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From dreaming SEPTEMBER 2016 VOL. 21VOL. NO. 8 2016 SEPTEMBER about the future to creating it. Let the transformation begin.

We are Dell Technologies, a collective force committed to driving human progress. With our unique expertise and unprecedented capabilities, we’re poised and ready to transform your business and ultimately the lives of your customers. So bring us your biggest technology challenges, and don’t hold back. After all, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible is what keeps us all moving forward.

DellTechnologies.com CHANNEL | BUSINESS | TECHNOLOGY | COMMUNITY

CONTRIBUTORS

HANK BARNES

MARK JONES

KHALID KARK

NIGEL MENDONCA

MOHEB MOSES

DAVID NICOL

WAYNE PHILLIPS

JAEN SNYMAN

ASHISH VADUJKAR

ROB VAN ES

CHARLIE WOOD

INTERVIEWS

DARREN ADAMS

MITCH COLTON

MICHAEL DEMERY Customer- GUY FORDY CHRIS GREATREX centricity JAMES HOWELL CHRIS GREATREX GEORGE KAZANGI Creating a C-level checklist ALLAN KING NITIN KUCHARA

JONATHAN LADD

JANE LIVESEY

ACCENTURE NASSER SEDGHI MAXIMISES MULTI-SPEED IT JAMIE WARNER

THE POWER OF PEOPLE DATACOM SEPTEMBER 2 2016016 | Vol.Vol.l 21 NNo.o. 8 $250 CONTENTS 1

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REGULARS ANALYSIS 22 Creating a customer checklist Keeping the customer close remains pivotal 2 Editorial 20 VMworld 2016: Key channel to ongoing channel progression, Artis Group, 50 Secret Reseller considerations managing director, Chris Greatrex, demonstrates 42 Channel Coaching In front of thousands of partners and customers, how to JAMES HENDERSON. 60 Products VMware outlined its future direction. HAFIZAH 62 Community OSMAN was on the ground in Las Vegas to assess 26 Core vs. Context its impact on the channel. Customer buying patterns have altered the definition of mission-critical for the channel - COLUMNS 30 EDGE 2016 Avnet Australia and New Zealand vice president In drawing on discussions from two headline and general manager, Darren Adams, explains the 8 Understanding customer keynotes, six plenary sessions, 12 accompanying impact to JAMES HENDERSON. perspectives breakouts and countless engagements during Gartner analyst, Hank Barnes, addresses the four days of conferencing, here’s what the channel’s distorted sense of customer reality. channel learned at EDGE 2016. FEATURES

14 Top 5 CIO priorities 38 ARN Hall of Fame Lunch As the boundaries of the CIO playing field blur, INTERVIEWS ARN hosted its annual Hall of Fame lunch in Deloitte analyst, Khalid Kark, outlines the Sydney, honouring the leading players within leading business priorities of 2016. 4 Maximising Multi-Speed IT the ICT industry. In the pursuit of innovation, Accenture technology 48 The Hot List lead, Jane Livesey, outlines how businesses can 44 How can partners transform Each month this column looks at partners on the gear up for growth in a multi-dimensional world. the technology conversation upward move - these are the companies to watch. through financing? 10 The Power of People As new technologies flood the market, and 52 Partner round-up - Regional NSW Once the customer and now the integrator, competition increases in parallel, the need for LEON SPENCER chats to partners in regional Datacom Group CEO, Jonathan Ladd, explains the innovation heightens. IBM Global Financing and NSW about what they do and how they do it – the power of people. partners debated the issue during an exclusive good and the bad. ARN roundtable. 16 Carving out a customer-centric 54 Rediscovering your cloud strategy 56 Changing mobility play leadership buzz As cloud adoption changes the focus of channel HAFIZAH OSMAN trawls the depths of the enterprise Mark Jones believes leadership buzz involves partners, Allan King outlines how to build a mobility market to find the opportunities that matter removing yourself out of the picture and getting blueprint for the modern-day customer. and where MSPs should position themselves to the source of inspiration from your team. maximise short- and long-term future plays.

