Dropzone AI has announced an exclusive EMEA distribution partnership with QBS Software, in a move the company said will expand the availability of its AI-powered security operations platform to MSSPs and VARs across the region.

The agreement will see QBS distribute Dropzone AI’s Agentic SOC platform, which uses a team of AI agents to automate security alert investigations across existing security environments.

According to the vendor, the partnership aims to help channel partners address the growing demand for security operations capabilities as organizations contend with rising alert volumes, increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks, as well as an ongoing shortage of skilled SOC analysts.

For MSSPs, Dropzone said the platform can help scale managed SOC services without requiring a proportional increase in analyst headcount, while VARs will be able to offer the technology to customers operating in-house security operations centers.

"Security teams are under immense pressure to scale operations, meet increasingly stringent SLAs, and ensure regulatory compliance while maintaining resilience against rising alert volumes,” said Brett Candon, Dropzone AI’s vice president of international, in an announcement.

“Through this partnership with QBS, Dropzone AI will extend its reach to both MSSPs and VARs across EMEA. MSSP partners can scale service delivery and improve profitability, while VAR partners can help customers with in-house SOCs move from alert chaos to incident focus."

Dropzone’s Agentic SOC solution is built around its AI SOC Analyst, which investigates security alerts from across an organization’s existing security stack before escalating confirmed threats to human analysts for response.

The technology integrates with existing SIEM, SOAR, EDR, and case management platforms, allowing organizations to augment existing security operations without replacing current infrastructure.

Benefits for MSSPs and VARs

Dropzone said its platform will help MSSPs improve SLA performance, onboard customers faster, increase SOC capacity, and free up analysts to focus on high-value tasks while building higher-margin managed security services.

Meanwhile, VARs will be able to support customers operating their own SOCs by leveraging the offering to accelerate investigations, reduce false positives, ease alert fatigue, and address temporary cyber security skills shortages.

The companies said the agreement expands the channel opportunity across EMEA by enabling partners to support customers with managed, co-managed, and in-house security operations models while helping address the ongoing shortage of skilled SOC analysts.

"Our partnership with Dropzone AI strengthens QBS' security portfolio with advanced autonomous AI SOC capabilities that addresses a real challenge across the channel,” commented Tom Corrigan, chief revenue officer at QBS Software.

“By bringing category-defining AI SOC capabilities to our partner ecosystem, we're supporting growth, improving service delivery, and helping partners deliver stronger customer outcomes.”

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Westcon-Comstor has announced an expansion of its cloud marketplace capabilities through participation in Microsoft’s resale enable offers (REO) program.

Designed for channel-led selling, the initiative combines hyperscaler reach with value-added services to help support scalable marketplace growth.

Software vendors can authorize approved channel partners to create and manage private offers on their behalf via Microsoft Marketplace, with the Redmond giant handling customer billing and payment collection.

Westcon-Comstor will also provide a range of value-added services designed to help partners build scalable marketplace practices – including partner enablement, incremental revenue tools, as well as support across renewals and the full customer lifecycle.

By combining Microsoft Marketplace with its own technical expertise, the distributor said partners can unlock cloud commit budgets, accelerate deal cycles, and expand customer spend while maintaining control over the relationship.

“Hyperscaler marketplaces are redefining how enterprise software is bought and sold, but success for channel partners and vendors depends on turning activity into repeatable business,” explained Peter Woest, Westcon-Comstor’s cloud marketplace partnership director.

“By wrapping Microsoft Marketplace with our value-added services and technical marketplace expertise, we’re making simplicity and scale a reality and allowing partners to quickly establish, build and grow their Microsoft Marketplace business.”

The reseller's participation comes amid significant cloud marketplace growth. According to research from Omdia, cloud marketplace software sales are expected to grow from $30 billion in 2024 to $163 billion in 2030, with partners tipped to be the driving force behind most marketplace spend by next year.

Westcon-Comstor said the REO program is already gaining traction, with the firm supporting partners in onboarding to marketplace-driven opportunities with vendors such as Palo Alto Networks and Infoblox.

The distributor also revealed it is in discussions with “several other vendors” regarding future collaboration opportunities with Microsoft REO.

Commenting on the move, Microsoft’s marketplace channel lead, Darren Sharpe, said the priority is to help partners build an effective, platform-first marketplace practice, backed by a strong ecosystem support.

“Westcon‑Comstor is helping partners drive momentum through REO, enabling vendors to extend their reach while keeping the channel at the centre of the customer relationship,” he added.

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SOCRadar has launched a redesigned value-added reseller (VAR) program as the threat intelligence vendor looks to strengthen its channel strategy and drive new partner growth.

The partner-first initiative has been designed to help resellers improve profitability and gain a greater competitive edge through expanded incentives, enhanced sales enablement, and deeper technical engagement.

Alongside the launch, SOCRadar has also appointed Brian Costello as vice president of global partnerships, who will lead efforts to scale the vendor’s partner ecosystem and drive go-to-market alignment.

In an announcement, the company said its new program builds on its existing momentum in the MSSP space, placing a renewed focus on VARs as part of its broader channel strategy.

“SOCRadar is experiencing dramatic growth, and we see this new VAR program as an additional channel focus to accelerate and support the channel and continue the success we’ve already achieved on the MSSP side,” commented Huzeyfe Onal, CEO of SOCRadar.

Driving partner profitability

SOCRadar’s security platform combines AI-driven threat intelligence with external attack surface management, digital risk protection, and monitoring tools to help organizations identify, monitor, and respond to threats.

With its new VAR program, the vendor is now introducing more aggressive discounts and performance-based rewards geared towards improving partner margins and creating stronger financial incentives for generating new business with the platform.

The vendor has also expanded deal protection measures, including enhanced deal registration and incumbency benefits, to ensure partners are recognized and rewarded for the opportunities they develop.

To support sales engagement, partners will have access to simplified enablement materials such as use cases, problem statements, buyer personas, and qualifying questions.

The firm said these resources will help partners identify opportunities and initiate customer conversations without requiring deep technical expertise.

Elsewhere, SOCRadar is also increasing investment in technical support, offering scoping assistance, proof-of-value (POV) access, and integration guidance. The vendor is also expanding joint go-to-market efforts.

Strengthening the partner ecosystem

New global partnerships chief Brian Costello brings extensive experience in building and scaling channel programs across both enterprise and emerging technology companies, and will play a key role in driving the next phase of SOCRadar’s partner strategy.

“Brian has successfully developed and led many partner programs for top companies and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have him bolster our VAR program and help our partners to significantly grow their businesses and achieve consistent success,” Onal added.

Throughout his career, the seasoned channel veteran has led high-performing security and cloud teams, delivering innovative technology solutions and driving consistent year-on-year growth.

“I’m excited to lead SOCRadar’s partner programs as the company takes the next critical step in strengthening its partner ecosystem with a renewed commitment to growth, profitability, and collaboration,” Costello said.

“This new SOCRadar VAR program is packed with many partner benefits, along with the tools and support they need to get the job done to help them exceed their goals.”

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Huntress has opened its global partner program to resellers for the first time, as the cybersecurity vendor looks to expand the reach of its managed security platform.

The move builds on the company’s decade-long partnerships with managed service providers (MSPs) and aims to extend enterprise-grade security tools to smaller organizations that find themselves increasingly targeted by cyber criminals.

By broadening its partner ecosystem, Huntress said it is making the same level of protection typically available to Fortune 1000 companies more accessible to businesses of all sizes, without the need for fine-tuning, management, or handling large numbers of false positives and alerts.

In an announcement, the vendor described its expanded initiative as a “global force multiplier” designed to help protect the most vulnerable organizations.

“Our reseller partner program is now live, and provides access to enterprise-grade security, purpose-built to catch what others miss, without constant false positives and alert fatigue,” said Tuan Nguyen, vice president of channels and alliances at Huntress.

“This enables them to differentiate their tech offerings, drive profitable business growth, and deliver tangible security outcomes. We are looking for partners who want to join our collective hunt and protect the 99%.”

Extending the reach of the Huntress platform

Huntress’ security platform is designed to protect and respond to a range of cyber threats, including business email compromise, account takeovers, ransomware, and phishing attacks.

The offering includes endpoint detection and response (EDR), identity threat detection and response (ITDR), security information and event management (SIEM), and security awareness training tools, backed by a 24/7 AI-assisted security operations center.

By bringing resellers into its partner program, Huntress said it is now looking to grow its pool of more than 200,000 organizations that already leverage the platform for their security needs.

Channel opportunity for resellers

By expanding its partner program, Huntress said it is creating fresh opportunities for resellers to differentiate and drive growth through profitable partner margins and co-marketing support tailored to reseller business models.

Michael Zuppa, CEO of blueAPACHE, an Australia-based Huntress partner, said the move will help support broader efforts to improve cyber resilience.

“In Australia, the Cyber Security Strategy 2023 to 2030 sets clear expectations for strengthened resilience across organisations of every size,” he explained.

“Our partnership with Huntress allows blueAPACHE to support this mission by giving our clients access to always‑on threat detection and response.”

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Value-added distributors (VADs) serve as a vital bridge between technology vendors and the extensive network of resellers who bring solutions to end customers. The global IT distribution market reached an estimated $463 billion in 2024, with the top 15 distributors alone generating nearly $287 billion in revenue, highlighting the enormous scale of an industry where VADs are essential players

Unlike traditional distributors whose primary focus is logistics and product fulfillment, value-added distributors enhance the channel by delivering specialized services that elevate product offerings, empower partners, and accelerate market growth.

VADs are companies that provide support and expertise beyond simply moving products from point A to point B. Their services can include pre-sales technical support, product configuration, marketing assistance, and comprehensive training for channel partners. By adding this value, VADs simplify complex technology solutions, making them more accessible and effective for businesses of all sizes.

The core functions of a VAD

The “value” is delivered through a broad range of specialized services that go well beyond traditional distribution. These functions are what truly distinguish VADs from conventional distributors.

Key services offered by VADs include:

• Technical support and training: VADs offer comprehensive technical assistance both before and after the sale. This includes designing complex solutions, troubleshooting implementation challenges, and providing certification programs to ensure partners are fully proficient in the technologies they offer.
• Marketing and sales enablement: Many VADs function as an extension of the vendor’s marketing team. They deliver co-marketing initiatives, lead generation programs, and sales training to help partners build demand and close deals more effectively.
• Product bundling and customization: VADs frequently combine hardware, software, and services from multiple vendors to create integrated, tailored solutions for specific customer needs. This not only saves resellers time and effort but also delivers a more seamless experience to end customers.
• Financial services: VADs often provide flexible financing and credit options to partners, supporting improved cash flow management and enabling the pursuit of larger opportunities.
• Logistics and inventory management: While logistics remain a foundational service, VADs elevate this function with advanced warehousing, efficient order fulfilment, and supply chain management to ensure timely and reliable delivery.

By delivering these value-added services, VADs empower their partners and vendors, streamline the path to market, and help customers achieve better outcomes with technology solutions.

VAD vs. VAR: Understanding the difference

The terms VAD and value-added reseller (VAR) are often used in the IT channel, and while they share the goal of adding value, their roles are distinct. A VAD operates at the distribution level, serving a network of resellers. A VAR, on the other hand, sells directly to the end customer, adding its layer of value through services like consulting, implementation, and ongoing support.

Essentially, a VAD empowers the VAR. The VAD provides the VAR with the products, training, and support necessary to serve their end customers effectively. A VAR will often source products from a VAD to create a turnkey solution for their client.

The evolution of value-added distribution

The role of the VAD has undergone a significant transformation, driven by major shifts in the technology landscape. The rise of cloud computing and as-a-service (XaaS) models has been a primary catalyst for this evolution.

Before the cloud era, the VAD's value was heavily tied to the physical distribution of hardware and software. However, with the move to subscription-based services and digital delivery, the emphasis has shifted. Modern VADs have become "cloud aggregators," offering platforms and marketplaces where partners can procure, manage, and bill for a wide range of cloud services.

This evolution has also seen VADs deepen their expertise in high-growth areas like cybersecurity, data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI). They are no longer just intermediaries but have become strategic partners that help organizations navigate digital transformation. This shift includes a greater focus on developing digital commerce capabilities to cater to the needs of modern business buyers.

Market impact and future trends

The value-added distribution market is a significant and growing part of the IT ecosystem. The global IT services market is expected to grow from $3.7 trillion in 2025 to over $5.2 trillion by 2029. The software distribution market alone is projected to grow at a CAGR of 13.8% between 2025 and 2035. This growth reflects the increasing reliance on the channel to bring complex technology solutions to market.

Looking ahead, several trends are shaping the future of value-added distribution:

• Platform-based business models: The move towards digital marketplaces and platforms for procuring and managing technology will continue to accelerate. VADs must invest in robust, user-friendly platforms to remain competitive.
• Data-driven insights: VADs will increasingly leverage data analytics to provide their partners with valuable market intelligence, identify new opportunities, and optimize their services.
• Focus on ecosystems: The future of the IT channel lies in collaborative ecosystems. VADs are uniquely positioned to orchestrate these ecosystems, bringing together a diverse range of partners to deliver complex, multi-vendor solutions.
• Emerging technologies: VADs will continue to play a crucial role in bringing emerging technologies like AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain to market by providing the necessary expertise and support to their channel partners.

The VAD is a dynamic and essential component of the IT channel. As technology continues to evolve, so too will the role of the VAD, cementing its position as a strategic enabler of innovation and growth for vendors and resellers alike.

Ransomware is accelerating at an alarming pace. Europe is headed toward its worst year yet for ransomware incidents, up about 80% in 2024, with 2025 already breaking previous records. 

Downtime caused by these attacks, not just the ransom, is one of the most damaging outcomes. For many mid-market organizations, losing access to critical systems for days or weeks can mean disastrous financial, operational, and reputational damage. This also causes a strong impact on IT staff mental health, where 84% of IT professionals feel uncomfortably stressed at work amid rising cybersecurity threats.

Immutable backup storage is one of the most effective defenses. Once data is written, it can’t be altered or deleted, meaning it’s always available for recovery after an attack. However, enterprise-grade backup storage has sometimes been seen as out of reach for small and medium-sized organizations, with unnecessarily high entry points in terms of capacity and capital expenditure.

Now, that’s changing. Consumption-based subscription models are breaking down these barriers by bringing enterprise-level protection to a much wider range of businesses. By offering predictable monthly billing, these models are levelling the playing field, and for channel partners, they’re also creating new recurring-revenue opportunities.

Ransomware protection for all

Ransomware is no longer a problem that only hits large enterprises. With Ransomware-as-a-service platforms, attackers can automate campaigns and scale their reach across businesses of every size. Mid-market firms, often seen as ‘too small’ to attract sophisticated attacks, are increasingly in cyber criminals’ crosshairs because they may have fewer protections in place.

This shift puts the channel in a pivotal position. Managed service providers (MSPs), value-added resellers (VARs), and system integrators (SIs) can now deliver enterprise-grade ransomware protection to clients of any size through consumption-based models.

Instead of large capital outlays, partners can help customers deploy immutable backup solutions on a predictable, subscription basis, reducing friction and speeding up adoption.

It's not just about affordability. This model fosters long-term recurring revenue and deeper customer relationships built on ongoing protection rather than one-off sales. In an era where trust and resilience are critical, that combination of commercial and security value is compelling.

Backup as the new frontline

The modern approach to ransomware must start with the assumption that a breach will inevitably happen. Preventative tools remain crucial, but downtime from attacks, even when ransoms aren’t paid, can be devastating.

