29 technologyreseller.co.uk CYBERSECURITY can take out the same proposition and then, from Germany, extend our services reach across Europe, so that our partners across Europe have the same access to the specialist services team we have there. TR: Is the disparity that exists because vendors have alternative distributors in those regions? LW: Sometimes, and sometimes it's just because the vendor hasn’t extended themselves there. Many vendors choose the UK as their jumping off point and then they go from the UK into the Netherlands because it has a very similar economy and buyers. They go from there into Germany and then into the Nordics. Our growth to date has been aligned with that pattern. Equally, we want to deliver a good quality product in the regions we're in. This time last year the Benelux team was just three people, and three people can't take 12 vendor propositions out to market in any meaningful way. That team is now 8 people, which gives us a much better reach across the specialisms we have. It’s a similar situation in Germany. The handful of vendors we have there is perfect for now – any more and we would need more sales heads. The services team there are already expanding their capabilities into the cybersecurity market holistically, by extending the brilliance they have in orchestration and automation from their product engineering background into cybersecurity. Customers have lots of products, but how do those products bind together? Most of the time we throw people at the problem, but there’s a skills shortage so you need to get more out of less which you do through automation. But you can't just buy an automation product; you've got to work out your workflows and the processes that work into that. That's a good area of investment that our services team will go into across Europe. TR: Finally, how is the role of the distributor changing? LW: The big question on all our minds is downward pressure from Amazon Marketplace. Microsoft will double down the pain of that because once they go through the gears, which is inevitable, and start providing ISV solutions via their marketplace, AWS Marketplace and Azure Marketplace will become the transactional end of that distributor equation. The channel ecosystem is very balanced: distributors do the job of the aggregator, the educator, the transactor, the currency mover, the promoter etc.; and resellers do more promotion, more aggregation into end users and of course sales and marketing. As with any ecosystem, dropping in a new predator throws everything off-balance. However, at Distology we believe competition is a positive for the business. It makes us critically evaluate our service and keeps us proactive and eager to innovate. We know that vendors won’t get the value that they need from the Azure or AWS Marketplace, so how do you continue delivering what they need to get noticed, recognised and on board with the channel? That is the big question mark. of funding have they had, if any? Most channel resellers won’t be interested in working with leading edge technology, unless it's at least Series B. If you are in Series A funding, it doesn't matter how good the technology is or how strong the proposition is, channel partners are unlikely to engage with it. From there, I will look at measures like how much the vendor has invested in the region, their brand identity, whether they have a dedicated marketing budget for the region or country, how many partners they have and how many customers they've got. Then I’ll look at whether they’ve got a channel programme and the sort of margin channel partners can expect. The final measure and arguably the most important one is the people. We like the people we work with to have the same attitude to life as us, and we truly believe that a productive and successful partnership is based on a good relationship. TR: How have your previous 16 years at Softcat helped you in your new role at Distology? LW: Massively. At Softcat it was all about generating as much empathy as possible for the end customer. The end customer comes in all different shapes and sizes, so being able to adapt and be the right person for each end customer was critical. I now have that same attitude in my dealings with customers in the reseller community and the vendor community. For my first 10 years at Softcat I worked directly with vendors in the alliances part of the business, learning a lot from James Baker, who was Alliances Director and is now the MD for Cloud at Giacom. For my last six years I was involved in setting up and running the services portfolio management team. That was all about product management, product design and product marketing, which is exactly what I am doing at Distology – What is it that Distology does? What are our products? Who are our customers? How do we best communicate with them? The job I do now is really a culmination of everything I have done in my career to date. TR: Apart from engaging more with end customers, what do you hope to achieve in your role in the next 12 months? LW: Regional parity. We have a very well stocked UK and Ireland portfolio. We have a slightly less well stocked Benelux portfolio and in Germany we have a handful of vendors who are prepared to go to market with us in that region. I would love us to create parity so that our regional sales teams across Europe
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDUxNDM=