products for the home; and information technology (Info Tech). It has more than 2,700 technology brands in its portfolio including the likes of LG, Samsung, Sony, Microsoft, Liebherr, Whirlpool, JBL, Xbox and more, and works with over 35,000 resellers to reach over 6 million end users.
By turnover, DCC Technology is the number one AV specialist distributor with Pro AV revenues of $2.4bn, the leading North American Life Tech distributor and the sixth largest western EU Info Tech distributor. Its portfolio of businesses provide critical services to vendors and resellers across distribution and enablement services for growth such as marketplaces, direct to consumer, digital marketing, retail and PR/media.
In the Info Tech sector DCC Technology supplies both the B2C and B2B markets with the latest IT equipment and services. This typically includes products such as laptops, headsets and other devices it distributes for companies through its Exertis, MTR and Hypertec brands.
“Our Life Tech cluster of businesses provides a broad range of more consumer-focused technologies for the home like air conditioners, TVs, gaming, musical instruments, white goods and smart kitchen appliances,” Vish says. “The focus is on providing technology solutions that enhance or enrich people’s lives. We connect leading vendors like Samsung, Hestan or JBL with major retailers like Home Depot, Walmart and Amazon, as well as a long reach of independent retailers. By doing so, we generate demand for them in the marketplace.”
The Pro Tech sector, of which AV technology from major brands like LG is the largest component under the trading brand Almo Pro AV, is DCC Technology’s biggest market and where a significant proportion of its strategic investment and growth is focused. Here, the company brings high-end visual and audio technologies that store and display information together to create elevated, emotional and memorable experiences in environments like stadium concerts, restaurants and hotels, trading floors and offices. Through its specialist brands, Pro Tech takes care of the design and installation of big screens, touch screens, advanced infrastructure solutions and professional AV.
“It’s our biggest vertical by far,” Vish adds. “Technology-wise it includes the kinds of large-scale Direct View LED (DVLED) screens you see in public areas, retail spaces, food and leisure venues, airports, houses of worship or at mass entertainment events. We’re also the leading distributor of pro audio technology in North America, which is the kind of high-end audio equipment that ends up at major music events like the South by Southwest Festival.
“Alongside these two key areas, Pro Tech also includes all of the technologies, solutions and infrastructure for businesses,” he continues. “Examples include professional configuration of networking and server-based computing solutions, through to the cloud and AI solutions necessary to enable a host of end-user applications. These range from trackside advanced computing in motor sport to content streaming or enabling the AI revolution.
“This aspect has evolved rapidly over recent years as customer demands and expectations grow,” Vish notes. “Ten years ago, for example, the networking and computing requirements of these applications and the data they were crunching were a lot lower. However, today you have large amounts of data needing to be stored or analysed and the need to distribute high-quality content at scale. It requires constant innovation and the ability to provide cutting-edge solutions.”
Evolving distribution and technology
The pace of technology innovation has changed rapidly over Vish’s tenure at DCC Technology. Directly within the business, new innovations in marketing and data provide him and the team with greater capabilities when it comes to analysing potential markets for vendors, understanding customer and industry trends, and driving strategic decision making that benefits both vendors and resellers working with the company.
More broadly, the demand for new and innovative solutions in Pro Tech and other sectors provides both opportunities and challenges for vendors. “The amount of content we consume visually has changed dramatically — the number of screens around us is just incredible,” he explains. “For the vendors we work with, it's akin to a technology arms race, which brings new challenges related to increasingly short product lifecycles.
“Whether it's LG, Samsung or any of the other major companies, you have an environment where the adoption of AI and machine learning has accelerated the pace at which they develop new products exponentially,” Vish adds. “It’s essentially a constant cycle of innovation that creates challenges around how much inventory we hold as the distributor and means we have to be constantly moving at pace to ensure vendors satisfy their market.”
Vish describes other challenges in the fast-paced distribution sector that impact vendors and resellers. “The face of distribution is changing. Shorter product lifecycles mean greater competition among vendors, which challenges us as the distributor sitting between them and the market,” he comments. “We have to stay way ahead of the development and trend curves, having a deep understanding of vendor propositions and technologies, and the ability to create a platform very quickly to get them to market. As a specialist we also have to ensure we have the right services around those products.
“Data helps us to do that and removes a lot of the more manual market research of the past,” says Vish. “We harness new innovations in MarTech to create demand and penetrate the right markets for our vendors. We use listening tools and technology to analyse market data, and have hired and built highly specialised teams capable of forecasting trends, understanding future product demand and the dynamics within a market to help vendors win. AI is helping us to improve this even more and ensure we’re as effective as possible for our vendors and resellers.
“From a marketing perspective, our challenge is showing vendors we’re a mature and innovative marketing organisation that acts as an extension of their business. For resellers, our role is to help them create end-user markets in an environment where engagement and reaching end users is critical in an attention economy.”