Immutable backups shift the focus from reactive recovery to proactive assurance. By ensuring data cannot be encrypted, deleted, or modified once written, businesses can be confident they have a reliable way to recover after an attack. That confidence is invaluable for IT teams facing today’s constant threat pressure.

For the channel, it’s also an opportunity to evolve conversations from “prevention” to resilience. Partners can help customers build recovery strategies that meet compliance and insurance requirements, while delivering managed backup and recovery services that generate recurring revenue. Immutability, once a niche enterprise feature, is fast becoming a core managed service differentiator.

Immutability for the mid-market

Smaller firms face a unique challenge; just like larger enterprises, they handle sensitive data, but often lack the resources to secure it to the same standard. Attackers are aware of this and increasingly target mid-market organizations because they often represent ‘low-hanging fruit’.

Consumption-based subscription models help partners close that gap. They can offer mid-market customers enterprise-grade immutability and recovery to remove any budget hurdles that originally slowed down adoption.

For MSPs and VARs, this flexibility creates tangible business advantages. They can scale protection alongside their customers’ growth, adjust resources, and bundle ransomware protection into broader management. The result is therefore a sustainable service model where customers gain accessibility and partners gain reliability in revenue.

Insurance-ready backups

Cyber-insurance requirements are tightening, which means insurers increasingly demand verifiable, immutable backups and tested Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) as conditions for coverage. Firms that cannot demonstrate these capabilities may face higher premiums or denied claims.

Immutable backup solutions simplify this process and position partners to help customers meet insurer expectations. By offering managed immutable backup and recovery services, MSPs can support compliance reporting while delivering faster recovery and strengthening clients’ security.

This builds trust with customers and insurers, enhancing both protection and revenue for the channel.

A model built for resilience

Today, ransomware does not discriminate. Every organization and every partner serving them faces the same pressure to recover quickly. In the fight against ransomware, no partner or customer stands alone. Resilience grows from collaboration, a connected ecosystem where vendors, MSPs, and customers all play their part.

Consumption-based immutability makes resilience achievable for all. It allows partners to deliver enterprise-grade backup protection to any customer, regardless of size, while building steady revenue streams. Predictable billing supports long-term customer relationships and margin planning, turning security into a shared business goal between provider and client.

As ransomware threats continue to rise, recovery readiness will define resilience, not just prevention alone. Immutable backups delivered through flexible, subscription-based models ensure that every organization can restore operations swiftly whilst protecting reputation and maintaining trust. For the channel, that’s not just a service opportunity; it’s also a chance to lead in shaping the next era of cyber resilience.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now part of daily life, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that everyone is already AI-savvy and integrating it into their daily lives and work. On a consumer level, this may be true, but the real work of integrating AI into the enterprise – and even into the mid-market – is only just getting started.

In fact, when we look at the industry today, a large number of AI pilots and proof-of-concepts are failing to pass to production. The challenge is that we have high aspirations for AI, but also that it is complex and rapidly evolving! VARs, SIs, and resellers need to keep their options open and stay agile if they’re to succeed – but let’s take a step back and look at the main issue in more detail for a moment.

Problems with PoCs

As anyone who has used generative AI on a consumer level knows, it is very powerful and helpful, but not perfect. AI tends to hallucinate and produce false results from time to time. Although it might have limited impacts on the individual level, when it’s deployed into the enterprise and business processes, it becomes unacceptable. Many organizations are finding that their AI pilot tests are coming across hallucinations and reliability issues, which are all hindering the rollout.

However, over the last few years, we have seen many successful implementations from other ‘flavours’ of AI, in particular, machine learning. The manufacturing and healthcare sectors have used this kind of AI to great effect, leveraging it for process optimisation and pattern recognition, which is a far more mature application than generative.

AI is also tremendously complex, which tends to hinder effective pilot tests because it’s hard to set success criteria. In many cases, organizations also struggle to scale AI after their pilot tests, which makes ROI hard to achieve. All of this is a significant opportunity for the channel to help consult with customers, guide them through projects with hard-won knowledge and expertise, and provide a fresh perspective on what will and won’t work.

Place your bets: Or keep them open

As I’ve already said, AI is still evolving. No one knows what the landscape will look like when it reaches maturity. It’s also likely that even when it does reach maturity, it’ll continue to change, much like how the internet continued transforming decades after its establishment - from static websites to social media, streaming, cloud services, and beyond. For this reason, it’s heartening to see that many of the models in the top ten AI listings are open-source, not to mention that the performance gap between these open-source models and their proprietary rivals is closing fast. We believe that the future of AI should be built on transparency, accessibility, and collective progress.

The advantage of using open source models for both customers and partners is that it’s easier to change. Open source is cheaper, provides better ROI for customers, better margins for partners, and helps both sides to avoid lock-in.

Furthermore, in the enterprise space, AI integrations will be critical as AI delivers more value when it's connected to existing data owned by companies. But one challenge with integration is that organizations - especially large ones - can still have many legacy systems in place, which require custom solutions to be integrated effectively. Data is the most critical asset for any company, so partners that can help to modernize legacy systems and unlock the data for AI integration will be in high demand.

The agent opportunity

However, despite these challenges, there is one very clear opportunity in AI that is approaching rapidly: agents. These are AI systems that can use the tools that have historically been used by humans, and ‘do the work’ instead. We’ve all heard the stories about AI making restaurant bookings for humans, but in the future, this kind of approach will be the norm.

There’s a tremendous amount of work to do at the back end before this becomes standardized. In many ways, the shift from manual web use to chatbots has been like the shift from cars with manual transmissions to automatic gearboxes – but the shift to agentic AI will be more akin to the shift from automatic cars to autonomous cars.

This is a challenging step, because for many organizations, taking your hands off the wheel is both daunting and uncertain: we don’t know the optimal place for the human to give away control and the agent to take it. But the change is coming, and in a very large number of cases, agents will be the primary users of services, not humans.

The challenge is that this requires a lot of re-engineering. Interfaces that have been designed for people will need to be re-coded for agent use, usually via APIs. This means re-thinking processes, understanding where users fit into the journey, and where the agent comes in. Customers, partners, and vendors will need to work closely together to meet this challenge, and it’s something we’re already looking at very closely with the launch of a new partner program to help organizations get their SaaS ready for AI.

Again, this is an opportunity for partners to guide and consult, offering guidance on how end-users use services, as well as how to optimally engineer experiences for both humans and AIs. However, one of the main challenges for partners is that the AI landscape is still rapidly evolving, and no one quite knows which horse to back, which makes open standards doubly important.

Know (and guide) your customer

With such rapid change, guiding and supporting customers is essential to successful AI projects, creating and maintaining margin for partners. The opportunity that AI agents present is unprecedented, but it’s critical that partners help to set clear objectives, shape successful pilot tests, build scalability into use cases from the start, and measure ROI effectively.

This then helps customers turn AI tests into profitable commercial projects. At the same time, it’s vital that partners stay agile throughout the process – and open-source is a key way of doing this and avoiding lock-in.

Change is coming, and the channel has an enormous opportunity and role to play in making sure that customers are guided to pragmatic ways of rolling out AI, building on firm foundations and establishing reliable, agile systems that will stand the test of time – while also providing strong revenue streams for partners – even when the machines are in charge!

The channel is at a turning point. Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Value-added Resellers (VARs), and integrators are finding that the tradition of transactional projects, delivery by volume, and land-and-expand resourcing will no longer sustain their growth.

Clients increasingly want a different approach: a trusted partner who stays aligned with their goals and delivers outcomes consistently.

This shift has given rise to a new delivery model, one built on partnership, collaboration, and shared accountability. It’s a model that helps channel firms differentiate themselves, retain clients for longer, and generate repeat, predictable revenue streams, without exhausting their sales and marketing function.

Why the partnership approach matters now

As channel providers, we find ourselves working with more sophisticated clients than ever. Technology touches every part of their business, yet many lack enough senior engineering or product capability in-house.

As a result, they expect deeper involvement from their external suppliers and more flexible ways of working.

The partnership approach is designed for this environment. Rather than dropping in a team, delivering a scope, and moving on, firms work closely with clients, adapt continuously, and remain aligned with business strategy. The focus is on momentum, clarity, and collaboration, not transactions.

The pitfalls of the traditional channel model

The traditional approach holds the channel back. This approach includes:

• Rigid resourcing and junior-heavy teams that require a lot of supervision
• A “land-and-expand” mindset that pushes headcount, not value
• Slow mobilization and inconsistent delivery quality
• Premium rates combined with high client ownership of risk
• Documentation-heavy processes and multiple approval layers

These issues create frustration across every level of a client’s business. When teams are so often stretched internally, they don’t want a vendor they have to spend time managing. They want capability, clarity, and trusted expertise. They want a partner.

What a partnership model looks like for the channel

A partnership-led consultancy looks very different from the outset. Engagements are designed to be collaborative and outcome-driven rather than resource-led.

As an example, for us, this means smaller, senior-led teams who embed closely with internal teams from the start.

Key features of the partnership model include:

• Expert-only teams (5+ years’ experience minimum)
• Joint ownership of outcomes, not just contract outputs
• Daily standups and clear communication rituals
• Tech that adapts to the business (instead of forcing new behaviors)
• Internal teams treated as equals, not spectators

This model reduces oversight overhead, lowers risk, and accelerates delivery momentum, which leads directly to stronger client relationships and recurring engagements.

Why this resonates with MSPs, VARs, and Integrators

Channel organizations serving the mid-market and enterprise (50–1,000 employees) are well-positioned to benefit from this approach. These clients often lack sufficient senior engineering and product leadership in-house, yet urgently need help with end-to-end delivery.

What they value most is speed, clarity, and accountability, not lengthy documentation or multiple layers of approval. They want partners who can help with strategy, architecture, build, and implementation without full consultancy overheads. They want someone to tell them when the brief is wrong, not blame them when the outcome is not what was anticipated.

Crucially, this model unlocks new revenue streams, such as ongoing support, modernization plans, AI integration, legacy system upgrades, and digital performance monitoring. It turns one-off projects into longer-term programs, without needing to re-pitch for every engagement.

Collaboration drives repeat revenue

When clients actively collaborate (joining standups, reviews, and retros), quality improves immediately. Decisions happen faster. Internal domain knowledge meets external technical capability. Delivery friction reduces, and a sense of shared ownership takes hold.

This naturally leads to stronger retention, referrals, and repeat engagements, which is where consultancies that adopt this approach gain the most value. Trust becomes a commercial asset.

Where the partnership model works best

The model is especially effective for:

• Net-new builds and platform launches
• Cloud modernization and legacy remediation
• AI adoption and integration strategies
• Multi-system digital transformation programs

In these environments, clients want reduced risk and predictable momentum, not vendor churn or resourcing roulette.

The strategic role of AI

AI is increasingly part of channel conversations, but it must be handled correctly. Under a partnership approach, AI is treated as a tool to be applied carefully to real business problems, not as a buzzword to justify new spend.

Senior-led teams can help clients understand where AI adds operational value, how it integrates with legacy environments, and how it can support, and not disrupt, existing workflows. This prevents hype-led investment and ensures technology adapts to the business, not the other way around.

Why channel firms benefit from this model

The shift to partnership brings a number of immediate advantages to MSPs, VARs, and integrators:

• Differentiation – clients can feel the difference between vendor and partner
• Retention – deeper engagement means lower churn
• Predictability – risk and oversight costs decrease
• Scalability – relationships replace acquisition cycles
• Growth – referrals come naturally when clients trust the partnership

This isn’t just an operational decision; it’s a route to long-term commercial resilience.

The channel’s next competitive edge

The future of the channel won’t be won on volume, headcount, or hourly rates. It will be won through deeper collaboration, senior expertise, and a shift towards shared accountability.

The consultancies that embrace the partnership approach will build stronger foundations, reduce delivery risk, and create repeatable revenue models, without competing in a race to the bottom.

The channel has always been about solving problems. But today, it’s not just about solving them faster; it’s about solving them together.

Many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) might struggle to afford third-party relationships - like those with channel partners - or have a specific need or capacity for models that see someone closely manage their technology for them.

Instead, they might want to do it themselves, creating a DIY-style initiative that builds a system with parts from many different platforms, tools, or cloud services.

Could such an approach be dangerous? Essentially, bringing with it risks to security, among other issues for internal operations such as compliance, delivery, and productivity. Or, is it entirely possible? And, if it can be achieved, how would this be done?

Eleanor Watson is a member of the IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. As an AI ethics engineer, she works principally as a machine intelligence researcher.

Watson is in agreement that for SMBs with limited budgets, the use of channel partners “might not be feasible”. She believes the DIY approach is sound and can work for SMBs but only “when treated as a disciplined strategy, rather than cost-cutting”.

“As a first step, businesses should map business-essential functions (finance, HR, sales, compliance) and assign clear ownership for each system’s uptime and data security,” she explains.

“Invest in architecture first: build a clean, modular stack using open standards (SSO, OAuth2, API-first systems), and document relentlessly. Begin with a manageable scope – self-hosted basics or low-code automation – while maintaining flexibility to integrate external providers later.”

That’s not to say there won’t be any challenges with such an implementation, as Watson is happy to concede. “Achieving interoperability without fragility is the primary challenge,” she warns. “Vendor APIs evolve; dependencies break. Without dedicated integration expertise, SMBs must maintain test environments and version control for configurations.”

Cybersecurity resilience is “equally demanding”, she adds, stating: “A single ransomware incident or supply-chain compromise can cripple an unsegmented network. Apply zero-trust principles – robust identity management, privilege separation, encrypted backups – as foundational defaults, not afterthoughts.”

Risks vs rewards

The most common types of IT channel partners are the likes of value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators (SIs), managed service providers (MSPs), managed security service providers (MSSPs), and consultants. Vendors they use often include AWS, Google, IBM, and Microsoft, and a channel partner usually provides online training and certification to an SMB.

Ian Anderson, senior director of partner sales at Park Place Technologies, understands the “temptation” of DIY but concurs with Watson, believing the risks must be clearly identified and understood first if SMBs push ahead with this approach.

He cites how a good partner might “understand the business, environment, and resources in a way a DIY approach never can,” but does admit: “The reality is most channel partners have gaps in their service range. They can’t be experts in everything. This is why the smartest SMBs look for partners who are, in turn, supported by specialist service providers to fill those gaps – whether professional or managed services.”

However, for those who still wish to go it alone, Watson has more advice to follow. “Meaningful savings come from open-source platforms, consumption-priced cloud services, and internal automation replacing external consultancy,” she explains. “AI copilots for documentation, compliance drafting, or troubleshooting can substantially reduce administrative overheads.”

Watson also points to the issue of believing you are making savings when actually you might cost yourself more in the long run, adding: “The real economic advantage is agility: direct system control enables rapid iteration without vendor lock-in. However, cheap setups requiring costly rescue operations are common – beware of these false economies.”

Smart work vs hard work

The risk of a DIY approach is greater for mid-sized organizations compared to those smaller businesses, according to Matt Fox, chief operating officer at technology consultancy TXP.

“If mid-sized organizations are to avoid a piecemeal approach to IT modernization, they require a joined-up approach to technology and people,” he says.

“Mid-sized organizations can work smarter, not harder, by working with an external IT provider that has the skills and resources required to fully address their IT needs.”

Fox adds: “However, channel providers need to go beyond simply augmenting team numbers or selling products to provide a transformational service. A successful relationship with a channel partner will involve at least some element of knowledge transfer as experts share their expertise with their partner’s team.

“This ‘teacher-learner’ relationship brings value beyond a simple transaction to working with the channel, and it ought to be the gold standard when working with partners for IT implementation.”

In the real world, there are no clear rules on when to DIY, when to begin with a channel partner, or when to move from doing it yourself to getting third-party help and guidance.

But Siyar Isik, CEO of Eskritor, an AI-powered writing assistant tool, believes DIY is possible when the right guardrails are in place. “Not every small business has to lean on channel partners for IT,” he admits.

“Some can manage on their own, but only if they stay realistic about what is possible.”

Isik’s first advice would be “to start simple” with tools like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, which have been built with small teams in mind.

“They come with great support communities and plenty of clear documentation. That takes a lot of pressure off the team,” he says.

While it is possible to reduce overheads by cutting costs and avoiding long contracts, there are clear areas where it would be dangerous to compromise, according to Isik.

“Data protection, backups, patching, and continuity planning need to be airtight,” he insists.

“Skipping those is like skipping insurance. A DIY approach can work, but only if a business goes in with clear eyes about its limits and refuses to cut corners on the areas that matter most.”

Weighing up the time outlay

Watson is also concerned about other pitfalls. “Most DIY IT failures stem from underestimating complexity debt,” she explains.

“Integration across accounting, customer relationship management (CRM), and inventory systems can spiral without professional oversight. Security hardening, patch management, and compliance consume more time than expected. Staff turnover erases undocumented expertise, orphaning systems.”

And although the use of Agentic AI tools in an SMB setting might offer simplified management, these can also “amplify errors when unsupervised”, Watson warns.

“Autonomous misconfiguration – AI making confident but destructive changes without full context – is an emerging risk,” she highlights. “Governance remains essential regardless of tooling intelligence.”

There are also real benefits, however, according to Watson. These include full control over architecture, data, and priorities, plus faster iteration and innovation cycles. Deep understanding of your digital infrastructure and reduced dependency on opaque vendor ecosystems are two more.

“Properly managed, DIY IT builds organisational technological literacy – a durable competitive asset,” she adds.

At BI Worldwide, a partner with 300+ Fortune 500 clients, there is clearly an appetite for help from customers who do not wish to go down the DIY path or can’t do so. Deborah Watson, its client and solutions strategy director, suggests asking what a good partner might “bring to the table” before choosing one.

She explains: “This means asking the right questions: is your partner part of a programme that rewards them for investing in training, support, and customer success? If not, you may not be getting the full benefit of what a channel relationship can offer.

“SMBs should ask whether their chosen partner is part of such a programme – it can be a strong indicator of the quality and reliability of the support they’ll receive. Understanding whether their partner is supported in this way can help assess the long-term viability of a DIY approach versus a channel-supported model.”

Planning for growth

For Colin Crow, managing director at digital transformation specialist Nexer Enterprise Applications, the big risk with DIY is “you only know what you know”.

“You might be fortunate enough to have a small team of tech talent in-house, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are experts in the specifics of the new system you’re implementing or on how to manage the change across the organization,” he says.

“With a partner, you can get the best of both worlds: control over your vision, with expertise on tap to keep you on track.”

However, Zayed Ahmed – who started as a call center agent before founding outsourcing company ASL BPO – believes the go-it-alone route has plenty of positives. They believe it’s just about understanding where the pitfalls are on your journey that might then mean you need greater levels of outsourced help.

“I see very few who succeed with a pure DIY approach,” he says. “They often start there, setting up basic tools like email platforms, cloud storage, or password managers. It feels manageable at the beginning and helps keep costs down.

“But as soon as compliance or security comes into the picture, things change quickly. Most internal teams cannot keep up with constant updates in regulations or the latest cyber threats. Missed patches, poor backup routines, or weak access controls can cost far more than what was saved upfront."

That is why Ahmed suggests SMBs heed this piece of advice: “The question should not be ‘DIY or partner?’ but ‘what mix works best for your stage of growth?’”

Today, a large share of organizations operate with multiple unified communication as a service (UCaaS) vendors, coupled with a plethora of other apps and tools. This type of fragmentation is both a blessing – because many companies require it to meet new demands or reach new customers – and a curse, for the companies themselves, and for managed service providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs).

End-user companies essentially pay a ‘fragmentation tax’ on the complexity of their environment, while MSPs and VARs are forced to find ways to accommodate the complexity while also minimizing its appearance, cost, and burden.

What’s driving fragmentation?

Roughly half of organizations are operating a fragmented unified communications (UC) environment, and there are many reasons why this has come about. The transition from on-premises solutions – or even multiple on-premises solutions – to the cloud is among them. So too was the scramble to adapt to remote and hybrid working, forcing companies to move quickly without as much consideration for integration. Mergers and acquisitions have also historically been a driver for fragmentation.

Let’s not forget a crucial reason, though: best of breed. No single vendor can meet all of an organization's needs. Different departments may require different functionality, and niche solutions are likely to help only those with niche problems. Most organizations, therefore, must build up a suite of different applications to meet the needs – and address the problems – across the whole of their business.

The blessing is that with best-of-breed solutions, companies can excel in certain areas. The curse is that fragmented systems lack integration, which disrupts workflows and massively decreases overall performance. It’s also an administrative burden, with companies expressing frustration with managing multiple platforms, billing systems, and support contracts.

Why does fragmentation matter for MSPs and VARs?

The fragmentation of UC and other applications means that for MSPs and VARs, the traditional single-vendor strategy is no longer a viable approach. By aligning too closely with one vendor, both VARs and MSPs risk being replaced due to their inability to accommodate the diverse needs of their customers. Customers expect their suppliers to support their needs and chosen platforms, and when you don’t, your customers will start to seek a partner who can.

In an environment where customers want more, vendor lock-in is also a risk that can compress margins. Single-vendor strategies create a dependency that’s burdensome, leaving MSPs and VARs vulnerable to changes in their vendor contracts or price increases that are beyond their control. If your company is only aligned to one of the ‘big players’, then you’re effectively at their whim.

The complexity of the multiple applications also places additional burdens on MSPs and VARs, driving up operational costs and reducing margins. To support a customer who uses Zoom for meetings, Teams for internal chat, and Webex for a call center, for example, a VAR must hire, train, and certify staff on multiple platforms. This drastically increases operational cost. Likewise, an MSP must now troubleshoot and fix issues across multiple systems. This reduces the efficiency of management and pushes up the cost when those systems aren’t integrated into a unified platform.

Moving forward with choice and simplicity

MSPs and VARs have a choice: they can be skeptical in the face of fragmentation, wait for the trend to pass, and bury their head in the sand, or they can be agnostic – capable of working with whatever comes their way and with whatever their customers need. By taking a vendor-agnostic approach, VARs and MSPs can embrace the change while effectively carving out a lucrative niche within the market.

Taking an approach like this helps to retain customers because they’re not going to shop around for more flexibility: you provide enough for them already. It can also help to protect margins from compression as it lets MSPs, VARs, and their customers change vendors if they create less favorable terms.

Comms complexity causes knottiness for MSPs and VARs, but they can minimize that with the use of single-pane-of-glass management tools that can simultaneously monitor and report on the performance of multiple UCaaS and collaboration tools. This allows VARs and MSPs to meet any customer requirements without having to become a direct partner with every single vendor or train staff on their many platforms.

Ultimately, once VARs and MSPs have taken the new approach and invested in UC management platforms that span multiple vendors, they can start to position themselves as integration consultants – much more than simply resellers or managers. This is what the data shows companies want, too.

Research from Cavell and CallTower highlights that, for companies of all sizes, when they operate multi-vendor environments, they overwhelmingly want to purchase from (and work with) a single provider. They want best-of-breed functionality, and they want it from one best-of-breed partner.

MSPs and VARs that can accommodate the fragmentation of communications will succeed, where those who shy away from it will struggle. But simplifying the complexity internal to their organizations, without passing it on to customers, is a precondition of success.

In IT procurement, businesses often face a dizzying array of products and services. Navigating this landscape can be a complex and time-consuming endeavor. This is where IT resellers come in, acting as a crucial intermediary between the technology creators and the end-users. But what exactly is a reseller, and what role do they play in the IT ecosystem?

An IT reseller is a company that purchases IT products or services from manufacturers, distributors, or wholesalers and then sells them to customers. They are a fundamental component of the "channel," a network of organizations that work together to bring technology from the vendor to the end customer.

This model provides a win-win situation: manufacturers expand their market reach without having to build out extensive sales teams, while customers gain a knowledgeable partner to help them navigate their technology needs.

What do resellers do, and why is that important?

At its core, a reseller simplifies the process of acquiring technology. Instead of a business having to source multiple components from various manufacturers, they can go through a single reseller, streamlining procurement and order processing. However, the value of a reseller, especially a Value-Added Reseller (VAR), extends far beyond basic order fulfillment. VARs add significant value to the products they sell in a variety of ways.

They frequently bundle hardware and software to create tailored “turnkey” solutions that address the specific needs of a business, sometimes integrating new systems with a company’s existing legacy infrastructure. Resellers also bring deep product knowledge, offering expert advice to ensure businesses make informed purchasing decisions, and many provide essential services such as installation, user training, and ongoing technical support. By leveraging their purchasing power, resellers can often secure better pricing on products than a single business could on its own, passing those savings on to the customer.

Additionally, many resellers offer specialized services, such as network security solutions to protect businesses from cyber threats, and license optimization to help clients maximize their software investments.

Top IT resellers in the US by revenue include major players like CDW, Ingram Micro, SHI International, and TD-Synnex.

The evolution of the reseller model

The role of the IT reseller has evolved dramatically over recent years, shifting far beyond its traditional focus on hardware sales and one-time transactions. In the past, resellers primarily served as intermediaries that facilitated the purchase and delivery of physical technology products, but the rapid rise of cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has fundamentally altered their business models and value propositions.

Today, the emphasis has moved decisively from transactional sales to cultivating ongoing relationships and delivering continuous value to clients. This transformation has been driven by several key trends. As hardware profit margins have declined, many resellers have pivoted to service-led offerings, providing managed services where they assume responsibility for the ongoing maintenance and support of a client’s IT infrastructure. This shift from project-based contracts to recurring revenue models offers resellers more predictable income streams while fostering deeper, long-term partnerships with their clients.

The explosive growth of cloud computing has also been a major catalyst for change. Resellers have adapted by expanding their portfolios to include cloud solutions, helping businesses migrate to and manage cloud environments. This encompasses a broad range of services, from Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) to SaaS products, often sourced from leading providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. By guiding clients through cloud adoption and optimization, resellers add significant strategic value.

Moreover, the distinction between traditional Value-Added Resellers (VARs) and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) has become increasingly blurred. Many VARs have repositioned themselves as MSPs, offering comprehensive IT management services often for a flat monthly fee that covers everything from monitoring and security to troubleshooting and upgrades. This transition allows resellers to provide end-to-end support and peace of mind for their clients.

The rise of the "Everything-as-a-Service" (XaaS) model has further accelerated this evolution, enabling resellers to offer more flexible, scalable, and consumption-based solutions. By embracing these trends, IT resellers have transformed from simple product suppliers into trusted technology advisors and strategic partners, helping businesses navigate the complexities of digital transformation and unlock new opportunities for growth.

A look at the market and its future

The reseller market is a significant and growing segment of the IT industry. The global market for VARs for IT was estimated at approximately $11.83 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach around $21.5 billion by 2033, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.5%. Other reports show the market valued at $549 million in 2023 and projected to reach $1.376 billion by 2031, with a CAGR of 12%. The software resellers market was valued at around $45.6 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to $80.3 billion by 2032.

Looking ahead, several key trends are expected to shape the future of IT reselling:

Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI is set to play a significant role in the future of reselling. AI-powered tools can help resellers with more accurate pricing, identifying popular trends, and even generating personalized recommendations for buyers. As businesses increasingly adopt AI and machine learning, they will look to resellers for cutting-edge solutions that integrate these technologies.

Focus on vertical-specific solutions: There is a growing demand for software solutions tailored to the unique challenges of specific industries. Resellers with deep knowledge of niche markets will be well-positioned for success.

Enhanced customer support and services: As the technology landscape becomes more complex, businesses will seek out resellers who can provide comprehensive support, including implementation assistance, training, and ongoing maintenance.

The reseller as an orchestrator: The role of the reseller is shifting from being a middleman to being a "mission control." They are becoming orchestrators of complex technology solutions, guiding clients through the intricacies of vendors and technologies.

Navigating challenges

Despite the positive outlook, resellers face their share of challenges. These include working with low margins, keeping up with the rapid pace of technological change, and facing intense competition.

To remain competitive, resellers must invest in continuous training for their staff and adopt efficient processes to manage a vast array of products and pricing from multiple distributors.

Ultimately, the IT reseller is a vital part of the technology ecosystem, providing businesses with the expertise, support, and customized solutions they need to thrive in a digital world. While the role has evolved significantly from its transactional roots, the core value of the reseller as a trusted technology partner remains as important as ever.

Gartner estimates that 80% of firms will have GenAI APIs/ GenAI apps in production by 2026. But, despite the excitement around AI as the transformative force of our times, there’s growing scrutiny of crucial security and data infrastructure challenges that could derail companies’ ambitions of cutting costs and boosting innovation with AI.

Our own research of 1,000 firms in the UK, US, France, and DACH found that half of the companies regard cost reduction as the top outcome from their intended AI program. 

But these C-level ambitions for AI-driven efficiency and rethinking their organization’s cost base assume that company IT teams’ plans for having an AI-ready tech stack and proper security and governance guardrails are largely on track.

The on-the-ground reality delivers the equivalent of a bucket of ice water to such cozy assumptions.

Falling short

Our data found that enterprises’ data security and cyber-attack response capabilities fall well short of effective progress towards next-generation tech stacks.

The plain fact is that many organizations are still grappling with the fundamental requirements of secure and sustainable business operations - locking down their data assets before they can deliver the unified data platforms and the data connectivity needed for sustainable growth and competitive operations in a fast-changing economy. Some may even be losing the battle.

Almost half (48%) said that concerns around security are preventing them from moving their file data to the cloud. More than half (53%) admitted their data isn’t backed up, immutable, and easily recoverable.

Confusion, disruption, and downtime

This lack of a secure platform is leading to greater business risk, confusion, and a lack of control over cyber threats and their consequences for their organization. More than two-thirds of the survey –70% – said they have experienced a cyber attack over the last 12 months. Almost two-thirds reckon they can recover critical data after a cyber attack, but nearly half (45%) nevertheless admitted they had suffered a security breach, resulting in a ransom, downtime, data loss or reputational damage, over the last year.

The results of such institutional overwhelm range from disruption to prolonged shutdown. Companies are on average losing five weeks of productivity to cyber attacks, but in certain markets, such as manufacturing, downtime from malicious activity was up to six weeks.

With IT teams and CISOs lacking the resources and in-house expertise to create a robust and integrated data platform that could yield new customer insights and foundations for AI tools, it’s small wonder that more than a third – 34% – of the companies we spoke to believe that security and privacy concerns are roadblocks to successful AI adoption.

New partners, new partnerships

Companies’ faltering progress towards AI – especially when it comes to data security and governance – is creating new opportunities for strategic channel partners and integrators that learned the lessons of the pandemic and refocused closely on delivering customer value and meeting customers’ rapidly changing infrastructure needs.