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 2 EDITORIAL

Putting the customer at the core

n looking down the supply chain I of the channel, from the vendor, down to the distributor and through to the partner, something was amiss. As the heart of strategy and the focus of vision, putting the customer at the core is mission-critical to ongoing partner profitability. Consequently, in this issue, we profile partners who have rebuilt entire businesses based around what a CIO wants. Outlined by our cover story this month, which features Artis Group managing director, Chris Greatrex, partners are recognising the benefits where we have to go to achieve the ready-made box.” of aligning with core customer right outcomes on behalf of them,” Representing a significant shift in priorities to drive future growth. he said. how partners engage with the end- As a leading Sydney-based user, this issue arrows into the heart applications provider, Artis Group Core Vs. Context of the customer conversation through categorises customer success When embarking on such a customer- in-depth analysis from Deloitte and through its ability to satisfy three centric strategy, Avnet Australia and Gartner. overriding CIO concerns – credibility, New Zealand vice president and credentials and coverage. general manager, Darren Adams, EDGE 2016 “We started out in a small office believes as a consequence, resellers Fresh from completing our Australia in Sydney with one development must move to outsourcing the and New Zealand destination channel contract and realised that we needed contextual aspects of their business conference, EDGE 2016, in Hamilton to build our capabilities quickly,” and instead focus on what is core. Island, this issue outlines the key takeaways from four days of keynotes, breakouts and networking. Instigating change is one thing, however, executing Book-ended by a world-renowned represents a different beast for channel partners. culture guru in Stan Slap and one of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs in Steve Baxter, EDGE Greatrex explained. Alluding to the “Core vs. Context” 2016 reflected the new world of the Fast forward to 2016 and Artis debate, Adams advised partners channel, and crucially, outlined how has presence across five cities, with to operate on the lucrative side of partners can progress within it. an expanded applications-based the market, adapting practices and Built by partners for partners, our portfolio built around the Microsoft services in light of customer choices. extensive post-event coverage offers and SAP stacks. It’s a sentiment not lost on key points for the channel to action, Also recognising the need to stay Accenture also, with technology zoning in on the business issues close to the customer, three years lead, Jane Livesey, outlining the core impacting resellers today. ago, Infront Systems managing priorities of Australian CIOs today, Not forgetting our usual round-up director, Allan King, stepped away emphasising a focus on multi-speed IT. featuring the Secret Reseller, regional from the spotlight to reassess the Instigating change is one thing, partners updates, Channel Coaching, market's future and potential. however, executing represents a born-in-the-cloud players and latest Seeking counsel from key different beast for channel partners. product releases, the September customers in the wake of dramatic Yet for Datacom Group CEO, issue shines a light on the single most cloud adoption, King now heads a Jonathan Ladd, the answer to solving important aspect of the industry – the refocused team, built around core the customer conundrum is simple. customer circling within it. „ hybrid solutions. “People,” he explained, need a “We run our businesses only for single-minded IT salesperson coming James Henderson, our customers and we have to go in and trying to hedge them into a Editor, ARN

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Jane Livesey

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au ACCENTURE/INTERVIEW 5

MAXIMISING MULTI-SPEED IT

In the pursuit of innovation, Accenture technology lead, Jane Livesey, outlines to James Henderson how businesses can gear up for growth in a multi-dimensional world.

or Australian CIOs in the fast “In order to successfully achieve “Many organisations are still lane, it’s time to shift gears. this, businesses must work in parallel grappling with how to improve key F As new technologies and to support the fast-paced delivery of aspects of their end-to-end delivery shifting business operating models digital and analytics solutions that processes e.g. enhancing the time-to- change the role of IT, CIOs are can enhance and improve market of new products and services,” balancing demands - keeping the lights customer experience.” she acknowledged. on while being pulled by digital’s fast-moving influence to establish new Multi-Speed Outcomes market and revenue streams. Livesey’s sentiment is shared across the Likewise, challenges continue to Yet the negativity associated with country by executives who believe the IT surface for systems integrators as a multi-tasking remains, forcing organisation needs to broaden its scope result, with customers now expecting decision makers to choose between and keep pace with evolving needs of the partners to focus on business keeping everything running and business, citing simultaneous operation outcomes, and how to utilise teams to pursing new opportunities. to support multiple objectives. effectively achieve those outcomes. The answer in 2016 however, is With businesses now consuming “Partners can also help by being not choosing. IT at several speeds at once, Livesey flexible and part of the disruption, be it “Today IT organisations are focused said two speeds are no longer enough predictively or reactively when on multi-speed IT,” Accenture Australia for the modern organisation, a reality opportunities arise,” Livesey advised. and New Zealand technology lead, Jane that is starting to play out in the “They should be bringing new ideas, Livesey, said. “This means enhancing boardrooms of Australia. different methods of delivery to the old whilst embracing the new.” “We’ve seen a significant shift in the support agility and a teaming approach Livesey said the notion of moving attitude of organisations over the last that is underpinned by commercial from legacy to becoming digital is 18 months,” Livesey observed. models that are aligned to the achieved by bringing together a “A year ago, many organisations achievement of key business priorities.” network of skills, instituting a were in an experimentation phase with In leading the Technology Group on dynamic operating model and new and emerging technology – they both sides of the Tasman, Livesey – who installing flexible governance models. were behind their global counterparts. previously ran the company’s regional While the challenge is great, the “All of sudden however, we seem to Oracle practice – said that in addition to reward for the CIO is a pivotal role in an have leap-frogged to leading the way in core applications and digital solutions, organisation’s strategic business agenda. many sectors and are now seeing Accenture’s technology focus is based “They are focused on how to get the enterprise scale programs that are around automation, robotics and most out of their existing systems and delivering true benefit to Australian artificial intelligence. make them more open and accessible citizens and consumers.” “Each day, together with our clients, through examples like migrating to the Despite the upturn however, we are challenging ourselves to cloud and delivering cost efficiencies,” Livesey cautioned that execution leverage the latest technologies to she added. continues to challenge the enterprise. drive efficiency and free up the

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 6 INTERVIEW/ACCENTURE

resources that can focus on strategies Role Of The SI support new ways of delivery, so it’s and solutions to support and create In today’s world, Livesey said there is a continuous education process.” market differentiation,” she added. no program of work being delivered Yet for Livesey, the skills and Accenture – which acquired within an organisation that does resource needs are expansive. Melbourne-based Oracle partner, not incorporate the use and “We need today a greater cross- Redcore, in August – operates as a efficiency of technology. section of skills to rethink, create and technology agnostic partner, Consequently, businesses are deliver flexible and adaptable spanning a range of industries investing in sending executive solutions,” she added. including financial services, teams on study tours to Silicon Valley “Digital fluency and a desire to health and media. and the large technology centres embrace technology and compliment it In managing a portfolio of in places such as India and the with the natural skillsets and abilities customers which include the National Philippines, while leaders also of the human workforce are also Broadband integral Network, NSW to success.” Department for Looking ahead, Human Services Livesey said the and the most disruptive Australian force impacting Securities and the Australian Investment channel continues Commission, to be the “pace of Livesey said change” and the Accenture now speed that new operates in a technology market where is being “everyone made available. is buying “We are technology”. constantly “It’s learning, evolving omnipresent and and trying to that’s why it’s keep pace, integral for “Partners play a critical role in deciphering how which makes our partners today to to deliver efficiency and help free up the required role more have a deep resources to support innovation and new programs” dynamic, exciting understanding of and opportunistic the business than ever strategy in line with changing digital educate themselves to ensure a before,” she added. trends,” she added. strong understanding But as cloud, big data, security and “In many organisations, there is of what is available. analytics come to the fore, many a natural tension when it comes “You have to learn to either keep partners remain trapped by an to balancing the desired speed of up or be counted out by the inability to maximise new getting products and service to modern customer,” Livesey warned. revenue opportunities. market versus the availability “The days of a customer handing a “For any solution you need to work of technology resources and budget binder of requirements to the system out what problem it is going to solve to support all the legacy programs. integrator to build a system based on and what business outcome it can “Partners play a critical role in are gone. deliver,” Livesey advised. deciphering how to deliver efficiency “Today, systems integrators are “Too often, people get bogged down and help free up the required working hand-in-hand with their by simply isolating the technology, resources to support innovation clients to use design-led thinking and function or process problem. and new programs. new delivery methods to assess new “The key is to remember the bigger “They also need to be realistic that requirements and demands on a picture and align your strategy to there is a limit of capacity in many daily basis. achieving it, the technology, people and instances and learn to work around “We have had to re-train our teams resources that all become powerful these limitations.” and bring new methods and tools to enablers of this strategic vision.” „

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Understanding your customer’s perspective - think “whole context” By Hank Barnes

t’s important to remember that Context I our “worldview” is skewed by our It’s a complicated mess of information individual perspective. (that is often difficult to differentiate), In marketing and sales, this can priorities (that seem to constantly lead to a distorted sense of the change), and pressures (everyone has reality of our customers. to get the day job done). It’s no wonder That distorted reality leads to all that buying is really hard and often sorts of issues, such as misaligned takes a long, long time. expectations and forecasting a deal As a result, marketing and when the customer is not even close sales must adapt their approach to being ready to buy. and communications to the Or it could be over- customer’s situation. aggressiveness and the downloading Technology buyers regularly of a paper, plus some good fit express frustration with sales teams scores, which results in a flurry of that focus heavily on products, e-mails and calls to a prospect who struggling to connect them to the is just exploring options. needs of the buyer. Perhaps it’s assumed As more technology spending knowledge and taking for granted shifts to the business, the issues that a customer or prospect caused by this approach will understands industry terms, be magnified, with increased slang, processes, and even core requirements — and expectations — messages, but not realising until to link products to specific business much later that if we had just unit and organisational initiatives. spoken more plainly and completely, Hank Barnes The piece of the situational analysis that needs more emphasis is the idea of the “whole context”. “That skewed view rarely reflects We must think of our product in the the customer’s reality” context of everything else going on for the customer. How does my product/service fit the deal would have been looks pretty big and important to us; into the bigger picture? Is it aligned much smoother. but to the customer, it’s just a small to the top priorities? Are there other And the list could go on and on. part of their overall world. projects that this will impact, or vice It’s easy to understand why these For them, this is usually just one versa? Are there other projects that issues emerge. When we work at of a vast number of products, services may divert focus and resources from a company; that company, and its and projects they are balancing. this one? products and services, becomes the In some cases, it’s projects that The “whole context” is a hard thing centre of our world (at least work have already kicked off; in others, to uncover, but an aspirational goal wise). Everything revolves around it. it’s projects competing for a fixed for true situational understanding. When I worked for content budget; and finally, in some cases When we talk about “walking management providers, we all felt it’s projects that are interdependent: in our customer’s shoes”, make that our technology was something if they don’t do one, they won’t do sure you are not just walking in no one could live without. It was the other. them while keeping your personal the most important. Then I worked Couple this with being “worldview” — shift to their world. „ for business process management inundated with messages, e-mails firms, and we felt the same thing and calls from technology providers, Hank Barnes is research about our products. both for these efforts and for vice president in Gartner’s But that skewed view rarely products/services that are not even Technology and Service Provider reflects the customer’s reality. It under consideration. Research group.

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au

10 INTERVIEW/DATACOM

THE POWER OF

Once the customer and now the integrator, Datacom Group CEO, Jonathan Ladd, explains the power of people to James Henderson.

ften asked yet seldom salesperson coming in and trying to Tech Is Business answered, assessing what a hedge them into a ready-made box.” Based on the notion that every O customer truly wants from a In drawing on a decade of company is now a technology company, technology provider remains a complex experience as CIO of P&O Cruises delineation is diminishing across undertaking for the channel. internationally, Ladd said partners industries and verticals, as the New technology triggers new today must develop a “customer centric definition of a “tech company” changes. spending habits, and new ways to close focus”, stressing the importance of Today, non-technology deals as informed buyers bargain and incorporating an open-minded organisations are applying sales conversations change. approach to business. information technology to serve a Yet for Datacom Group CEO, “Work with all vendors,” he insisted. customer need, with technology Jonathan Ladd, the answer to solving “Rather than trying to curry favour expected to become a central the customer conundrum is simple. with a few and compromising what you competency for many more companies “People.” in the years In heading one “They want the best people. They don’t need to come. of Australia’s Take the more progressive a single-minded IT salesperson coming in and Smart Ball systems trying to hedge them into a ready-made box” designed by integrators, Ladd Adidas, which was previously a customer of Datacom offer by forcing customers to use incorporates an integrated sensor to before taking the reins, allowing for X vendor, or Y solution. translate real-time information to an a deeper understanding of how “But to pull that off, you need the application designed to help footballers CIOs operate. right staff.” improve kicking techniques. “When I look at what customers For Ladd – who stepped into the Or perhaps SenseAware by FedEx, are demanding in markets today, it’s group CEO role in 2010 – this represents released to provide near-real-time not so much any particular type “quite a radical change for the market.” information about a customer’s of technology – but an overall “Think about the modern market,” package as it travels around the world. cohesive IT strategy based on a he explained. “Sales teams and support Not forgetting Uber of course, solution that works for the customer,” staff now need to be able to engage which has created a service that he said. C-Level executives, and other decision powers a marketplace through “They want the best people. They makers from outside the traditional IT technology, with the taxi company don’t need a single-minded IT stream, in business discussions.” providing applications to allow

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au DATACOM/INTERVIEW 11

customers to participate within this marketplace. “Technology is now business and business is now technology,” Ladd said. “There isn’t really a separation between the two, and most customers are realising this. Their business has to be digital in some way.” Illustrating this shift, the share of worldwide corporate IT spending that is funded by non-IT business units is forecast to reach 47 per cent in 2019, an increase of more than three per cent over 2015. As reported by analyst firm IDC, 3rd Platform technologies such as cloud, mobility, big data, and social business have created the underpinnings for business process transformation and, in some cases, business model transformation. With such high stakes, the line of business units are increasingly taking a front seat in technology initiatives by flexing their budgetary muscle, asking questions of whether the CIO still represents the pinnacle of the sales call cycle. “Ten years ago, we might’ve been trying to close a deal with a CTO, or an IT manager lower down in the chain,” Ladd said. “Now we’re sitting in meetings with CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, CDOs, sales GMs – it requires a completely new way of doing business.”

Skills Consequently, as digital transformation takes shape across the Australian enterprise, technology providers must pivot alongside, upgrading skills and processes to meet new buyer expectations. Traditionally, sales dictated the flow of information through cold calling, sending out corporate marketing literature, meeting with prospective customers and conducting countless sales presentations. In 2016 and beyond however, the sales force of the future needs to intimately understand the customers' Jonathan Ladd environment with a greater sense of

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 12 INTERVIEW/DATACOM

the decision levers across IT and varied skills and thinkers.” even a few years ago, it’s a the business units. generational change.” Within this, they will also need to Informed Buyers With a sea of information now translate technology into industry With research and reviews only a click available to customers, in the majority solutions and value propositions, and away, customers have become of instances, Ladd acknowledges that guide the customers to use cases they comfortable making decisions based on the buying process can now take place may not have considered. widely available information, with little before there is any real engagement “They don’t want to hear acronyms time or desire to listen to a sales or with a sales representative. and high-level tech talk tied to long- marketing pitch. As a result, he believes the IT term CAPEX deals with single vendor In this new era of sales, customer industry as a whole is being challenged solutions,” Ladd to find those said. “They want “Bright minds need complex problems to solve and “special deal answers to closers”, as buyers business that's what our customer base is presenting us” switch off to the problems. They traditional very much have a strong ‘BS radar’ knowledge reigns supreme. techniques of the salesperson. these days, and are wary of being tied Consequently, Ladd said Datacom is “We’re looking for those sales teams to long-term, lock-in contracts.” now being approached by informed that are tech savvy enough to build Translating into a “two-speed buyer – both existing and new – looking functionality, but business savvy enough response”, Ladd said decision-makers in for specific solutions to specific to explain how what we’re selling will a digital world seek technical know- business problems. benefit their business, and benefit their how coupled with a track record of “This is rather than us having to own customers too,” he explained. delivery, paired with “massive agility”. ‘pitch’ them,” he explained. “They come “Because that is, after all, why “Teams that can concurrently turn to us and know what they want – a we’re in this game.” on a dime while they find ways to use particular mobile app deployment, or the benefits of the newest technologies integrated system, or hardware. Bright Minds to solve complex problems,” he added. “That’s fine too. But the customer is Yet despite the direction of travel being “Often too these new teams are diverse far more on to it than they used to be. clear, Ladd said the industry remains – including designers and a range of They’re far more tech-literate than crammed with channel partners

