TD SYNNEX Maverick has been evolving and is now positioned to support partners in taking advantage of multiple opportunities around collaboration and smart meetings, digital signage and unified communications as a service (UCaaS). We spoke to Mark Glasspool, senior director, UK&I, about the potential for all partners to grow with these fast-growing areas of the market.
The Evolution of Video Conferencing and Meeting Room Technology
Technologies evolve, needs change, partners adapt. Before video conferencing systems became commonplace, providing solutions for high quality video and audio in a defined physical space was a distinct part of the market. While partners with those specialist skills are certainly still needed, that has become an even more specialised segment and the big growth potential for most partners with audiovisual-related technologies now lies in the areas of collaboration and communication.
The trend towards more open and flexible workplaces is driving demand for digital signage in offices, retail and leisure outlets, and public locations
In the post-COVID world, the room in which business presentations are held is also where video conferencing meetings are run. But the widespread use of collaboration means that you need to provide additional, smaller spaces in which online dialogues can take place.
Beyond that, the trend towards more open and flexible workplaces is driving demand for digital signage in offices, retail and leisure outlets, and public locations. As organisations adopt hybrid and virtual working practices and workforces become more distributed, they need to manage and control communications to optimise productivity and ensure good, consistent customer experiences.
It’s against this dynamic backdrop that TD SYNNEX Maverick is taking the next steps in its evolution, becoming an enabler and aggregator for solutions that enable organisations to collaborate and communicate more effectively.
Platform-Centric Collaboration: Microsoft Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms & More
Building on its heritage in audiovisual, Maverick is focusing increasingly on the main areas of growth potential it has identified within this sphere. Even prior to the acceleration that came during COVID, it was already building a strong value proposition in presence in collaboration. More recently, it has put additional focus on digital signage, building a strong portfolio of leading-brand vendors. It is now looking to add a further string to its bow with unified communications as a service (UCaaS).
The starting point with them all, says Mark Glasspool, senior director, UK and Ireland, TD SYNNEX Maverick, is the platform. ‘From a partner perspective, Maverick is the home of the platforms. We can provide customer engagement and support on Teams, Google, Zoom, or Webex. We can offer product and support around all four. That’s a unique position and it changes the conversation that partners can have with the customer. It becomes much less about the individual product and more about the platform and your business decision and can even extend into areas like security.’
But the future of workplace collaboration will almost certainly be multi-platform. Indeed, many businesses already want to use more than one kind of meeting room technology. TD SYNNEX Maverick is ideally placed to provide interoperability between platforms through its partnerships with specialist vendors, such as Pexip, which enables users to make use of all the key functions in cross-platform scenarios. This and other complementary offerings are key to providing a full solution in the meeting room and Maverick has been seeking them out, broadening its range to give partners more revenue and profit potential.
Mark Glasspool says: ‘The collaboration ecosystem we’ve built is crucial. I think we’ve done a good job with that. We have a really strong proposition in most areas now and looking to strengthen in areas such as audio and secure content sharing.’
Expanding the Digital Signage Ecosystem
Maverick has also been extending its relationships in digital signage and large format displays. Recent signings have included Samsung, ViewSonic and HP | Poly. ‘Signage is not just about the screen – it’s the software you use to drive content, the compute model that sits behind it, and the accessories that go with it – connectors, mounts, and brackets. You need a complete solution – it’s much more than a display.’
UC encompasses every aspect of communications for organisations that have traditionally had a number of people sitting on telephones making or taking calls
The next step for Maverick will be to bring together a set of UC and UCaaS offerings. The opportunity here is a little different, says Mark. ‘UC encompasses every aspect of communications for organisations that have traditionally had a number of people sitting on telephones making or taking calls – in call centres or in hospitality, for example. UC is also platform-centric and an area in which a number of our vendors already have a value proposition, but we are also looking to broaden our portfolio here.’
Strategic Growth Markets: Collaboration, Signage, and UCaaS
By focusing in on these strategic markets, Maverick is bringing a whole new world of potential to partners – and the prospects for growth are really strong in all three.
‘If you look at collaboration, whether it’s remote, hybrid or in-office, there is a recognition that you’re going to be doing more video meetings. We are also seeing a refresh of equipment bought during COVID that’s now four or five years old. On top of that, as people have come back into the workplace, they’re seeing the need for more optimised meeting rooms and hybrid work solutions. Other businesses are looking at reducing their office footprint and they need to rethink their environments to encourage their own people in and make it attractive to new talent.’
The market predictions are for a big spike within the next couple of years. My own view is that it will come sooner
While the priority this year may have been Windows 11 upgrades, he believes that collaboration technology and smart meeting room solutions will be high on the list of IT spending priorities for 2026. Organisations now need collaboration tools for hybrid teams, and the use of AI in smart meetings – to identify speakers and to automate transcriptions and summary reporting – is also attracting a lot of attention. ‘The market predictions are for a big spike within the next couple of years. My own view is that it will come sooner.’
There is visible momentum in the digital signage market. ‘You have only got to look at the number of systems that you see now in offices, coffee shops and in places like train stations and on the underground. Retailers are using signage to draw you in – some of them are already using AI to recognise what type of customer is walking past the store and display the right messages. In offices its being used for corporate updates and canteen menus – you are going to see it everywhere.’
UC is also growing fast, and Maverick is going to be bringing forward a strong value proposition in this area. It represents a huge opportunity for partners since, as well as a platform, for UC you need infrastructure and multiple peripherals and accessories to create complete solution.
With all these technologies, demonstrations will have a powerful impact. Maverick already has a technology centre in Basingstoke, fully-equipped with the latest collaboration and signage products and is setting up a similar facility in Warrington. This will give partners in the north a way to get hands-on experience and run customer demonstrations, with Maverick experts on hand to assist if required.
A Whole-Solution Approach for Partner Success
Maverick’s strategic approach is a bold one. It gives partners the opportunity to have new conversations with customers about how they can collaborate and communicate more effectively. There is potential in these markets – collaboration, signage and UCaaS – for all kinds of partners, including the audiovisual-focused specialists. Indeed, many of those partners are already addressing these new growth areas.
Whether its collaboration, digital signage or UCaaS, the engagement with the customer is different
Whether they have an IT or an AV background, partners may need to learn a different type of language to sell effectively in these markets, says Mark. ‘Whether its collaboration, digital signage or UCaaS, the engagement with the customer is different. You do need to understand which products will work with each other. You also need to ask customers different types of questions – about the size of a room, for example, of if a wall will carry a 45-kilo display product. It’s very much a discussion about the whole environment and the whole solution.’