These smart VARs, with their deep product and solution knowledge and unrivalled implementation expertise, can help innovation-minded enterprises to take the necessary strategic steps to contain the security risks around modernization and prepare for the successful adoption of AI tools.

Realizing the opportunity

This shift can be achieved through channel partners taking a strategic lead with customers in four main ways:

• Rethinking and forging closer enterprise customer relationships, whether delivering strategic advice to boards and lines of business leaders, on future AI and business transformation needs, rather than just supporting IT buyers
• Moving enterprise IT teams away from volume approaches to technology acquisition that have often resulted in vendor ‘lock-in’ and instead, embracing more flexible marketplace approaches, including providing simpler enterprise access to global cloud providers’ solutions
• Resolving enterprises’ longstanding (and often vexed) infrastructure consolidation and cloud migration issues: expert channel partners’ strategic knowledge and ‘coal-face’ implementation know-how will enable organisations, that have previously been running to stand still, to design and execute on phased approaches to improving outdated processes and trialling AI tools safely in their business operations
• Using their deep data security and governance know-how to identify and contain the risks from strategic business transformation and AI projects.

VARs where V means value and strategic insight

Companies have much work to do to contain the risks, given that AI tools will fully access their organization’s data, its processes, applications, workflows, and internal/external policies as never before, to deliver a competitive edge.

There is an upside. Indeed, channel partners who quickly refocused on delivering value and resolving unprecedented security amid the shift to hybrid working and reconfigured supply chains are already grasping the opportunities. Even against the backdrop of an unpredictable global economy and AI’s remarkable possibilities.

Yes, UK organizations have yet to establish secure data management and connectivity platforms for the AI-driven world. But there’s little doubt expert channel partners with a renewed value focus represent the missing link for hard-pressed firms building strategic plans to consolidate their data platforms and harness the unique capabilities of AI for their organization.

Technology distribution giant Westcon-Comstor has announced the promotion of Stéphane Reboud to the position of senior vice president, sales for Europe.

The appointment comes less than a year after Reboud joined the business from Dell Technologies, during which time he has focused on driving European sales for the company’s Cisco-focused Comstor arm.

A seasoned industry veteran, France-based Reboud spent more than two decades at Dell with his most recent role focused on growing the mid-market business segment globally, mobilizing the firm’s sales teams and channel partner ecosystem to meet customer-specific needs.

In his freshly expanded role at Westcon-Comstor, Reboud will spearhead all sales teams across Europe, as well as the distributor’s global customer sales teams in the region.

Reporting to executive vice president for Europe, René Klein, the role will also focus on leveraging Westcon-Comstor’s full ecosystem of services and vendor capabilities to drive partner enablement.

In an announcement, Klein said Reboud’s deep industry experience and focus on collaboration made him an ideal fit for the role.

“With more than 25 years of experience in the IT industry, he brings a wealth of insight and a people-first leadership style to the role,” he commented. “I’m confident he will help us unlock new opportunities and deliver even greater value to our partners and vendors.”

Unified sales

Reboud’s appointment marks the latest stage of Westcon-Comstor’s efforts to unify its European sales function under a single leadership structure. By doing so, the firm is aiming to improve the consistency of experience across its partner and vendor ecosystem, as well as enable closer internal collaboration.

This leadership unification will maintain Comstor’s dedicated focus on Cisco, while enhancing collaboration and market reach, Westcon-Comstor said.

The distributor is looking to replicate the success of its unified sales leaderships in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions, which have helped drive new growth and partner success.

“I’m humbled and energized to take on this responsibility,” Reboud said. “We’re on a strong trajectory, and I believe that as one unified team, we can achieve even more.

“My focus will be on listening actively and fostering a culture of collaboration and empowerment to deliver excellence for our partners and vendors.”

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Channel ecosystems across EMEA are undergoing rapid transformation, driven by shifting customer expectations and accelerated adoption of AI, automation, and regulatory compliance. Over the past two decades, the traditional transactional reselling model has evolved significantly towards consultative, value-led partnerships designed to deliver deeper customer engagement and sustainable revenue streams.

Partners now not only provide products but also expert guidance on optimizing business processes, particularly as customers increasingly seek solutions embedding AI-powered automation and secure document management.

Successful channel partners today are transitioning from mere transactional engagements, or “box shifting”, towards becoming trusted advisors and workflow consultants. This shift enables them to address complex customer needs, establish long-term partnerships, and unlock significant value, enhancing customer loyalty and satisfaction.

AI Integration and customer demand

AI integration is reshaping customer conversations, driving demand for intelligent automation within workflows.

Vendors who proactively embed sophisticated AI assistants into their solutions are empowering partners to streamline customer workflows through capabilities such as intelligent document summaries, automated content generation, and natural language interactions.

However, adoption varies widely, with some organisations embracing AI wholeheartedly, while others remain cautious. Channel partners play a pivotal role in bridging this gap, educating customers on the benefits, easing integration processes, and providing ongoing support to maximise AI’s full potential.

Navigating regulatory pressures

Evolving data regulations – such as GDPR, the EU AI Act, and national privacy laws – continue to reshape customer expectations around compliance and data security.

As a result, there’s growing demand for technology partners who can support secure, standards-aligned solutions. This gives partners and their customers added confidence in the resilience and trustworthiness of the solutions they’re integrating.

Specialization and vertical expertise

Market fragmentation and increased specialization in vertical sectors – such as legal, healthcare, and government – underscore the growing importance of niche expertise.

Partners who deeply understand the unique workflows and compliance requirements of these sectors position themselves strategically to deliver tailored, impactful solutions. This specialization enhances their credibility, enables deeper customer engagement, and ultimately opens opportunities to generate higher-value revenue streams.

Redesigning partner programs

To effectively support this evolving landscape, vendors must redesign partner programs to prioritize enablement, flexibility, and a channel-first approach.

Modular and adaptable product offerings enable partners to seamlessly integrate solutions into broader digital strategies tailored to customer needs. Vendor-supported enablement programs – such as comprehensive training and technical certification – also equip partners to confidently position, sell, and support advanced capabilities.

Building sustainable recurring revenue

Another critical development is the industry-wide shift towards managed services and recurring revenue models. Partners now seek solutions that not only address immediate customer needs but also drive sustained profitability.

Managed services, built around document workflows and secure solutions, create predictable, long-term revenue streams and reinforce customer retention.

Foxit actively supports this model, providing tools and guidance for partners to build managed services offerings that embed its solutions deeply within customer processes, driving profitability for both partners and end-users.

Ultimately, in today’s increasingly hybrid ecosystem, success hinges on a vendor’s ability to nurture agile, knowledgeable, and strategically aligned partners. Effective partnerships collaboratively innovate, continuously deliver value, and drive lasting customer satisfaction and loyalty.

In boardrooms across the globe, the conversation has shifted from "How do we grow?" to "How do we do more with what we have?" Budgets have tightened, teams have shrunk, and organizations are confronting a harsh reality in which the traditional approach of adding more tools and more people to solve business challenges is no longer sustainable.

We're seeing a major shift in how companies think about their tech systems. Instead of treating tools and platforms as separate pieces, they're now designing their digital architecture around integration from the outset by prioritizing fluid data exchange and unified user experiences over tool proliferation.

The end of the silo era

For too long, organizations have accumulated separate tools across departments, creating a patchwork of disconnected systems that promise individual efficiency but fail to deliver on business-wide cohesion.

I’ve often seen that different departments across the business operate on different platforms for their day-to-day tasks. For instance, marketing teams work in their creative suites, sales teams live in their CRM platforms, or finance operates in their ERP systems. Each team, ingrained in its preferred tools, often treats data as proprietary rather than shared, reducing visibility and alignment. This, in turn, creates information silos that fragment decision-making and create inefficiencies organizations can no longer afford.

When teams can't access the data they need, workflows break down at departmental boundaries, and insights remain trapped in individual systems. In today's resource-constrained environment, such operational friction isn't just costly but can be potentially fatal for the organization.

Connection over replacement

The solution is not to replace these specialized tools. Creative suites excel at design workflows, CRM platforms dominate customer relationship management, and ERP systems power complex financial operations. The key here is connection.

Organizations need platforms that can bridge these systems, creating a unified ecosystem where data flows freely and work happens seamlessly across traditional boundaries.

This is where the partnership economy becomes crucial. Rather than viewing technology providers as vendors, forward-thinking organizations must recognize them as strategic partners in building integrated solutions. The most successful companies are the ones that bring all their tools and partnerships together to create smooth, interconnected workflows that eliminate friction and maximize efficiency.

The measurable impact of integration

Take a moment to consider the transformative potential of true interoperability. Wouldn’t it be great if customer engagement, project execution, and financial planning became one fluid, orchestrated motion? This might look like your marketing campaigns in your creative suite automatically triggering follow-up workflows in your CRM, or your project timelines syncing seamlessly with your financial forecasts in your ERP system.

According to Accenture research, employees in organizations with seamless system integration save up to two hours daily. That's 10 hours per week that can be redirected toward strategic initiatives rather than administrative overhead.

But time savings are just the beginning. When systems communicate effectively, organizations create a single source of truth where decision-makers can trust what they see — no conflicting figures, no need to verify across systems, just actionable insight at their fingertips. The same Accenture research shows that companies with connected systems and applications grow revenue six times faster than their peers without such integration.

Rethinking technology strategy

The shift toward unified architecture requires a change in how organizations evaluate and implement technology. Instead of asking, "What can this tool do?" the question becomes, "How will this tool connect with our existing ecosystem?" This approach transforms technology decisions from isolated departmental choices into broader organizational investments.

This transformation is particularly critical for partnership teams. We're no longer just connecting tools. We're creating comprehensive solutions that span multiple systems and stakeholders. The most valuable partnerships can deliver end-to-end workflows that eliminate the need for handoffs while helping reduce errors.

Building the connected enterprise

The infrastructure for seamless workflows already exists. Most business tools, such as messaging and CRM platforms, or collaboration and analytics systems, can now connect more easily than ever. I’ve seen it in our organization, with over 175 Smartsheet integrations that help connect all siloed systems in one place.

Organizations just need to prioritize connectivity-first platforms without replacing their existing tools. It's all about making them work together in ways that multiply their individual value.

When your CRM opportunities trigger resource allocation adjustments, and your analytics dashboards reflect real-time project progress, you create operations that become more efficient, and your tech investments deliver greater results. If you can enable seamless information flow and reduce time spent on data wrangling, you’ll allow your teams to focus on creating real value.

The challenge now is not whether to adopt a more integrated approach, but how quickly you can reshape your technology landscape. Acting decisively will strengthen your ability to respond to current demands and stay ahead of whatever comes next.

Enterprise networking is at a pivotal moment. Faced with rising operational costs and increasing expectations from end users, value-added resellers (VARs) and managed service providers (MSPs) are squeezed between two extremes: complex, costly enterprise systems on one side and fragmented, unreliable, low-cost solutions on the other. In the middle lies an expanding opportunity, but only for those willing to rethink how success is achieved.

Margins are shrinking not because of competition but because of complexity. Multi-tiered licensing, inconsistent support, and one-size-fits-all architectures result in repeated visits to customers, longer deployment times, and higher overheads. For partners aiming to build profitable service businesses aimed at enterprise customers below the FTSE 100, complexity is no longer just inconvenient; it’s a direct obstacle to growth.

What’s emerging now is a move toward appropriately sized solutions. Enterprise-grade reliability no longer requires an enterprise-sized IT team. The best platforms today are designed for businesses needing robust cloud connectivity, seamless remote management, embedded security, and AV/IT integration, without excessive overheads or unnecessary features. Solutions that emphasise simplicity, usability, and fit-for-purpose design are gaining popularity because they work. Not eventually, with the support of three site visits, escalations, and unnecessary costs being incurred, but right from day one.

A new breed of vendors is entering the market to deliver solutions at this level. They are not trying to be bigger and more complex than Aruba, Cisco, or Juniper.. Nor to be cheaper than the Chinese consumer-grade manufacturers. Their ambition is different: to be the easiest to do business with, offering a right-sized portfolio for the ‘Unfortunate 50,000’. This term was initially used 15 years ago to describe companies that lacked access to enterprise Wi-Fi technology, because it was too complex and expensive. But history repeats itself – and here we are again, with a demand versus supply gap. This time, however, there is a solution.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have the same needs as larger enterprises in terms of wired and wireless network performance, SD-WAN, redundancy, or SASE security. They just don't have the budget to spend millions with the biggest vendors.

This shift assigns new responsibilities to the new breed of vendors like ourselves. It’s no longer enough to sell a capable product. It must install smoothly, integrate easily, and be manageable without a week of training. That’s where professional services, once optional, are becoming vital. Pre-staging equipment, validating designs, assisting with deployments, and conducting post-install health checks or free site surveys are now critical in ensuring customer satisfaction and reducing long-term support costs.

Training must also adapt. The focus isn’t on certification for its own sake or LinkedIn points, but on operational readiness. Partners need tailored enablement that centers on real-world results: Wi-Fi 7 or AV-over-IP workshops, streamlined onboarding for new technicians, and tools that get them operational quickly, without sacrificing quality.

Ultimately, the future of the networking channel is NOT about features anymore; it is about enablement. Vendors must rapidly eliminate friction in pricing, licensing, support, and partner programs.

For partners, every moment spent chasing quotes or troubleshooting a misconfigured VLAN is time not spent growing their business. What partners need - now more than ever - are solutions that scale with their expertise, deliver dependable performance, and generate predictable profits.

Bregal Milestone has announced the launch of CyberSentric, a new MSP-first cybersecurity and data protection company formed from the merger of Redstor and TitanHQ.

The combined business will create a unified cybersecurity platform built for MSPs and their customers, and will operate across the UK and Ireland, Europe, and North America.

CybeSentriq CEO, James Griffin, said the company will set a “new standard” for cybersecurity that caters to MSPs traditionally underserved and let down by vendors that are “out of touch with their day-to-day needs.”

“CyberSentriq changes that,” he explained. “By uniting two key companies known for technology and service excellence, we’re giving MSPs exactly what they need - comprehensive protection without compromising quality, partnership, or performance.”

Integration

Between them, Redstor and TitanHQ have both provided cyber security and data protection solutions to more than 3,000 MSPs to help protect over 150,000 SMBs around the world.

CyberSentric will now leverage the companies’ respective reputations and unify their complimentary offerings into a single integrated platform.

Through the freshly streamlined platform, MSPs will be able to leverage key security capabilities such as AI-driven threat detection, cloud-based backup and recovery, advanced email and web security, security awareness training, as well as secure email archiving and encryption.

“We are combining two hugely successful companies, whose success is driven by a fundamental understanding of the MSP, their needs, and how we create value for them,” said Ronan Kavanagh, CRO at CyberSentriq.

“We’re here to eradicate operational drag and provide MSPs with proactive cybersecurity, data protection, and operational resilience, providing a value enablement platform allowing them to better serve their customers.”

Growth ambitions

Private equity firm Bregal Milestone said CyberSentriq is “strategically positioned to achieve accelerated global growth,” with the new platform to target $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) by 2028 through both organic and inorganic growth strategies.

“SMBs face increasingly sophisticated AI-driven cyber-attacks, and MSPs urgently need integrated solutions to combat these challenges,” explained John Hales, managing director at Bregal Milestone.

“By uniting the exceptional strengths and proven track records of Redstor and TitanHQ, CyberSentriq stands ready to lead the next wave of cybersecurity innovation, providing MSPs and their clients with a complete cyber offering for offensive and defensive security, threat mitigation, and recovery.”

