Stamina needed for channel

For this reason you could kind of see where Callum Eade was coming from when he left his post as Toshiba’s New Zealand country manager to become an ironman.

Many would consider the ironman’s grueling cocktail of swimming, cycling and running a breeze compared to an aggrieved reseller on the phone, bemoaning a vendor’s actions.

Despite Eade leaving Toshiba’s Information Systems Division (ISD) in 2005, this year he has returned as national channel sales manager for Australia, with a renewed determination to move the vendor’s channel forward.

In his new role, Eade will be responsible for driving Toshiba ISD’s overall Australian channel business, managing the national channel sales team and sales centre, and working closely with the corporate sales team to service Toshiba’s business-to-business clients.

“As national channel sales manager, I am responsible for every aspect of the engagement of my team with the Australian business reseller base, albeit in a direct capacity or via our key partnerships with our distributors,” said Eade.

“The role, and more importantly, my focus extends beyond that to ensure that our product planning strategy is aligned with our overall strategic direction with each and every one of our partners.”

Eade said it is rudimentary that his role complements James Nicholas, the vendor’s national corporate sales manager. “Simply put, James is the left hand and I am the right.”

It’s an interesting time within ISD at the moment, explains Eade, as Toshiba’s commitment to getting its channel strategy right is bolstered by two new roles who will work alongside him.

“They include newly-appointed Liana Nio as channel marketing manager, as well as the deserved promotion of Angela Walker into the position of national distribution sales manager,” he said.

Eade seems focused and enthusiastic about his future at Toshiba, but why did he turn his back on the vendor before?

“My six months away from the corporate year was amazing. It’s hard to put into words how much a complete break can refocus and re-energise you. The decision to return was frankly an easy one.”

Eade said the opportunity to develop his career meant that Sydney was an obvious next step, and was actually something he had discussed informally while he was with Toshiba in New Zealand.

“Toshiba’s commitment to personal development is unlike any organisation that I have worked for. To return to be a part of the organisation that I believe in with such passion was simply beyond anything that I could have imagined.”
Eade said his previous experience with Toshiba is vital. “The product, systems and culture are all components of Toshiba that I have lived and breathed.”

At the time of Eade’s appointment, Mark Whittard, general manager of Toshiba ISD A/NZ, said: “With his experience in mobile computing and deep knowledge of Toshiba, Callum is an ideal person to lead our channel team in Australia. We are delighted to welcome him back to Toshiba and across the Tasman, and believe that his experience will further cement our channel relationships and position as market leader.”

US-based Toshiba is a diverse monster of a vendor, with 161,000 employees worldwide and consolidated annual sales of more than US$53 billion. It can provide a glut of offerings including flash memory, microprocessors, storage, notebooks, telecommunications, TV, even industrial and medical equipment.

In Australia and New Zealand Toshiba is represented by both wholly owned subsidiaries and distributors.Toshiba Australia was founded in 1975 as a joint venture with EMI and became Toshiba Australia in 1978. This is comprised of the following business divisions: Information Systems Division, Electronic Imaging Division, Medical Division, Research and Development, and Corporate Services.

Toshiba International Corporation Pty Ltd is the Oceania operation for Industrial Products, Systems & Services and Power Systems & Services.

Toshiba TEC Australia provides sales and support of retail information systems, barcode printing and identification technology, and weighing and labelling solutions.

“The Information Systems Division (ISD) markets notebooks, projectors and other mobile computing products and accessories to Australia and New Zealand. Recently our division has also restructured to include the Toshiba audio visual products, such as HD DVD and our Regza HD TVs,” said Eade.

The focus of ISD is on mobile computing and audio visual products and it markets its products to the home, school and business markets through both the business channel and mass merchant retail partners, according to Eade.

“Our AV products will be sold through specialist hi-fi and department stores and mass merchant partners.”

Eade said Toshiba is unique among vendors, as it is completely channel-centric.

“I plan on continuing to work with the channel to further strengthen their mobile computing experience. We have seen some great results from such programs as our KiP (Knowledge is Power) training and TargetBusters that help broaden knowledge and reward the channel.”

Eade said he will also continue to work with his team to help the channel differentiate its products, add value and improve margins and their overall business with Toshiba.

Having experienced life at Toshiba in both Australia and New Zealand, Eade is well positioned to comment on synergies between the neighbouring countries.

“The two countries as entities are regarded as having very different characteristics. This includes end-user demographics, our reseller channel and of course the overall competitive environment,” said Eade.

“With this, the strategies more often than not are very different. That said, we make time to formally share thinking, and to ensure we understand our intended outcomes remain specific.”

Eade explained that the two countries are treated as separate, however there are some commonalities, with Toshiba’s New Zealand country manager, Gary Wicks, working closely with Eade to share strategies.

Looking forward, Eade broke down the major trends that will affect Toshiba ISD — growth in the SMB market; development of wireless infrastructure; continued adoption of mobile technology in schools and deployment of wireless technology across all Australian businesses; while Toshiba believes that mobile computing will become the leading client platform globally by 2010.

“We work closely with our channel which is refected by our channel-centric strategies making us the leader in mobile computing. We will continue to build on this strength and work with our channel base with particular development in the second tier channel that supports the growth in SMB,” he said.

Eade added in the future Toshiba would like to see the channel develop and become experts in mobile computing for greater profit and service to customers.