Tech Data becomes only distie to gain CICMQ credit accreditation

Tech Data says it has become the only IT distributor to hold a quality accreditation from the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICMQ).

CICMQ says the accreditation recognises an organisation’s “commitment to quality, continuous improvement and best practice in all things credit”.

Nick Tiltman (pictured), credit and finance solutions director at Tech Data, told CRN that it is more important for tech companies to prove their credit credentials in a world of as-a-service and consumption models.

“For the vendors, they know Tech Data are best in class and they can trust us with giving out sufficient credit in the right way,” he said.

“For our customers (resellers) it can help protect them from fraud and all sorts of other things.

“We never had to worry too much about end users 15 years ago. Now the big deals are multi-year deals so we have to worry a lot more about who the end user is and how our reseller is protected.

“We generally have much better skills at assessing the risk than a reseller will, so it is protecting the channel all the way down the chain which is important.”

Tiltman added that Tech Data will use the accreditation and the access it provides to CICMQ’s centre of excellence to develop further resources for its reseller base.

“A centre of excellence is where we will allow resellers to come in and we will help them train their people in some of the best practices and systems that we have put in,” he said.

High-profile companies with the accreditation include construction giant Kier, Equinix, Royal Mail and Ford Retail Group.

Avnet TS, which was acquired by Tech Data, is still listed as an accredited company on the CICMQ’s website despite the fact the entity no longer exists.

A full list of companies can be found here.