The merger of Redstor and TitanHQ was backed by a lender syndicate led by HSBC Innovation Banking and J.P. Morgan.

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Jitterbit has announced the appointment of Luca Taglioretti as its new chief revenue officer, as the enterprise automation specialist looks to drive growth and expand its channel partnerships.

The new CRO will spearhead global sales while refining the company’s go-to-market strategy as it looks to capitalize on the growing demand for AI-powered integration, automation, and application development solutions.

A seasoned industry leader, Taglioretti brings more than 25 years’ experience to the role, which includes building and scaling channel partnerships in the integration and cybersecurity industries.

In an announcement, Jitterbit said he will leverage this expertise to drive further revenue growth, with a strong focus on expanding the firm’s channel ecosystem.

"Luca's deep experience in building and scaling high-growth sales organizations, particularly in the channel, makes him the ideal leader to drive Jitterbit's next phase of expansion," explained Bill Conner, Jitterbit president and CEO.

"This strategic alignment of our global sales operations under Luca will enable us to more effectively serve our customers and partners worldwide and capitalize on the significant market opportunity in AI-infused integration, automation, and application development."

During previous cybersecurity leadership roles, Taglioretti is credited with transforming regional go-to-market strategies, achieving significant revenue growth, as well as operational excellence.

With deep experience in managing carriers, MSPs, and MSSPs, Jitterbit said its new CRO brings a strong track record of aligning technical innovation with business strategy, while his focus on collaboration has led to achievements such as driving year-over-year revenue growth across diverse regions.

Jitterbit's ‘transformative point’

Jitterbit’s Harmony platform provides a unified, AI-infused low-code platform that targets integration, orchestration, automation, and app development. Designed to simplify complexity and drive business transformation outcomes, the offering includes features such as IPaaS, API Manager, App Builder, and EDI.

Taglioretti said the Harmony platform is well-equipped to drive partner success at a “transformative point” for the industry.

"I'm incredibly excited to take on this role and lead Jitterbit's global sales organization," he commented. "We're at a transformative point in the industry, and we believe the Jitterbit Harmony platform is uniquely positioned to empower our partners to deliver exceptional value to their customers.

“By leveraging intelligent automation and integration, our partners can fundamentally change how they enable their customers' success. I look forward to collaborating with our sales teams and our expanding partner ecosystem to drive significant growth and shape the future of enterprise automation."

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Cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike has announced its integration into the Nvidia Enterprise AI Factory validated design architecture.

As AI adoption continues to gather pace globally, the integration will enable enterprises to leverage CrowdStrike’s Falcon security capabilities in Nvidia Enterprise AI deployments to protect AI infrastructure, systems, and models.

In an announcement, CrowdStrike’s chief business officer Daniel Bernard said the company is “securing the standardized architecture that’s transforming how organizations innovate in the AI era.”

“Together with Nvidia, we’re eliminating the guesswork from securing AI infrastructure with a validated reference architecture,” he explained.

“Now, organizations can build Nvidia AI Factories even faster, adopting AI technologies with confidence and speed.”

Validated design

Nvidia’s Enterprise AI Factory validated design is deployable on premises with Nvidia Blackwell infrastructure and combines the hardware and software required to support every stage of the AI lifecycle, from data ingestion and model training, to deployment and runtime use.

Nvidia said its aim is to bring AI into production at scale and enable enterprises to leverage full stack infrastructure when building, deploying, and operating AI applications, agentic AI, as well as physical AI workflows.

However, as organizations increasingly look to AI and embrace AI factories, the technology also brings new business risks - such as data poisoning, model tampering, and sensitive data exposure.

Integration

CrowdStrike’s integration into Nvidia’s Enterprise AI Factory validated design aims to combat these risks by securing AI with AI.

The firm's own AI security capabilities are continuously trained on a feedback loop of front line insights from the firm’s threat hunters and intelligence analysts, combined with trillions of daily security events processed by the CrowdStrike Falcon platform.

This combination enables machine-speed detection and response to both existing and emerging security threats, according to the firm.

CrowdStrike combines its Falcon Cloud Security AI-SPM with advancements such as AI Model Scanning and Shadow AI detection to identify and mitigate risks in AI models, while providing visibility into overall security posture.

Additionally, this security is combined with CrowdStrikeAI Red Team Services and Falcon Adversary OverWatch for end-to-end security within enterprise AI factories using Nvidia AI Factory validated design.

“As organizations move quickly to operationalize AI, security must be built in from the ground up,” commented Justin Boitano, Nvidia’s vice president of enterprise AI software products.

“CrowdStrike’s integration with the Nvidia Enterprise AI Factory validated design brings real-time, AI-powered cyber security to the AI applications driving productivity breakthroughs across industries.”

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SASE platform provider Cato Networks has announced a significant expansion of its research and development (R&D) operations at its European engineering hub in Prague.

The move will see the R&D center triple in size over the next year in a bid to accelerate development of the Cato SASE Cloud Platform and generate new opportunities for top tech talent across Czechia.

In an announcement, Cato said the expansion presents a “unique opportunity” for Prague-based engineers and developers to be a part of the company.

“Prague’s exceptional engineering talent is critical to building the global infrastructure and security innovation that define the Cato SASE Cloud Platform,” commented Eyal Heiman, vice president of engineering at Cato Networks.

“Our Prague team is helping to shape a platform that delivers secure, high-performance access to applications and data—everywhere business happens.”

Intersection

As Cato pushes ahead with its growth plans, the firm described Prague as “the perfect intersection” of engineering excellence and access to the European Union.

Having emerged as a key location for global tech companies, Prague offers access to a highly-skilled workforce, excellent quality of life, as well as a combination of security and stability for international businesses, Cato added.

The city also provides a close connection to Israel’s innovation ecosystem, with Cato’s R&D center benefiting from close proximity to the company’s Tel-Aviv headquarters, located a short flight away with just a one-hour time difference.

Growth commitment

As part of its Prague expansion, Cato is hiring top software engineering and developer talent across multiple domains with network and security backgrounds. The firm said this talent pool includes engineers for data, DevOPs, and site reliability, as well as developers for tackling Java/Go, C, C++, and front-end.

Additionally, Cato is taking on additional staff for security research, product support, and general and administrative (G&A) roles.

Shlomo Kramer, Cato Networks co-founder and CEO, said the move reflects the company’s commitment to “building the most secure and reliable SASE platform” on the market.

“To deliver on that promise, we are tapping into one of Europe’s most thriving and talent-rich markets to expand our world-class engineering, support, and research teams with innovators who share our vision of a future where IT just works—securely, globally, and effortlessly,” he explained.

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Cybersecurity vendor SonicWall has hailed a “transformational” 12 months after recording a 42% year-over-year increase in partner growth.

Strong financial results have been driven largely by its channel-first strategy, the firm revealed, alongside a raft of strategic partnerships and innovation across its cybersecurity solutions portfolio.

In addition to its focus on managed service providers (MSPs) and managed security service providers (MSSPs), SonicWall has also seen growth in its zero trust network access (ZTNA) and other cloud secure edge (CSE) solutions.

Among its partner initiatives, managed security services bookings grew by 68% year-over-year, while zero trust and CSE bookings increased by 70%, with transacting partners climbing almost 40% quarter-over-quarter.

Additionally, SonicWall’s service provider program generated a 91% increase in partners, it revealed.

SonicWall CEO and president Bob VanKirk said the company’s ‘inside-out approach’ - which it implemented three years ago - has enabled it to more effectively meet the needs of partners and customers.

“By listening and acting on partner feedback, expanding our world-class cyber security offerings, and bringing to market solutions designed specifically for MSPs we are ensuring that our partners have the support they need to thrive, and empower them to keep their customers safe,” he explained.

“Together, we are not just keeping pace with industry demands; we are setting the standard for success in cyber security.”

Alongside providing firewalls and network security appliances to the small and midsize business market, SonicWall has been transforming its ecosystem of nearly 17,000 partners to offer cloud native solutions and co-managed security offerings.

SonicWall expansion continues

Over the last year, the company has worked to strengthen its market position by expanding its portfolio to include capabilities such as ZTNA and MXDR.

SonicWall said the additions have enabled it to introduce flexible, subscription-based pricing tailored to MSPs, enhance its managed security services, as well as improve solutions geared towards supporting businesses in their digital transformation.

“Last year was pivotal for SonicWall as we capitalized on the acquisitions we made in 2023 and integrated them into our portfolio, our platform and our most valuable asset - our partner ecosystem,” commented SonicWall’s chief strategy officer, Matt Neiderman.

“As we have expanded our offerings to include key capabilities like ZTNA and MXDR, our focus has been on designing them and bringing them to market in a way that supports the needs of the MSP and broader partner community.”

Looking ahead, SonicWall said it is well-positioned for further success over the coming year and added that it remains committed to enhancing its portfolio and further expanding its partner ecosystem.

“Now more than ever, we have a more complete set of tools that partners of every size can leverage to protect their customers and compete in an evolving IT services market,” Neiderman added.

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Computer hardware and processor manufacturer AMD has announced the appointment of James Blackman as head of VAR and SI commercial sales for the EMEA region.

A seasoned industry veteran, Blackman brings more than 30 years’ experience to the role and has spent more than 13 years at AMD, most recently leading the firm’s HP sales activity across EMEA.

In his new position, the sales veteran is now tasked with building a robust channel community in the region, while acting as a clear point of contact for channel partners, the chipmaker said.

“I'm delighted to lead the AMD VAR & SI Commercial Sales team in EMEA,” Blackman said in an announcement.

“My focus will be on strengthening our partner ecosystem to deliver exceptional value to our customers. I recognize the immense market opportunity for AMD solutions, and I'm eager to collaborate with ITDMs to achieve mutual success.”

Blackman will leverage his extensive experience and expertise to support partners as they leverage AMD technologies across various value added resellers (VARs) and systems integrators (SIs) - including its high performance compute capabilities, sustainability innovations, and AI offerings.

The firm said the appointment underscores its commitment to strengthening its channel partnerships and expanding its reach within the EMEA region, with Blackman to “play a key role” in helping partners deliver solutions to their customers.

“In my previous role, I had the privilege of partnering exclusively with HP. Now this new position allows me to embrace the full AMD portfolio and collaborate with all OEMs across the ecosystem,” Blackman said in a LinkedIn post.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to drive growth, strengthen partnerships, and work closely with value-added resellers and systems integrators across EMEA.”

The appointment marks the latest move by AMD to strengthen its sales and channel leadership across EMEA, with the company naming HP veteran Stephanie Dismore as its new senior vice president of EMEA regional sales back in August 2024.

Elsewhere, the chipmaker also recently announced its latest earnings report, which revealed record quarterly revenue of $7.7 billion for Q4, alongside a company best of $25.8 billion for the entirety of its FY2024.

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Paragon Micro has announced plans for its first overseas expansion, with the US value-added reseller gearing up to launch a subsidiary in the UK.

The UK Operations and Sales arm of the business is set to launch in April, the firm revealed, with tech sales veteran Donavan Hutchinson to take the reins as managing director of the UK & Europe region.

Hutchinson, who brings 17 years’ experience of helping international VARs expand into the UK market, will head new offices located near Sheffield and London.

“International expansion has long been part of our plan as it presents a tremendous growth opportunity for Paragon Micro given that a large percentage of the IT market is located outside the US,” said President and CEO Jeff Reimer. “The UK is home to many international divisions of our major US clients.

“The opening of this office is in response to our US customers who conduct business in Europe and require the same kind of IT hardware, software, and solutions - globally.”

Founded in 2008, Paragon Micro has quickly established itself as a leading player in the US market, achieving sustained growth and winning industry accolades along the way. With annual sales of $150 million, the IT hardware, software and services provider has become an authorised partner for over 1,000 OEMS, including large tech companies such as Microsoft, HP, Dell and Cisco.

Recognised as a Top Company to Work For in the US, the firm said it aims to hit the same high standards with its UK venture, which will mark the first milestone in the firm’s “aggressive expansion” into critical global markets.

"I’m excited to join the Paragon Micro team as part of this expansion into the United Kingdom and equally excited to introduce our world-class approach to providing hardware, software, and solutions to new clients," Hutchinson commented.

"We welcome the opportunity to forge new partnerships with companies using Paragon Micro’s blueprint of being the best IT Provider in the industry that has driven exceptional success in the United States."

Not that long ago, businesses were heavily reliant on value-added resellers (VARs) to stay on top of the latest tech trends and products that could improve how they operate - but the internet has changed this. Within minutes, anyone can now easily learn about innovations that could be added to their IT infrastructure.

Those customers may not fully grasp how, or whether, the addition of emerging technology to their existing set-ups would work in practice, but if a new piece of technology looks attractive, customers will most likely ask for it. This can be both a blessing and a curse for VARs.

For VARs that are tied to a traditional networking solution that requires on-site management and manual connection of new hardware, each new wave of technology is a fresh challenge. Site visits, scheduled downtime and trouble-shooting give resellers headaches.

However, there is no such problem for resellers offering cloud-based network management. Firstly, these types of VARs can implement solutions much less intrusively and disruptively. Secondly, the growing trend for cloud-based computing means that emerging technologies are increasingly likely to have been designed with an assumption that network managers are in the cloud.

What's more, because resellers of cloud-based systems can quickly implement new technologies with minimal disruption, they have the freedom to review any requests or suggestions their clients bring to the table, knowing they can accommodate and implement those ideas wherever they add value. This helps resellers to build strong, productive and long-term relationships with customers.

There's no need to fear the future

Artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security, the Internet of Things (IoT), 'smart' devices, robotics, quantum computing and blockchain all rely heavily on the cloud - and some cannot function outside it. This characteristic is increasingly shared by IT elements that were previously 'offline', reflecting a general migration towards remote control and access.

But for some resellers and many of their clients, this transition is not straightforward. Legacy infrastructure, lack of resource and low confidence in, or understanding of, new technologies have led some VARs and their clients to cling to the old ways. A generalised fear of cyber crime is another factor that keeps some away from the cloud.

All of this is understandable, but frankly misguided. As today's cyber crime comes from the cloud, it takes a cloud-based solution, driven by AI and responding to threats in real-time, to fight it. It simply isn't practical to keep everything locked down on local servers any more.

Focus on the benefits

People desire new technologies and want to introduce the same qualities to their working lives, and it makes no sense for VARs to hinder this. In fact, there are many aspects of emerging technologies that can prove highly useful to clients and thus offer forward-thinking VARs the opportunity to add substantial value to their offerings.

For example, companies of all sizes want to integrate smart devices, sensor-driven lighting and heating systems, even mundane items like new routers and hubs, with their networks. The savvy VAR also provides IoT clients with cloud-based, gold-standard security and protection from malware: it's surprising how often customers forget their smart devices are online and connected to the Internet and therefore vulnerable to cyber crime.

The IoT also lets resellers quickly and easily demonstrate return-on-investment and/or value-add, because the benefits of integrating smart technologies into high-spend areas like energy or heavily-monitored elements such as customer service can be seen within a short time and measured.

Other new approaches to network management, such as separation of traffic streams, network monitoring automation and workflow automation can also help VARs to ensure that their clients get the best value from their network through improved productivity and performance.

But perhaps the most badly-needed benefit of cloud-based and remote network management has a criminal source. With cyber criminals now leveraging the powers of AI to attack businesses of all types and sizes, it takes an AI-driven, real-time response to defeat them.

