Tech Data has brought a group of its partners together face-to-face for the first time in around 18 months, for a meeting aimed at fostering partner-to- partner interaction and collaboration, and garnering feedback on how to approach hybrid cloud and infrastructure opportunities.
The session at Celtic Manor brought together a number of VARs and MSPs in the first of a planned series of events that will provide a forum for partner alliances and help Tech Data’s team to hone and shape its approach to hybrid infrastructure and cloud.
Matt Child, Managing Director, Advanced Solutions, Tech Data, UK & Ireland, said: “We have a big focus on hybrid right now, and it’s a complex and changing landscape – one that draws together infrastructure, the data centre, cloud and security. We want to identify the combination of skills, capabilities and services our partners need from us, so that we can fully support their growth ambitions.”
Tech Data has driven successful industry ecosystems – for healthcare, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and the Red Hat community – for the last two years. It is now planning to use this experience to develop a broader ecosystem of partners with complementary skills around hybrid cloud and infrastructure.
The distie is also placing increased focus on partner-to-partner collaboration, Child, added: “Both the needs of organisations and the technologies are changing at a breakneck pace. End-user customers are pressing ahead with their digital transformation plans and adapting to new workplace models by re-engineering their IT infrastructures. It’s almost impossible for any single reseller business to cover all the bases.
“We want to work with our partners and encourage them to work with each other, and to make use of their complementary skills and capabilities. We are right at the start of making that happen with hybrid cloud, but we can already see the green shoots of a developing ecosystem and good potential for co-operative and mutually-beneficial partnerships.”
