Interview with Sandi Rygwalski Fryer, CRN 2021 Women of the Channel

Our VP of OEM and Channel Sales was named to the CRN 2021 Women of the Channel list. The annual list acknowledges the unique strengths, vision, and achievements of women from all over the IT channel, including vendors, distributors and solution providers. Our CMO, Brian Reagan, sat down with her to learn more about her role at CDS and the new Commit channel program.

Brian Reagan (BR): With 23 years working in the Channel, Sandi, you must have some war stories.

Sandi Rygwalski Fryer (SRF): Not to date myself, but IT has changed so much over the last 27 years I’ve spent in the industry. The channel has grown in importance, stacks have gotten smaller and are easily shipped. I’ve seen the arrival of the cloud, software-defined everything, massive security breaches, and a global pandemic that sent almost everyone home and left data centers pretty quiet. And my favorite trend -- more and more women building great careers in an industry where we were once rare.

BR: Since joining CDS in 2020, what would you say your key accomplishments are? 

SRF: I’ve been working in tandem with the OEM channel teams to increase share of wallet for us with those organizations. As you know, this is a top priority for CDS as an area of growth and focus. We worked together on launching the Commit Channel Partner Program, which includes a new reseller contract, partner and deal registration.

BR: We’ve been working closely together on the Commit program, but what else are you doing to further CDS’ channel program? 

SRF: CDS is a 100% partner-focused company. We work closely with all of our OEMs and channel partners to close all of our business. Before we refocused the company to empower our partners to own the data center, there were no channel leaders, no go-to-market plan with IBM, Dell, or Hitachi, and no CDS channel program. Now that we’ve rallied behind owning the data center, and becoming a multi-vendor support company, we’re able to deepen our partnerships and leverage our OEM partners as our primary route to market.

BR: What do you think makes our Commit channel partner program stand out in the market? 

SRF: We’re bringing a holistic approach to our channel partner community - offering not only competitive margins and partner benefits, but also the broad range of services for leading storage, server, and network equipment to enhance their customers’ experiences. In conversations with partners they’ve told us that the value we add is immediately tangible - and that’s something I think is really unique about our platform.

BR: 2020 needs no introduction. What do you think made us stand out, and weather the storm? 

SRF: Two things - our people and our partnerships. Over the last two years we have put together an A+ team with new leadership plus numerous level 2 and 3 engineers. Now we have more than 100+ years of combined expertise on staff. This comes through in our recent rebrand and Raytrix MVS platform.

We also have strong bonds with all of our partners, and work to ensure that they can provide the best experiences to their customers. In the ecosystem we’ve created, everyone is in a collaborative role, and working together to make sure customers own their data centers from asset onboarding to decommissioning. That’s what makes us unique, and made 2020 a successful year for us. 

BR: What does it mean to you personally to be honored by CRN alongside so many other accomplished women? 

SRF: Not only am I excited that such an opportunity to highlight the channel exists, but I am humbled to be included among some of the leading women in this field. IT isn’t an industry where female leaders are prevalent - that’s something that has changed over the last 10 years. That there are so many of us, and that we all have had opportunities and partners in our careers that have help us achieve success, makes me excited for the future. 

To learn more or join the Commit Channel Program, please click here.