With the use of in-cloud sandboxing to isolate questionable files, network segmentation and segregation, geolocation of IP addresses and constant, real-time updates to malware protection that respond to emerging threats before they become widespread, cloud-based cyber security is now the gold standard for businesses that care about their data and their networks.

How can VARS profit from emerging technologies?

Simply put, VARs that open a dialogue with their customers about emerging technologies can improve their rapport and impress clients.

Now more than ever before, customers are aware of the potential of new technologies and by listening to their requests and understanding their needs, VARs can design and provide solutions that are truly tailored to the customer's business. However, to be able to leverage these opportunities, VARs need to become more agile, meaning they must be able to work remotely and in the cloud.

Thorsten Kurpjuhn is European security market development manager with Zyxel

As a value-added reseller in the technology space, the impact of rapid changes in the VAR landscape may have hit home with you, with pricing becoming increasingly competitive and numbers shrinking, putting pressure on the bottom line.

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Smart pricing based on a sound business strategy is fundamental to the success of your business. Can you afford to keep your business running without implementing a pricing strategy?

This whitepaper shows how addressing just one or two points has the potential to substantially impact your bottom line, and explores how tools from templates and spreadsheet imports to catalogue management can come together to bring about a more profitable business.

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Vodafone's push to connect rural areas of the UK with 5G has provided the platform to connect fans to a football match, allowing them to be a very literal armchair referee.

The Isles of Scilly plays host to the world's smallest football league, with the only two teams playing each other around 20 times per season. For the first time, a match was live streamed over Vodafone's 5G network which allowed fans to tune in and have their say on contentious moments in the match.

Just like the Premier League's divisive video assistant referee (VAR), fans could review incidents and then send their decision on a possible penalty kick, for example, to the on-pitch referee Paul Charnock who was equipped with a Samsung S10 5G.

The fan-assistant referee (FAR) was used numerous times throughout the match played between Garrison Gunners and Woolpack Wanderers, weighing in on several fouls, a disputed goal and two contested penalty kicks.

"I have never seen the referee so happy after a game," said Anthony Gibbons, chairman of the Isles of Scilly Football League. "He was empowered by the other islanders to make bold decisions - and not always in my team's favour. Vodafone's involvement with the league has got everyone excited."

Vodafone became the first carrier to deliver 5G to the Isles of Scilly in July, deploying just one mast on the main island of St Mary's. The single mast serves the island's administrative centre in Hugh Town and was able to provide the connectivity to the match played two kilometres away.

"This was great fun for the fans, and we're very happy to have been the first network operator to take 5G to the Isles of Scilly," said Nick Jeffery, CEO at Vodafone UK. "Our commitment to rolling out our network to non-urban locations is very strong, as our recent Shared Rural Network agreement with the Government and other network operators proves. I'm very proud that Vodafone is travelling those extra miles to connect rural and isolated communities."

IT Pro was invited to experience a live demo of 5G in another sporting context earlier this year, with Orange Business Services showing how 5G-controlled cameras that fly above players in football stadiums could provide new viewing experiences for live sport.

5G, the next generation of mobile networking, is widely considered to be a viable solution to the rural connectivity issue the UK faces.

According to government figures, approximately only two-thirds of the UK can access "decent signal" and that's one of the reasons why the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) released 30m in funds to boost rural connectivity earlier this year.

The government has already played a role in deploying a 5G network in the Orkney Islands, one of the UK's most remote and under-connected locations, and has already helped its tourism as well as its wind and salmon farming.

Edenhouse Solutions has announced it has joined the United VARS Global Partner Program, the global network of market-leading SAP solution providers for the mid-market.

Elevating it to the highest-possible SAP Status of Platinum Partner, the UK-based consultancy firm said the membership will help boost its international reach and delivery capabilities.

The United VARS network has a presence across 95 countries, with more than 10,000 SAP consultants supporting upwards of 8,000 customers around the world.

Collaboration with these other United VARS members will enable Edenhouse to draw on local knowledge from new regions, the company said, ultimately enabling improved support for customers with ERP project rollouts.

"Edenhouse has grown exponentially in the last 10 years since its foundation," said Paul Solomon, Edenhouse CEO. "As part of our continued growth, we've seen numerous customers wanting to work with us on global implementations.

"To date we have managed this organically, but we believe becoming a part of the United VARS family will enable Edenhouse to support its customers to even higher levels in the future. We're really excited about working with them and strengthening our network, as well as bringing our own expertise to the table."

With Edenhouse now securing SAP Status of Platinum Partner, United VARS can boast 100 SAP industry solutions and 250 add-ons, providing service and support for international rollout projects, ERP optimisation projects and cross-border nearshoring. Made up of 50 SAP providers, the network is responsible for 300 international SAP implementation projects, as well as 8,000 collective ventures.

"We're really pleased to welcome Edenhouse into our alliance," said Detlef Mehlmann, managing director at United VARS. "It's great to have another leading SAP solution provider on board and we look forward to seeing them benefit from the global opportunities that our partnership offers."

With fierce price competitions, a crowded marketplace and their core services becoming more and more commoditised, the market is becoming increasingly difficult for value-added resellers (VARs). And demand for hardware and software is growing, profit margins have become razor-thin.

As demand for hardware and software grows while profit margins become razor-thin, VARs need new ways to diversify their value propositions and service offerings, and generate sources of recurring revenue. Doing this will increase the value delivered to new customers, as well as existing ones.

For value-added resellers, exploring a transition to the managed services business may be the best answer.

The managed service provider (MSP) business model offers more than just a higher business valuation from new sources of recurring revenue. It also helps build stronger relationships with customers as a trusted IT advisor, as opposed to as a vendor.

MSPs generate recurring revenue by serving as their customers’ outsourced IT department, either meeting all of their daily IT needs or supplementing their internal resources. Rather than just offering services and hardware, MSPs assume responsibility for a customer’s entire IT environment.

But why do businesses need an MSP? No business, no matter the size, wants to focus on managing the multitude of devices, systems and networks they rely on every day—they want to focus on serving their customers. Having a trusted service provider that can deliver solutions to help them handle the increasing complexity of their IT and business systems allows them to spend their time doing.

Between the need for seamless connectivity between IP-enabled devices and mission-critical networks and the skyrocketing adoption rate of mobile devices in the workplace (the market is set to hit $366.95 billion by 2022), among other challenges, businesses are increasingly turning to MSPs for solutions.

VARs need solid business plans and transformation strategies to make the transition to the MSP business model. There are a few very specific questions related to the sales, marketing and business strategy that will need to be addressed, including clearly defining the service model, how to transition processes to ensure optimum business efficiency and assessing the profitability of current contracts.

A variety of other elements will need to be considered and put in place as well, such as an effective back-end network operations centre, helpdesk support services and a remote monitoring and management (RMM) automation platform.

Executing these alongside a flexible licensing model is the key to a successful transformation into an MSP that can deliver a wide range of services to customers with diverse IT needs.

Westcon-Comstor has been revealed as the latest value-added distributor (VAD) to offer the Microsoft Surface Hub to VARs as part of its hardware portfolio.

Microsoft picked the VAD because of its history distributing AV solutions and unified communications platforms, which Microsoft believes will fit perfectly alongside the other tools it offers resellers, including Skype for Business.

“We are focused on providing organisations with the best possible collaboration tools to ensure employees are able to work together more easily and effectively,” Wayne Mason, EMEA UCC practice lead and general manager at Westcon-Comstor, said.

“The Microsoft Surface Hub absolutely ticks the box both from a technology perspective and in the culture of collaboration it creates. With our ability to wrap additional services around the Surface Hub and a comprehensive portfolio of complementary solutions for Skype for Business we are creating a very strong offer for the VAR community.”

Westcon-Comstor, whose parent company, Datatec, completed the sale of its EMEA and APAC arms to Synnex earlier this week, will also aim to provide useful support to Microsoft's VARs.

The distie will offer a range of additional products and services for VARs to use, including accessories for the Surface Hub and tools resellers can use to tag onsite assessments, solution design, project implementation and service support where it's required.

“The addition of the Surface Hub to Westcon-Comstor’s portfolio will ensure that they are able to offer the VAR community the best possible collaboration solutions for customers throughout the UK & Ireland,” added Ryan Asdourian, Windows and Surface lead at Microsoft UK.

“We have been delighted with the reaction to the Surface Hub since it was first introduced to the UK market in 2016 and the addition of Westcon-Comstor as a distributor, combined with its strong portfolio of wraparound services such as Skype for Business, will ensure that even more organisations are able to transform the way their employees collaborate, share and communicate.”

There are numerous benefits to the managed service provider (MSP) approach, including peace of mind from not having to manage IT services, greater uptime, more end user productivity and straightforward billing. As a result, value added resellers (VARs) across a broad variety of industries are beginning to embrace a service-centric relationship with their clients. For customers, choosing to work with an MSP means they avoid installation and maintenance headaches. They also avoid diverting resources towards laborious IT support tasks or ad hoc break/fix reseller charges. Software as a Service (SaaS) is perhaps the most obvious example, in that it replaces intermittent, non-recurring sales transactions with continuous, subscription-based application services.

A greater demand for MSPs means a larger supply. On the provider side, a number of resellers are also choosing to become MSPs –and for many good reasons beyond market share.

Why become an MSP?

The reasons for becoming an MSP are compelling, as it enables a predictable, recurring revenue stream; deeper engagement with clients, as well as a trusted advisor relationship that, in turn, generates more business opportunities. The standardisation of MSP solutions across all clients also simplifies purchasing, deployment, and support.

Making the MSP leap

While the reasons for making an MSP transition are numerous and attractive, resellers need to recognise that transition can also involve challenges. Resellers typically offer cybersecurity solutions from multiple vendors, which can make consolidating into one solution complicated. Among the challenges are logistics and licensing hurdles, other unpredicted costs, as well as different renewal frequencies across different product types (eg backup and cybersecurity) that call for a la carte transactions by renewal date.

Resellers must bridge the gap between delivering services to clients who buy software licenses and becoming an MSP that owns all licenses. New MSPs may need to purchase a remote monitoring and management (RMM) tool to expedite rollout and management, but then bear the risk of upfront capital outlay for license ownership as they replace one product at a time over an extended period.

Easing the transition

Taking the first few steps toward becoming an MSP can seem daunting. Here are seven ways to smooth the transition:

1. Identify a solution that deploys in seconds and runs alongside existing endpoint software. This introduces customers to the inherent MSP benefits without having to uninstall their current solutions. Simultaneously, it lays the groundwork for new processes and workflows.

2. Offer flexibility to switch customers to a managed service one at a time. Easing the pain and risk of adopting a managed service model ensures MSPs can roll out a new application, such as managed next generation endpoint protection, within the timeframe that makes the most sense to clients and at a desirable scale and cost.

3. Avoid solutions that use on-premise hardware. Small agents can deploy in seconds without disturbing existing solutions.

4. Look for low-risk monthly billing and invoicing, so you only have to pay for licenses you actually use.

5. Adopt a cloud-based approach that doesn't need version upgrades, which will reduce costs and boost customer satisfaction.

6. Find a comprehensive array of services, such as competitive margins, recurring revenue, lower operational costs and innovative enablement tools to achieve success.

The light at the end of the tunnel

VARs should not underestimate the importance or core business worth of establishing an ongoing service relationship with clients. Offloading the management of a company's infrastructure to experienced MSPs allow businesses to redirect their focus without IT interruption.

The marketplace is seeing a major shift in business spending patterns. Moving to an MSP model can open up a vast range of business opportunities, but it's crucial to partner with vendors who understand and mitigate the challenges this evolution entails. Making the transition, with the inherent challenges in mind, will ensure more organisations turn over IT functions to MSPs, freeing internal staff to focus on strategic IT projects. At the end of the day, the most important aspect is showing clients that the transition to managed services will result in lower total cost of ownership and greater value to business operations.

Adam Nash is EMEA sales manager at Webroot

It’s no secret that the arrival of cloud has had a huge impact on VARs. Where they were previously able to rely solely on their ability to sell third party hardware and software, along with procurement advice and services, the arrival of SaaS and IaaS has reduced the need for large scale initial deployments. As a result, the MSP model — which relies on continued support over a longer period ― is proving an increasingly attractive prospect for VARs looking to protect future revenue.

For starters, the monthly subscription model used by MSPs means that money comes in frequently, reducing the reliance on continuous new business wins. In addition, demand for MSP services are also growing as businesses seek ongoing support for security, wireless connectivity, disaster recovery and other IT functions. In light of this, the move to managed services not only makes sense, but is often essential in order to ensure future growth opportunities.

Having said that, many VARs focus on larger organisations when moving to MSP, causing them to bite off more than they can chew. As the focus for MSPs is about service and continuity, a sales-first approach at the beginning can often result in disastrous consequences, as they fail to deliver the required level of support. Rather than making minor changes to their business, VARs must be aware that moving to a managed services model means an overhaul of many areas, including the type of customers they’re used to targeting.

As a starting point, this means shunning larger enterprises in favour of the SME market. Firstly, there is higher demand for managed services from these businesses, with SMEs usually requiring a greater need for external IT support due to a lack of resources. In addition, as smaller businesses are generally less demanding on infrastructure, this allows VARs to scale up and down much more easily, providing invaluable flexibility for a business finding its feet in a new area. By having the ability to grow incrementally at a pace that suits the business, this enables time for newly formed MSPs to work out where the strengths and weaknesses lie, before seeking opportunities in this area and building upon them.

This is not to say this is the answer to all problems; the move will also require a significant change of culture within the organisation. As MSPs are seen as an extension of a wider team, at a level far more demanding than that expected of VARs, processes must be put in place in order to support this. From a technical perspective, this includes training staff on their customer experience skills along with establishing processes to effectively prioritise tickets in order to complete transactions effectively.

Considering the shift in focus, sales teams used to pushing large scale product deals will also need educating on the merits of focusing on small businesses in terms of both personal goals and the wider business perspective. As lack of staff buy-in is often one of the primary reasons that businesses fail to succeed in their move to an MSP structure, VARs must make this a priority when moving to this model.

Although it’s essential to ensure that the right infrastructure is in place, this is only a small part of the whole story, with strategic and internal cultural factors playing the biggest role in determining success. VARs looking to make the transition to MSP must remember that rather than small changes in billing and technology alone, instigating a shift within the whole organisation will be required if the project is to be successful. By focusing on the SME market, and ensuring staff are aware of what their new roles entail, VARs will be in a great place to reap the benefits that the MSP model provides.

Lee Marsden is president of Europe, ZyXEL

2016 is being touted as another year of significant change for the world of analytics, and one of serious opportunity for savvy resellers and VARs. The big data and analytics market already represents a fast-growing, multibillion-pound landscape, and recent IDC forecasts expect the sector to grow six times faster than the overall IT market through to 2018.

With businesses exploring new ways to capture, understand, and use their data, there are some critical focus areas that channel companies should be aware of for 2016.

1. Huge and diverse growth in analytics end-users

It’s no longer news that the demand for data scientists is growing exponentially. In the US, ‘operations analyst’ is actually the fastest growing job category, and this is symptomatic of an impressive growth trajectory internationally.

Alongside the lack of data scientists, and perhaps partially influenced by it, the number of people across any given business who need to incorporate some form of analytics into their day is rocketing too. As a result, self-service analytics tools are enjoying a swell of interest, as organisations work to ensure that line-of-business users can also harness analytics for data-driven decisions.

