US-based Platinum Equity announced it will acquire Ingram Micro from HNA Group for $7.2 billion. Alain Monie will remain CEO of Ingram Micro.

Data locked away in corporate silos could be used to generate transformative insights and increase efficiency, said Sanjay Sood, chief technology officer of CDW. During an event sponsored by his company, Sood said organizations must balance "curating and maintaining a solid technical infrastructure and software platform while trying to innovate quickly because the world is moving so fast."

More than half of 3,000 global executives responding to an online poll expect their cybersecurity budgets to rise in 2021, states PwC Canada. Almost all indicated they expect COVID-19 to affect cybersecurity, with 4 in 10 saying they expect one of the effects to be more digitization.

Carla Rudder asked 10 IT professionals to name a career skill that will be in demand in 2021, with an unusual answer being videoconferencing. The "ability to interact on camera in a professional manner during an interview is of greater importance than most people ever imagined," says Andrei Kurtuy, co-founder of Novoresume.

Dashboards can quickly provide managers with information on current sales data, opportunities and trends, writes Tariq Ahmad. Closed-won metrics, pipeline data and activity stats should be included in sales dashboards, while stack rankings and other charts can encourage healthy competition between salespeople while letting them see where they stand among their peers.

User-generated content will become an integral part of most marketing strategies during 2021 as a viable time- and money-saving tactic that drives consumer connections and engagement, predicts Jose Angelo Gallegos. He highlights ways brands such as Facebook, KFC, Buffalo Wild Wings and Cisco have built campaigns around consumer and employee content, highlights necessary elements and offers four planning tips.

Good bosses get to know people, are honest and caring, and recognize achievement, writes Dan Rockwell. "A warm heart overcomes many faults," he writes.

Leaders can benefit from articulating the core values relevant to their work, and so creating short, effective leadership principles can be a formal exercise within your organization ahead of 2021, says Denise Lee Yohn in this blog post and video. Once leaders are trained on these principles, she says, "make them part of your performance review and planning process for leaders, so they have real impact."

Attend NAW's free webinar, "Value-Added Services as a Survival Strategy: Real Value Isn't Free," on Dec. 15, at 2 p.m. Eastern. Many distributors historically gave away services as part of selling products. Now that assortment and availability have been commoditized, they find that a strong service menu can differentiate them from their competitors. However, "free" services are usually poorly developed and managed and they include costs without clear revenues. There is a better alternative; join us to learn all about it.

Are you prepared for the largest interchange rate increase to impact B2B credit card payments in more than a decade? Stream the informative webinar from NAW Trusted Partner Unified Payments Group to see a demo of modular cash application solutions for ERPs and 0% Cost Credit Card Acceptance with compliant surcharge technology.

NAW shares thought leadership each week in the NAW Blog "Distributing Ideas." NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence Fellows, authors and guest bloggers discuss today's critical issues specific to wholesale distribution. Catch up on blog posts here. Better yet, subscribe here and we'll deliver a new post each week straight to your inbox.