Creating markets and delivering value
DCC Technology’s specialist businesses and collective are critical for vendors and resellers in this environment, enabling growth and helping them reach their customers.
“The biggest requirement from vendors is to create markets and drive their market share,” Vish notes. “In many cases they put millions of dollars and a huge amount of skill and innovation into developing potentially market-leading products. Our role is to collaborate closely to create and deliver an end-to-end go-to-market strategy. This covers everything from credit, operations, sales, marketing motions and services around the product, through to distribution to resellers and end users.”
DCC Technology’s portfolio of businesses is essential for delivering this service, Vish says. “Some have a really strong legacy in the industry, they’re known as ‘market makers’ by vendors for their ability to deliver. We have a powerful heritage of creating markets for our vendors, who view us as a critical part of their go-to-market operations. We can give incredible access to resellers and networks they couldn’t open alone. For AV in North America, for example, we have up to 15,000 resellers. They each have their own networks of end users to reach the 14,000 large end businesses in the US and c.22 million small- to medium-sized businesses. That represents significant value and an incredible reach which has been built over many years.”
Close relationships are critical to this process, Vish attests, describing how the company becomes an extension of the vendor’s business. This involves working closely to understand its products, marketing strategy and potential customers as well as creating the relevant messaging to maximise end-user engagement in collaboration with resellers.
An example of this process comes in DCC Technology’s ongoing work with leading technology leader LG. The Korean firm, which develops technology across a broad spectrum including display and AV solutions, electronics, home appliances and automotive innovation works with DCC Technology’s Pro Tech businesses.
“We have an incredible and very strategic relationship,” Vish says of the partnership. “We’re a key distribution partner so they rely on us to get to market. We collaborate closely on new product release plans, potential markets to tap into, product development areas and identifying strengths, opportunities and weaknesses. We act as an extension of our vendors, including with LG.”
An example is in the LED signage market, where LG is particularly strong. “They challenged us to grow that market and sell their USPs to resellers and in turn to end users,” Vish shares. “We have a team of more than 170 salespeople in the AV sector, as well as dedicated LG marketing and business managers who engage our resellers and actively work on seeking out new opportunities through an LG-first approach. We also provide services around specifically engaging resellers face-to-face. Each year we hold four industry-leading events across the US where, in the case of LG as an example, we provide floor space and capabilities to market their products, and work with resellers and other companies to maximise exposure as much as possible.
“We have the services, technology, leadership, knowledge and skills within our business to make the reseller's lives really easy when it comes to buying, installing and maintaining LG products.”
Growth, innovation and making markets
The world needs technology. And the fast pace of development in the sectors that DCC Technology operates in means there is no shortage of opportunities to continue adding value to the operations of vendors and resellers.
The business has three core strategic priorities to ensure it maximises these opportunities. It continues to push towards Vish’s ‘DCC Technology 2.0’, a multi-country operating model with best-in-class people, operating processes and infrastructure that gives partners the benefits of scale but with local market knowledge, specialism and agility.
North America remains a key focus. Over the last six years the business has grown significantly in the region through acquisition strategy to a point where the market is worth close to US$2.5bn in revenue. DCC Technology aims to continue this trend, reinforcing its position in Pro Tech in North America and Europe ,and Life Tech in North America both organically and through acquisition. At the same time, Vish believes the business will also target the LATAM sector.
People and impact are at the heart of this growth. The company is staunchly people-centric and places empowerment of its teams and the nurturing of their skills and capabilities at the forefront of its ability to deliver.
For Vish, several trends will underpin the next couple of years. “The impact of AI will be profound in marketing and distribution,” he says. “The vendor wants us to create markets but end users are being bombarded with product content. Distributors that can use AI to create real value and a niche in the space will gain a pretty large competitive advantage.
“At the heart of this is going to be people, including retaining and recruiting a team who can win in the AI world. AI will mean people matter more than ever. I’m convinced the real differentiator will be the value it enables companies like us to unlock and how it frees up our talented people, enabling them to create more specialist value, deeper customer relationships and greater innovation
Another big battleground will be the ongoing pace of innovation and rapid product lifecycles, says Vish. The leading vendors will continue to dominate, but he predicts an influx of new technology innovators that make the market even more challenging. “For us that means ensuring we identify and work with the right vendors and technology companies, but also play into the right sectors in terms of technology development and staying ahead of the curve.
“Lastly, we need to capitalise on opportunities to create value add around the products we sell, whether that’s through installation, complimentary services, maintenance or even finance services like subscription based options.
“It’s an endlessly exciting proposition for me and all those in our businesses. When I speak with people they’re genuinely motivated about driving progress and innovation as well as the kind of impact we can have on people. It’s an industry that you can’t help wanting to be a part of.”
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