This growth and diversification on the end-user side of the analytics equation will lead to two corresponding demands that VARs can capitalise on. For those organisations with dedicated data scientists, the need for more sophisticated, tailored solutions will continue to increase. At the same time, there will be a rise in training and support requirements, not just from the data science community, but from line-of-business users who face a pressing need to become fluent with self-service tools.

2. Movement towards predictive analytics in particular

The most recent Gartner Magic Quadrant for advanced analytics platforms estimates predictive analytics is a billion dollar market. Increasing awareness of, and appreciation for, the power of effectively analysed data has naturally driven businesses to examine whether they might be able to anticipate – rather than just measure – many of their business outcomes.

Every function in an organisation is now likely to have some level of interest in predictive analytics to improve their performance. According to a TDWI survey of senior management, you no longer need a degree in statistics, mathematics, or any other quantitative discipline to do predictive analytics. 74 per cent of the Business Intelligence (BI) and data warehousing executives surveyed say that the most important factor in predictive analytics is a thorough knowledge of the business. The missing link is having the right tools in place to run the analytics, driven by users who know the right questions to ask.

3. Spark goes mainstream

This year will see Spark leading the way with open source data. According to Cloudera’s year in review for Apache, Spark is now the most popular Apache open-source project, with over 750 contributors from over 200 companies.

The benefits of Spark are numerous, running the gamut from performance to development, and when married with Hadoop the two can unlock some fascinating possibilities in numerous industries. As this growth accelerates through 2016, expect to see growing demand for unified Spark and Hadoop deployments from sectors including financial services, healthcare, retail, and advertising, amongst others.

4. Data gravity pulls analytics to the cloud

The requirements for analytics solutions in 2016 may well be extensive and diverse, but we can be sure we’ll reach the tipping point for analytics in the cloud specifically. The last decade has seen the business world recognise the benefits of the cloud as a phenomenal business delivery platform, and data sources are increasingly moving to the cloud. As a result, analytics is also gravitating towards where the business data lies.

Organisations tend to deploy their analytics tools close to where their data is. This means that if enterprises are harnessing data sources like Amazon Redshift, Microsoft Azure, or Spark in the cloud, it makes sound business sense to opt for analytics tools that also work in the cloud. As 2016 will see an increase in cloud-borne data, analytics in the cloud will grow in parallel.

Even for businesses with the majority of their data on-premise, the rise of the mobile sales force means that multiple data sources still need to be blended, analysed and shared remotely, such as Salesforce data with on-premise SQL server data. Analytics tools that can live both on-premise and on the cloud can therefore keep businesses transparent and up-to-date in real time.

Overall, 2016 is set to be a formidable year for channel players within the analytics space. The type and functionality of tools in demand, combined with varying levels of sophistication from end users, will challenge consultation and deployment capabilities. It’s a huge growth market, and it will be fascinating to see who successfully seizes the abundant opportunities.

Stuart Wilson is VP EMEA at Alteryx

Cloud software vendor NetSuite (NYSE: N) has opened up about its channel expansion plans, as well as its investment in a number of additions to its partner programme.

NetSuite’s partner base comprises Solution Providers (VARs) and SuiteCloud Developer Network partners (ISVs). Between them indirect sales currently make up 37 percent of NetSuite’s business – and the firm says it wants to grow this figure further.

The Silicon Valley firm has been one of the most vocal advocates of a ‘pure cloud’ model, long arguing that resellers can’t afford to exclude cloud-based software from their portfolios.

Speaking at NetSuite’s annual customer and partner event, SuiteWorld, CEO Zach Nelson was confident the channel will evolve in line with the growth of the cloud: “You’re not going to make money on upgrading Great Plains anymore,” he said. There’s no money, it’s gone.”

The firm’s COO, Jim McGeever, agrees: “As Zach talked about, there’s no doubt the cloud has won. There will never be another on-premise ERP system written. So the question’s not why you’re in the cloud business, it’s how quick can you get there.”

Old rivalries

NetSuite has historically targeted channel partners selling on-premise products from the likes of SAP, Sage and Microsoft Dynamics GP, with a view to persuading them to build new practices based on NetSuite’s cloud business management suite.

NetSuite hit the deadlines last year when it ran a high-profile campaign in the UK, directed at Sage.

Nelson now, however, appears to have put the skirmish behind him: “Lots of things change in a year and we’ve moved on to solving a much more complex set of problems ‘than let’s run financials on Sage’,” he tells Channel Pro. “It’s beneath us given the functionality we’re bringing in – Sage isn’t an omnichannel retailer; there’s no comparison really.”

This sanguine attitude may have something to do with the recent announcement that NetSuite’s cloud ERP suite is to be integrated with Microsoft’s Office and Azure platforms. The news came as a surprise to some, considering NetSuite’s historical rivalry with Dynamics and Great Plains.

“It does make for strange bedfellows, what’s happening in the cloud. We have to work with a variety of new partners,” says Nelson.

So could it be a case that you can capture more Microsoft partners with honey rather than vinegar? Yes, says NetSuite’s VP of channel sales, Craig West. He tells Channel Pro: “We’ve seen some of the Dynamics community saying ‘maybe there’s some more synergy here because of the Microsoft relationship, perhaps it’s not so adversarial.’”

West says NetSuite has already fielded “tons of approaches” from Microsoft partners. “Integrating NetSuite into Office365 for improved calendar, productivity, email, has a lot of people excited.”

Nevertheless, the battle to take market share from Sage – who remains dominant in the Financial Management System (FMS) market – clearly remains a focus for the company in the UK.

According to Mark Woodhams, MD of NetSuite in EMEA, 40 to 50 percent of NetSuite’s direct revenues come from Sage conversions, although he concedes, “We’re not seeing as much of them as we used to, partly because we were going is slightly upmarket, more complex, more complicated.”

However the firm still “catches a lot of people on Sage 50, who’d like to move up.”

(The good news for NetSuite is that globally, its market share growth rate of 46.6 percent was more than six times the rates of its closest competitor within the top 10, according to Gartner.)

The argument NetSuite leads with is that customers are increasingly demanding cloud-based solutions, and Sage has yet to deliver. As such, many software providers are turning to the likes of NetSuite to fulfil that demand.

It points to partners like East Kilbride-based Eureka Solutions, which has been a Sage supplier and developer for fifteen years. It took on NetSuite in October 2012, and started selling it in earnest last year. This year it was awarded NetSuite’s fastest growing partner in EMEA, based on sales, overtaking sales of Sage.

Says Aileen Primrose, general manager at Eureka: “We had to no idea it would do that so quickly. This year we’re hoping to even it up a bit more, but it will all be customer-led, and what they want.”

Customers are demanding cloud, says Primrose, and Eureka has to be able to provide it.

Rebecca Eden, CIO at UK NetSuite partner, CloudTamers, agrees. The firm has almost entirely moved to offering NetSuite over Sage, as “it’s one database and one system, and everything is compatible.”

She explains: “Sage’s policy has always been to buy products in and brand them as Sage, which is what Microsoft and others have done. People think ‘I’ll have a Sage system’ but you’re actually getting different products that aren’t necessarily compatible.”

Eden says CloudTamers has retained its relationship with Sage “partly because we have a few customers still using it, and because NetSuite hasn’t got on-platform payroll for the UK.”

However she says Sage has “fumbled moving to the cloud, but they will probably get there. They’ve done some cloud washing – so instead of delivering a true, built-for-the-cloud system they have taken an old client server system and are hosting it and going ‘oh we’ve got cloud.’ Certainly they’ve done that with Sage 50 and some bits of it don’t work properly because it was designed for client server.”

Nevertheless, Sage remains a huge name and has established products in the UK market. But without a ‘true’ cloud offering it faces increased competition from the likes of NetSuite, and at the lower end, companies such as Xero.

Programme updates

The vendor used SuiteWorld to launch a number of new channel initiatives, including a mutual referral programme that match makes Solution Providers with SDN partners. 70 percent of NetSuite implementations have an ISV aspect of some kind, so the firm is to publish a directory of ISV solutions created by its SDN partners. This will make it easier for Solution Providers to find customisations to meet the needs of their customers.

It also unveiled the Vertical Velocity Programme which helps partners create and market specific solutions around different industries. “There are tons of micro-verticals where the generic NetSuite footprint doesn’t meet enough customer requirements, so partners can take the NetSuite platform and tailor that last mile to help us win customers we otherwise can’t win,” explains West.

NetSuite will work with partners to build an end-to-end vertical strategy, including website design, sales and marketing collateral, reference customers and provide them with leads generated in those spaces.

Also piloting this quarter is the sharing of NetSuite’s lead nurture programme with partners.

“Currently when partners register a lead with NetSuite, we will not market to that lead. “[The partner] controls the marketing experience – direct marketing campaigns, calling them...” says West. “We now have this pretty big database of leads we’re not marketing to, and we’ve got this successful nurture engine we use with our other leads. Why in the world would we not want our partners’ leads to be nurtured under the NetSuite engine? So a partner can opt-in where their leads can receive co-branded campaigns with the call to action back to them.

“If folks don’t like it they don’t have to, and it’s on a lead-by-lead basis so they can opt out,” he adds.

As to how NetSuite’s channel itself is evolving, the last couple of years have seen the firm align itself with a number of global systems integrators, such as Deloitte, Cap Gemini and Accenture – organisations it says understand the challenge of rolling out complex business systems to the likes of American Express, HP, Billabong and Qlik.

Nonetheless, West is keen to emphasise that the vendor has “always taken strategic bets on small partners that align with our vision.”

Regardless of the size of the partner though, NetSuite isn’t looking to partner with just anybody. “There’s an investment footprint. We’re not looking to be the home for all the lifestyle VARs being forced out of other communities,” says West. “We want to be known for aspirational partners that want to go something.”

Omnichannel

The next step for VARs and ISVs? Getting on board with NetSuite’s ‘omnichannel’ e-commerce roadmap.

“Omni is...something we need to get enablement completely together on. It’s going to be a big challenge – these partners are used to dealing with finance problems, and CRM problems, not omnichannel problems,” admits West.

Nelson also says it’s something he says the firm is working on: “Omnichannel commerce is a brand new class of partner – if you think about the commerce channel it was largely website designers.”

Regardless of its omnichannel aspirations, COO McGeever claims to have seen already “an enormous transition of those who went beyond the lifestyle solution provider, VAR business, to those moving over to a cloud business.

“We’re also seeing, even more importantly, the creation of the next generation of cloud VARs.”

Xerox’s largest Managed Print Services (MPS) provider in the UK, Xeretec, has announced it has acquired Xerox reseller, Bytes Document Solutions (BDS), part of the Bytes Technology Group (BTG), to become the vendor’s largest reseller in Western Europe in terms of scale, managed print services and large production equipment sales.

Xeretec says the deal, for an undisclosed amount, will accelerate the pace at which it will achieve its goal of becoming a £100m turnover organisation by September 1, 2019. Its current £57m annual turnover will be driven by a combined team of 220 employees based in 11 offices across the UK and Ireland.

Steve Hawkins, Xeretec’s group managing director says the acquisition has significant advantages for customers, staff and Xerox. “The values of Bytes Document Solutions’ are an ideal complement to Xeretec’s, making this is a win-win development for all, while starting a new chapter in the Xeretec success story,” he comments.

The firm claims the sale of BDS by BTG will enable Bytes in the UK to continue its focus on software services, where it already partners with vendors such as Microsoft, Checkpoint, Symantec, VM Ware, Citrix and Oracle.

In a statement Neil Murphy, group MD at Bytes, said: “The Bytes Group intends to invest further in its software and software services capabilities. Importantly, we will work in close partnership with Xeretec moving forward to ensure customer satisfaction is our number one priority. ”

“The MPS market is moving beyond the core services of fleet optimisation and management. Progressive MPS providers need to expand their capabilities beyond print and gain broader expertise in areas such as personalised marketing communications, business process automation and IT services,” says Louella Fernandes, a print market specialist with analyst Quocirca.

“With the acquisition of BDS, Xeretec will be well have access to a wider services portfolio that can address evolving MPS customer needs.”

To ensure continuity for customers, Xeretec says all current customer relationships, service and support will continue to be served uninterrupted by existing offices.

Leatherhead-based Bytes UK was formed in 1982 and employs 250 people in the UK, with revenues of £150m.

Swedish Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK) specialist Cad-Q has announced it is to acquire UK Gold partner Symetri, creating the vendor’s largest solutions partner in Northern Europe.

Cad-Q’s acquisition of Newcastle-based Symetri from Airbus Defense and Space will also see the creation of a new centre of mechanical CAD excellence in the UK.

In an announcement from Symetri, director Colin Watson, said the firm’s emphasis will be on ‘business as usual’. He said existing customers “will benefit from a broader knowledge of manufacturing CAD, plus expertise in related areas such as data management, simulation, PLM and complementary proprietary software applications. The acquisition will also provide continuity for customers, with existing account managers remaining in place.”

He added: “As 3D CAD matures, resellers need a wider range of skills and areas of specialised knowledge to meet the business requirements of today’s discerning clients. Cad-Q has the background in data management, software development, PLM and systems integration necessary to help ensure continued success for both Symetri and its customers.

“In return, Symetri represents Cad-Q’s first investment outside Scandinavia and offers Cad-Q access, for its own range of products and services, to a large base of Autodesk manufacturing customers in the UK.”

Cad-Q, which is owned by the Addnode Group of companies, is Scandinavia and Finland’s leading provider of CAD processes related to design, engineering, production and the management of advanced construction.

The purchase price has not been revealed.

Autodesk restructure prompts channel changes

A flood of new ultrabooks, leveraging Intel design specs, will hit the market in June 2012. These sleek, stylish, powerful, and portable ultrabooks, will be particularly attractive to businesses planning to use ultrabooks as a replacement to desktop machines, especially as more and more employees become mobile.

They are also being touted as the saviour to a declining PC market, under increasing threat from tablet computers and smartphones.

Worldwide PC shipments fell 1.4 percent at the end of last year, according to Gartner, and rose just 1.9 percent in the first quarter of this year, reflecting “worse than normal PC shipment growth”. Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa says computer sales have started to fall off as consumers wait for “two big releases: Intel’s Ivy Bridge and Microsoft’s Windows 8”.

But as the market becomes more crowded with ultrabook models, resellers serving the SMB space would do well to steer clear of ultrabooks designed for the consumer space and instead focus their efforts on those built for business. These business ultrabooks have been built for that specific purpose – business!

With fresh models expected from Asus, Acer, Dell, Lenovo and HP offering advanced power, connectivity and slick looks, these ultrabooks are more durable, easier to manage remotely and offer the all the features a business user needs.

To be classified as an ‘ultrabook’ they must be slimmer than 2.1cm, offer more than five hours of battery life, use Intel Sandy Bridge processors and wake in less than seven seconds. Other characteristics include solid-state disk drives for quick-boot capability and relatively long battery life. The question for VARs is whether ultrabooks will play a role in business?

Whilst it’s too early to gauge the real opportunities the business ultrabook market offers, due to most of the business-oriented products not shipping until Q3 this year, we believe these products will be a great fit for anyone travelling or working in the field who wants a full-size screen – bigger than 10.1 inches found in tablets – and faster processing with capabilities for content creation.

The ultrabook is a solution for two different niches; many business professionals may opt to carry a tablet for a meeting and an ultrabook for when presentations and more intensive work is required.

