Technology Reseller v42

01732 759725 38 DISTRIBUTION led sales motion, so you need a sales team that is: a) used to selling to end customers together with vendor partners and resellers; and b) experienced at bringing business outcome-type selling to a technical sales motion. So, very heavy on PoVs, PoCs, the architecture, the roadmaps, the integration points. In the Frontier sales team, we have a near 1:1 ratio of channel account managers and system engineers, so it is geared up from the start to be a technical sales-led motion. “The last thing I want to say is that this is a game-changing economic model for us. For the first time in the industry, a vendor doesn’t have to commit MDF, doesn’t have to commit funded heads, doesn’t have to commit X amount of money upfront because we are aiming to create a platform with a fixed subscription cost per quarter covering everything you need to become a part of the Frontier programme.” Chandaka says that subscriptions are competitively priced – i.e. tens of thousands of dollars per quarter, rather than hundreds of thousands of dollars – to ensure that the start-ups Nuvias is trying to attract are not priced out. “We don’t want to maximise our profit in year one or two. We want to nurture these start-ups and emergent technologies and graduate them into Nuvias mainstream in year two, which is when we will aim to scale and gain the most mutual benefit from our relationship,” he said. Chandaka adds that Frontier is not just for new companies, but also for established technology partners that are developing innovative new technology offerings of their own. “At Nuvias, we carry some established vendors – we have Fortinet, we have Checkpoint, we have Juniper, we have Versa Networks – and these vendors are rapidly transitioning their product portfolios. They have the core product portfolio for which they are famous, but they are also moving towards launching emerging technologies. Frontier is a fit for large companies that have a volume motion with their existing Pioneers of the new Frontier Nuvias is aiming to nurture emerging networking and cybersecurity vendors with a new channel programme called Frontier. James Goulding finds out more from Sen Chandaka, Vendor Alliance Development Manager Europe and Emerging Technology Lead at the high value distributor work closely with vendors and VARs/ MSPs on joint go-to-market initiatives, from market value campaign creation and qualified lead generation all the way through to business close. Sen Chandaka, Vendor Alliance Development Manager Europe and Emerging Technology Lead at Nuvias Group, told Technology Reseller that Nuvias was launching this new programme to meet the distinct needs of emerging technology providers, pointing out that Frontier differs from traditional programmes in a number of respects. “When we look at our emerging technology set, instead of looking at distribution in a typical two-tier model, which is about how we can expand the geographic spread and scale and accelerate our vendors’ offerings, we need to be able to sell technology and business outcomes that are typically focused on the end user. One of Frontier’s very big USPs is that it will have an end-user focused sales team and effort across two technology stacks – cyber security and advanced networking,” he said. “Another USP is that we have an initial investment and nurture period of between 18 and 24 months. In the traditional channel, an emerging vendor or provider of an emerging technology might be told by the sales team ‘I love your technology and I see it as game-changing, but I have a target to hit and your initial revenue is so small that I will naturally gravitate to where my bigger opportunities are, after which I will come back to you and give you the attention you need, but how quickly we can grow your revenue is up for debate’. There is a mismatch there. “In the Frontier programme, we have a dedicated team that for the first 18 to 24 months is going to focus solely on growing Frontier vendors and, by growing these vendors, will look to graduate these vendors to the mainstream Nuvias Group sales teams to do the scale and acceleration piece. “The other thing is that, as part of Frontier, we are moving to a hybrid cloud play. This is quite a technical- Hot on the heels of its acquisition of Cloud Distribution in the UK, Nuvias Group has announced a new European programme designed to nurture emerging technology providers and specialist VARs and MSPs looking to deploy disruptive technologies in advanced networking and cybersecurity, with a particular focus on hybrid cloud. The acquisition of Cloud Distribution and the launch of Frontier are linked because, with its experience in picking and growing emerging technology vendors, Cloud Distribution will be responsible for delivering the Frontier programme in the UK and Ireland, with Nuvias focusing on providing scale and acceleration for more established vendors. In DACH and Benelux, where Cloud Distribution does not operate, Nuvias is in the process of recruiting separate, dedicated Frontier sales teams that will Sen Chandaka