8 01732 759725 Enterprise manage setbacks including the loss of big customers. “The industry is going through quite a large degree of global consolidation, so you’re seeing a lot of brands trying to streamline their own channel presence and have a leaner cost base to be in the channel (or potentially not be in the channel, in some instances) by replacing a proliferation of local distribution partners with global distribution partners. We’ve been a victim of some of those strategic decisions. Some of those hurt financially and in certain instances they hurt because of the investment we’ve made in those brands. But we’ve also been having some real success with brands we’ve taken on to fill those holes, where we’re looking at 20%, 30% growth.” Exploring AI At the same time, Exertis Enterprise has been investing in its own capabilities to help partners navigate a business climate in which economic uncertainty and the transformative nature of the decisions customers are being asked to make are leading to longer sales cycles, despite the requirement for investment in infrastructure (servers, storage, network, cybersecurity) to cope with massive data growth. “People are unsure about the economic uncertainties and some of the trade uncertainties that we’ve got, which has put a bit of inertia into their decision-making and their desire to purchase. The next move they make is fairly consequential Hence the return of the Enterprise Summit. Key developments in its current iteration are a greater focus on server and storage solutions rather than components and devices, because outcome-focused solutions are essential for solving AI processing challenges; and a broader scope, beyond its heritage in storage, following consolidation with the Exertis cybersecurity division and the addition of four or five new vendors in its server and GPU platform offering. “We’re beginning to try and fill in the blanks where we haven’t been traditionally with a portfolio of products that people can challenge the market with,” said Chibnall. “If you take cyber security as an example, there are tier one cybersecurity vendors – and you have to win the right to be a tier one distributor. Then, below that there are probably about 3,000 cyber security vendors to pick from. I’d like to find more tier two and challenger cyber security vendors that will create a much more significant presence for us as a distributor, which will also make us more relevant for a tier one vendor. “In the server solutions space, again we like to work with vendors that become challenger brands. I’m hoping that by working together we and the new vendor brands that we’ve signed up can push each other up the Challenger stack.” The other advantage of taking on more vendors is that it has helped Exertis The big news last month was the announcement by DCC Technology that it is getting out of Info Tech and selling Exertis UK & Ireland and its subsidiaries to AURELIUS, a European private equity investor focused on technology & business services, industrials & chemicals and lifestyle & consumer goods. The sale includes Exertis UK (Business and Consumer), Hypertec, Exertis Supplies, Exertis Ireland, Macro EV, Exertis Supply Chain Services, MTR and Ztorm, but not Exertis Enterprise. This will remain an independent division of DCC Technology, which says it is selling its Info Tech division so that it can sharpen its focus on Pro Tech and Life Tech. Pro Tech encompasses Pro AV, infrastructure and AI-powered solutions, some of which aligns with Exertis Enterprise’s specialisms in servers, storage, components, networking, infrastructure and cybersecurity products and, increasingly, outcome-focused solutions. As Jason Chibnall, Managing Director of Exertis Enterprise, clearly demonstrated in his opening address at the distributor’s first vendor/partner summit in six years, Enterprise Summit 2025 held in the W Hotel in Barcelona on April 28-30, all these technology areas are fundamental to the management of data volumes that are forecast to increase massively with rising AI adoption and the transition to AI reasoning models. It is still early days, of course, and buying decisions take time to get the green light but Chibnall is confident that the changes Exertis Enterprise has been making over the last few years put it (and its vendors and channel partners) in a good position to address opportunities in infrastructure and AI. “We’re back to an individual identity as an organisation, and we understand our value. It’s now a case of showing others the value and the differentiators that we have in the distribution landscape,” he said. At the end of April, Exertis Enterprise held its first Enterprise Summit for six years, highlighting its transition from a server and storage distributor into a specialist provider of infrastructure and solutions that will increasingly be relied upon in the age of AI. At the event attended by 30 vendors and 100 customers, Technology Reseller spoke to Managing Director Jason Chibnall about his plans for the business and how Exertis Enterprise is becoming a trusted advisor to the reseller community A show of trust DISTRIBUTION continued...
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