The ultrabook market, once established in the UK will start to eat more into the notebook business at the current price point, than the tablet market. The ultrabook competes more with other notebook form factors and screen sizes, while current models have a 13-inch screen size, there is talk that business devices will offer more mainstream sizes – 14 to 15 inches – later in the year.

With sales expected to leap as soon as these new business ultrabooks hit the market, channel partners are best to wait for the higher margins that business users bring. The ultrabook market is definitely one to watch this year!

The rising trend of employees using their own personal devices in the workplace to access the corporate network continues to disrupt IT departments and has left businesses wondering how they can come to terms with this cultural shift. Allowing the use of personal devices, whether they be smart phones, laptops or tablets, obviously brings with it major security concerns for businesses and is currently one of the biggest challenges being faced by IT directors. What many resellers are yet to realise is that today’s bring your own device (BYOD) culture provides a unique opportunity, as the heightened risk to network security drives greater demand for stronger authentication.

Any employee using a personal wireless device to access business critical applications is essentially a security risk predominantly because, like remote workers, they are operating outside the control and protection of the fixed network perimeter. BYOD enables resellers to save their customers money as the employee’s personal device can also be used as a virtual authentication token, via a dedicated and secure mobile app. This enables them to meet the security requirements of their corporate network without incurring the costs associated with traditional token-based solutions.

The need for additional security

Employees that use a personal device for corporate activities are able to access the corporate network anywhere, anytime. While allowing employees the flexibility of this kind of remote working does have its benefits – increased productivity, less wasted time in travel, saving on overheads – it also increases security risks. When this is combined with the fact that most people will be using the same device to access personal and corporate applications and will most likely be using the same username and password for social media and personal banking as they do for their business applications, the need for additional security on the device becomes painfully apparent. Recent large scale security breaches at global organisations like Sony, Sega and Google confirm beyond doubt that usernames and passwords are little more than an inconvenience to today’s hackers. It is therefore essential that strong authentication is in place to manage user access to a corporate network.

Why haven’t businesses done this sooner?

Establishing a new IT infrastructure that incorporates a BYOD strategy can be costly. Many strong authentication solutions require a large initial investment to provide all employees with an authentication token needed to log in to the device. There is then the ongoing management of the tokens to consider, as they are frequently lost or stolen over time. Resellers that recommend employees’ personal devices be deployed as the de facto authentication solution, are not only saving their customers money, they are also removing the need for ongoing management of tokens and corporate devices – saving time and in turn increasing productivity.

Chris Russell is VP engineering at Swivel Secure, a provider of strong factor tokenless authentication solutions

US load balancing specialist Kemp Technologies is hoping to carve out a niche in the UK with a range of low-cost appliances – and is on the hunt for channel partners to target SMBs.

The vendor, which is using $16m it received in VC funding last year on product development and establishing a European sales channel, has appointed ex-Radware and Zeus Technology sales exec Leigh Bradford (pictured) to grow the business in the UK.

Kemp maintains that although load balancing has traditionally being too costly for SMBs, there’s a growing demand from smaller firms. According to Bradford, SMBs are now using multiple servers and applications and “even in the smaller companies, high availability is becoming key. A company’s dependency on software and email is greater and their willingness to allow for downtime is reducing. The moment you add an additional server to build in high availability you need a load balancer.”

Unlike its rivals, Kemp says it is the only vendor that tailors its products for small businesses. “No-one else is in that space,” says Bradford, who adds Kemp’s LoadMaster products – which range from £1,200 to £20,000 – provide “80 percent of [the features of] enterprise-class offering, but at 30 percent of the cost.”

Commenting on rival Riverbed – which acquired software-based load balancing and traffic management firm Zeus last year – Bradford maintains: “Riverbed positions itself as an enterprise class ADC / load balancer solution with an enterprise price tag. Being software it comes in [at] slightly lower cost than its hardware enterprise competitors but is still far greater cost than Kemp.”

Kemp currently has two UK distributors; thin client specialist Getech and Zycko, which it signed a Europe-wide distribution agreement with last year. Darran Clare, head of IP at Zycko agrees with Bradford’s assertion that Kemp’s price point is a key differentiator: “Larger vendors may produce similar products but they’re designed for the medium to high-end of the market and contain advanced functionality that makes them too expensive for the smaller SMBs... Kemp has an extremely attractive price point that allows those businesses to invest in on-premise load balancing.”

According to Bradford, the vendor is already transacting at $1m a year in the UK, and would like to see this rise to $2m this year. “We have aggressive targets that we’ll only achieve through selling through partners,” he says.

Still in the early stages of building its indirect channel, Kemp has “five or six” authorised resellers, though it would like to grow this number to 15-20 partners. Bradford cites Microsoft resellers as potential targets, with the move to Microsoft Lync and Exchange.

The vendor has also signed its first ‘KEMPCentre’– East Sussex-based System Professional. This highest level of accreditation provides benefits such as volume rebates, increased margins, access to Kemp engineers and enhanced marketing and sales referral programmes. Bradford describes System Professional as “self sufficient” and is hoping to recruit “another one or two” KEMPCentre partners.

Dell’s (NASDAQ: DELL) channel chief has stepped in to reassure concerned SonicWALL resellers following the announcement of the network security specialist’s acquisition earlier this week.

“We have worked hard through previous acquisitions (EqualLogic, Compellent and Force10) to preserve their channel programmes and enhance our value-add through certification for all partners. Our goal is the same now,” said Dell’s VP and general manager, global commercial channels, Greg Davis, in his blog.

Davis concedes some partners feeling “anxiety” about the changes, but says he and his team have been reaching out personally to many SonicWALL partners since the announcement. He says: “I’d like to ask those I have not spoken with to take a look at our track record with previous acquisitions that had strong channel programmes and give us an opportunity to combine the best of the programmes for an even stronger PartnerDirect programme.” He also encouraged partners with concerns to contact him directly.

SonicWALL has 15,000 resellers worldwide. Dell says it plans to “take the very best” of SonicWALL’s Medallion Channel Programme and combine it with its own PartnerDirect programme.

“A benefit to SonicWALL’s channel members is that they will now have access to all Dell products, which we expect will open up new opportunities. And, Dell’s existing PartnerDirect channel partners will have access to sell SonicWALL products. This will enable all partners to grow their business in new directions.

“Over the past four years we have worked hard to alleviate member concerns and earn their trust,” he maintains.

“We have done this by creating and leveraging a firm deal registration process, which protects members who are creating and driving demand. We have neutralised sales compensation so that our direct account teams receive full credit for working with the channel, which we believe helps drive the right behavior. And finally, we operate with rules of engagement that have established great working relationships with our channel members. We will continue to do these things as we integrate the SonicWALL products into Dell,” he adds.

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) resellers will soon have the keys to the vendor’s entire software portfolio.

Last April the software firm revealed it planned to remove any barriers to partners looking to sell across its portfolio. Now the firm has set a date of February 1, 2012 for making its products available to all VARs.

Explains Raymond Savona, VP EMEA channel sales at Autodesk: “Over last several years the Autodesk portfolio has really grown. Every customer is unique in the problems they face with design challenges; partners having access to the entire portfolio can help solve these problems.”

Autodesk last year reduced its partner authorisations from 19 to five. It then later reduced this figure to just one single authorisation. At the same time the vendor introduced a number of specialisations for its resellers. The first, consulting, was rolled out last year, followed by structural engineering, simulation and analysis and infrastructure design. Savona adds the company plans to introduce more in 2012.

“[Removing the authorisations] could be confusing so we introduced specialisations to help customers find the partner with the right skills. Partners also can focus their investment and training on particular areas,” he told Channel Pro.

Savona said Autodesk will also focus on formalising its tiered partner structure in 2012, “to bring the benefits more in line with the investments partners are making. There will be a greater differentiation based on those tiers,” he maintains. The firm has a traditional Bronze, Silver, Gold tiered structure, plus a Platinum tier introduced last year.

“In the past we were fairly homogenous in how we distributed benefits – now there will be more segmentation, with more benefits going to larger investments,” he explains.

Savona says the firm will take customer satisfaction, and a VAR’s maintenance and subscription business into account as well as financial investment.

In addition, February 1 will mark the start of Autodesk’s DVAR strategy in UK, enabling some VARs to bypass distribution and buy directly from the vendor, as already occurs in some other in European countries. Savona says the select group of VARs have now all been told of the option, though he says the firm “probably won’t know which [will decided to buy direct] until the end of this month or beginning of February.”

He adds: “Clearly a requirement is that a partner has to be large enough to purchase directly from us. But we’re not necessarily trying to attract [VARs] to buy directly from us, and I don’t think it will change the landscape that much.

“It’s a matter of figuring out what’s right for their business.”

He also believes the acquisition last year by Tech Data (Nasdaq:TECD) of the distribution business of Autodesk specialist distributor Man and Machine has had ‘little impact’ on the market.

Dell [NASDAQ:DELL] partners are welcoming efforts by the vendor to further bolster its relationship with the channel.

During its Dell Solutions Europe event in Barcelona last week, the firm’s overwhelming message to partners was one of closer interaction with the channel, and the continued growth of its indirect business.

The vendor’s efforts to shore up relationships with its partners haven’t gone unnoticed, and have been welcomed by some of the UK VARs in attendance at the event.

“[Dell] is clearly hearing the frustrations of the channel and is doing something about it,” commented Simon Kelson, co-founder of Compellent specialist partner Atlanta Technology. “It’s definitely improving its communication about how we can do business together.”

Despite conceding the Compellent channel is “more crowded” under Dell’s ownership, Kelson said he was pleased the vendor seems to be bringing on more people that understand the Compellent business, adding the event was “a good opportunity to meet other partners and understand how they’re selling Dell.”

Meanwhile, Roger Harry, MD of Cardiff-based new Premier Partner, Circle IT told Channel Pro: “It’s impressive to see the amount of effort that Dell’s putting into a small business like us. They are ramping up their engagement and their commitment.”

Nick Madhavji, director at longtime Dell partner Joskos said: “The last three years have seen Dell trying to turn this huge tanker in another direction... Now it feels like they are enabling the partner community. It might be a bit slow, but it’s a big ship.”

This channel campaign is being overseen by Michael Dell himself, who in recent weeks, has spoken numerous times on the firm’s transition to a “channel-centric” business model.

“Partners come to us because they know how important the channel is to our overall corporate strategy because they hear it from Michael [Dell] and the executive leadership that reports to Michael,” said Kathy Schneider, Dell’s director of EMEA channel marketing & programmes (pictured).

Schneider further outlined a momentum within the organisation to improve communication and make it easier to do business with partners. This currently includes offering VARs a new configuration tool, and developing its partner portal, with online interaction identified as an area needing improvement.

“Across all different parts of the business there is a lot of support… to help us have a best in class programme,” she maintained.

Dell now has 580 certified partners across Europe, of which 10-15 percent are Premier Partners, holding two or more specialisations. “We are on track to have by the end of the year 800-1000 partners,” added Schneider.

On the storage and virtualisation side, Dell’s solution channel executive director Ahmed Mouldaia added that the firm wanted to fill in the gaps in its enterprise business: “We now have maturity, we have a better offering, we have acquired some IP and we can go to market with that... We want to work with key storage partners that are not doing business with us. Secondly, we want to develop our business with existing key partners that we don’t do enough enterprise business with.

“Today enterprise is 30 percent of the channel business. We can easily go to 40 percent, but to do that we need to work better with resellers in the enterprise.”

Analysis: What does Dell’s changing shape mean to the channel?

Dell shares storage strategy with channel

A collection of some of the UK’s top VARs have quietly become partners of Xisgo, a provider of virtualised infrastructure technologies – making an early bet that organisations will hit a connectivity bottleneck as they scale virtualised environments.

Although a relatively unknown brand, Xisgo has signed up Fujitsu Services, Dell, Computacenter, SCC and Kelway and a further 10 specialist partners across EMEA. In terms of distribution, the firm has had Zycko since 2008 and has announced an expanded agreement with Arrows ECS that will extend its footprint across Europe.

The firm ramped up its channel approach with the appointment of Michelle Humpreys as EMEA business development director, earlier this year. Humpreys, formally a respected channel manager at VMware, says that the 15 strong channel is likely to stay as it is: “We’ve placed the bets that will take us to market,” she says, adding the firm is in discussion with BT Engage to address the telco market, “although that not a priority at the moment.”

“We haven’t gone for a commodity play, we have three to five partners across each country,” explains Humpreys. The channel boss is not looking for any more big players although she is keen to recruit “vertical specialists” that understand niche markets: “We are always looking for these guys,” she adds.

“Our margins are amazing on these products,” she continues. Although not drawn, around 40 percent seems a likely number. The firm is also in end stage discussions with SDG as an additional distributor and is currently running a pilot.

Xisgo provides a platform to allow IO to be virtualised between servers using 10Gb Ethernet and Infiniband. The firm claims that its solution, unlike rivals such as HP, is hardware vendor agnostic and has been certified against VMware, Microsoft, Citrix and Oracle hypervisor technology.

Humpreys believes that the initial interest from VARs is based on a growing realisation that I/O is becoming a bottleneck for large scale virtualisation.

Channel Pro comment:

At first glance, the fact that a relatively niche player has established a channel of 15 partners across Europe might elicit a “so what?” response. But when you consider that the four largest partners have turnover in excess of £1.5bn, the rational as to why they are jumping on board is interesting to consider. Speaking to Jon Toor, VP of marketing for the firm, it’s clear that it believes it sits in an area with little serious competition. As firms start to migrate heavy apps into virtual environments, they hit the wall of I/O inflexibility caused by the underlying hardware and turn to firms like Xisgo.

Typical deals start at £150,000 but as the environment grows, there is additional revenue from host cards and ongoing software licences. More importantly, it embeds any partner that sells one of these solutions right in the heart of ant virtualisation project for the long term. Niche, maybe. Relevant to the channel – almost certainly.

Software Large Account Reseller (LAR) Trustmarque has unveiled a new services business.

Trustmarque Enterprise Solutions Group (TESG) will provide services to customers in Software Licensing Services, Information Security, Infrastructure Optimisation, Infrastructure Solutions and Business Intelligence.

The move, says Angelo Di Ventura, sales and marketing director for Trustmarque, forms part of the firm’s evolution, as it becomes more like a Value-Added Reseller (VAR ) than a LAR. He told IT Pro: “The goal of the traditional LAR doesn’t have a long term future: In other words, the old methodology of selling software licensing and renewals. We can only exist moving forwards – this is everyone – if we… have the expertise in-house to make the customer understand what benefits that technology brings, and help to deploy [it] in traditional sense of VAR.

“Investing in the service piece will be a huge focus for us going forward, and getting services and sales engine working together,” he adds.

Rather than acting as a consultancy and reseller, Trustmarque says it is now able to deploy and implement solutions and offer the necessary technical support, including maintenance and installation. Says David Papworth, head of TESG: “We are already providing our customers with the software and the consultancy, so it makes sense that we should also help with the implementation process - providing more continuity and a one-stop-shop for organisations looking to instigate organisational change.”

The firm has also outlined increased investment in its Scottish business. Says Di Ventura: “We have set up the Scottish business in line with our strategy of expanding our geographical footprint, across the UK initially. We needed to be closer to clients and partners.”

Di Ventura also told IT Pro that the firm is also targeting the midmarket, an area it hasn’t historically focused on. “Traditionally our enterprise business is a set of large customers, upwards of 5000 seats. We want to expand into the next set of customers down; there’s certainly a gap for taking our services to that market,” he adds.