Arrow ECS ANZ (Arrow) is a leading value-added technology distributor and enabler owned by Arrow Electronics, Inc.: A Fortune 500 company with 19,300 employees worldwide. Arrow has 171 employees across Australia and New Zealand and has a breadth of experience and legacy in the local market, having been formed by acquisitions of local businesses, the most recent being Distribution Central in 2016. As one of the top four distributors in ANZ, Arrow is uniquely positioned to drive increased revenue and margin throughout the entire value chain.

Arrow is led by a partnership between the General Manager of Sales and Finance Director, who also form part of a bigger leadership team. The two local leads work closely together to inform Arrow’s ANZ go-to-market strategy. The leadership team comprises the managers and directors of their respective business units, covering sales, marketing, vendor alliance, engineering and services, finance, operations, human resources as well as IT. Each business unit works closely together to foster high levels of collaboration and productivity while promoting a culture of trust, empowerment and cross-departmental innovation.

Arrow provides their customers (channel partners) technological solutions supported by world-class enablement services, systems and tools that allow them to better meet the needs of their customers (end users). Most importantly, they enable their customers to grow their businesses and to maintain their relevance in an ever-changing environment. Arrow distribute advanced and emerging technologies in cybersecurity, cloud, data centre, business intelligence, IoT and mobility. They drive innovation through specialised, technical-service oriented support. Arrow also enable partners and their customers to solve modern businesses challenges and drive positive business outcomes through their range of value-added services, technology and market-leading solutions, and systems. Lastly, Arrow give their customers a competitive advantage through best-in-class enablement programs.

Arrow delivers a range of value-added channel and professional services that ensure our partners are successful in every opportunity. These include, pre-sales support services, post-sales support services, cloud services and solutions. Arrow also deliver programs for market development, transaction optimisation, training and education and lastly, sustainability.

Arrow has maintained its strong culture of innovation, agility and leadership. Innovation is a focus in all areas of the business and all employees are encouraged to participate in innovation, whether that be in their own roles, teams or other areas of the business. Several of Arrow’s system innovations have started with an idea proposed by an employee. As a result, Arrow are focused on recruiting and retaining the best talent from the IT industry and the broader business community.

Arrow support all the major industry events that provide partners a platform to raise their profile and be acknowledged for their efforts. Arrow ECS ANZ is also a corporate member of CompTIA, the world’s leading tech association, delivering skills development, knowledge and insights for its members and the broader IT industry.

At Arrow, their people come first. Arrow empower their people to do what it takes to deliver exceptional customer service. Arrow continually invest in their people and systems, so they always have the tools they need to excel at their jobs. Arrow’s culture embraces change and values entrepreneurship, agility and innovation. They celebrate success, believe in leadership over management, and they encourage open, honest communication. Arrow encourage coaching inside and outside of their business as part of a broader commitment to each employees’ skills development and career progression. Each employee is coached by their direct manager once per month and is also encouraged to seek other coaches or mentors inside and outside Arrow. Arrow has implemented its own Occupational Health and Management System, which is led by a group of employees who run a variety of initiatives designed to promote health, safety and wellness among staff. Quarterly initiatives include yoga lessons and workplace health and safety inspections. Arrow provide staff additional benefits including an additional charity day leave per year, birthday leave and non-smoker’s leave, using the reward of an additional leave day per year as one way to encourage smokers to quit. Arrow also offers its staff a range of benefits as a token of appreciation, including monthly staff lunches and monthly massages as well as monthly birthday cupcakes/donuts and annual team-building days.

At Arrow, they also like to have some fun, provide transparency around their strategy and to celebrate their achievements, which is exactly what Arrow’s annual staff conference is all about. Over two days, all Arrow ANZ staff come together for a series of engaging panel discussions to talk about what’s next for Arrow. This is followed by a series of team-building activities, which is then followed by a themed awards dinner where they celebrate staff for outstanding contributions to Arrow and the industry. Arrow also have a group of employees who regularly come together to brainstorm, develop and execute activities aimed at giving back to the community: Arrow Force. Recent activities include the Color Run, where about 30 employees came together to raise funds for the Starlight Children’s Foundation. Other key charity days organised by Arrow Force include the MS Sydney to Wollongong Charity Bike Ride and volunteering at Dress for Success: A charity that provides professional attire and support to empower women to achieve economic independence

Arrow are committed to providing a dynamic environment where everyone can be their best. With that in mind, Arrow have partnered with The Predictive Index: An organisation that is equally committed to improving the working lives of people. Each current and new employee has completed and completes the Predictive Index behavioural assessment, and they are provided a report on their PI profile plus a readback session with one of Arrow’s three trained PI experts from their HR team. The readback provides additional insight into the employee’s profile, increasing their self-awareness and providing them tips on how they can better engage with other profiles across the business.

Work(place) Forward (WPF) is a global Arrow initiative that reinforces Arrow’s commitment to a flourishing workplace — and a better world. They embrace their unique and valued differences yet share a common purpose. Arrow bring together employees from all over the world who have unique perspectives, experiences and varied backgrounds to help them all innovate and grow their Arrow business and careers. There is a local Work(place) Forward committee comprising ANZ staff who work on local initiatives to drive and encourage diversity.

Arrow is also committed to providing training and education to ensure their people are armed with the knowledge and skills they need to ensure their success as a leader and the success of their team. Arrow’s Management Essentials training is a strong reflection of this, helping people managers to learn and apply practical leadership skills to maximise performance, develop teams and retain talent. As a proponent of professional development, Arrow runs several internal initiatives designed to Promote cross-departmental collaboration and awareness of the roles and key activities or campaigns within each business unit. Arrow also partners with premier tech organisations to deliver advanced training and certification to its employees. As a corporate member of CompTIA, Arrow provides employees access to resources, certifications, training and networking opportunities to help them broaden their horizons at Arrow as well as the IT industry. Arrow also partners with third-party providers to deliver onsite and remote training to staff. Arrow also provides formal training and study time to employees where there the education has a clear value to strengthening the business. This includes financial support to study courses delivered by TAFE, universities as well as other accredited institutions (e.g. CPA, Masters Degrees and industry certifications and diplomas in their respective fields, including cybersecurity, cloud computing and project management). On top of this Arrow also delivers education and training via its learning management system (LMS) platform. The platform, Learn@Arrow, gives employees the opportunity to advance their soft skills and knowledge in a range of areas, from coaching, leadership and conflict resolution to wellness, emotional intelligence and work-life balance.

Five years out is not just a slogan, it’s Arrow’s corporate mandate; a philosophy that drives them both externally and internally to deliver innovative ideas, advanced technologies and superior services. Arrow believes the key to making that vision a reality is their people. Arrow’s goal framework is used to establish and communicate priorities at the broad corporate-wide level. The framework highlights what the organisation must do day-to-day to sustain Arrow’s strength, as well as focus on the possibilities as they innovate, build their capacity, and drive value for their customers… Five Years Out.

Arrow are constantly seeking feedback from their employees to gather insights on employee engagement and satisfaction. That is done through ongoing open communication between HR, managers and staff, exit surveys, staff surveys and the Arrow Force team. Arrow believe that gathering data and drawing insights from it is important, but it’s even more important to act on the feedback received.