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au DATACOM/INTERVIEW 13

reverting to age-old methods, coldly “That is pretty much how all our executing agreements without a new, emerging and niche businesses long-term strategy or goal. evolved,” he explained. “Too many IT providers have that “Diverse, creative teams going in to ‘sell and forget’ sales mentality,” he said. make the traditional business sales, but “Sales teams now have to manage then demonstrating the value add ongoing OPEX deals, which require through innovative new technology, A PERFECTPERFECT large amounts of attention and care, industry challenging ideas, and then over longer terms. backing it up with action.” FIT FOR ANY “If you stuff it up, customers can leave In heading a company with over you at month end. Your relationship 50 years of experience in serving the LANDSCAPE building is just as vital as your technical end-user, Ladd believes the digital skill sets and business acumen.” transformation of today’s organisations Alluding again to the difficulty of is akin to their predecessors factoring sourcing such skills, Ladd accepts electricity into formerly steam-driven “everyone in the industry is processes and business strategies struggling with it”. 100 years ago. “We’ve been very lucky,” he added. Simply put, it requires new ways “We have some exceptional minds of thinking about how organisations, ITS FINALLY HERE! throughout our business, experts in industries and markets operate, or KYOCERA’S newest things like hybrid cloud, next could operate, in a world where generation security, and emerging technology-based change is disruptive, ECOSYS colour A4 technologies such as 3D printing and constant and accelerating. MFP and Printer range the Internet of Things. Through new ways of thinking, “Bright minds need complex Datacom recently leaped into problems to solve and that's what our augmented reality with the first customer base is presenting us – Microsoft HoloLens practice on both especially as all businesses and sectors sides of the Tasman, following the are facing accelerated rates of change. launch of its national network of data This deep technical know-how paired centres – spanning nine facilities with agility is vital.” across Queensland, New South Wales, As the future of IT sales emerges, Victoria, South Australia and technology and service providers are West Australia. facing a different kind of disruption “When you explain to a customer – one that impacts the way they engage how an augmented reality app is with and sell to buyers. beneficial to a car company in the right Some call it the outcome economy, terms, how 3D printing can benefit a and the concept of translating school’s STEM curriculum, how an technical complexities into real-life Internet of Things solution can help business case scenarios for the mining companies find gas deposits, customer. how big data analytics can help “These new teams continue to amaze councils organise traffic and parking, me,” he added. “They can not only go into how artificial intelligence can provide a these high level meetings with CEOs and better customer experience as part of a explain Amazon EC1, Azure PaaS and contact centre – then you can complex mobile app development – but fundamentally add sustainable value to show, rather than tell, ‘normal’ business a customer’s business that they had people how it will work for them and never even considered,” he explained. better their business, while bringing Those are the people Datacom them along with their vision.” searches for, that is the talent According to Ladd, such an developed in-house, and that’s where approach first and foremost builds Ladd sees the market going. CONTACT KYOCERA trust, reputation and ongoing “It follows the brightest minds, and working relationships. we’re hunting them.” „ PHONE: 13 59 62

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 14 ANALYSIS/DELOITTE

Top 5 CIO Priorities As the boundaries of the CIO playing field blur, the high-level expectations of performance increases alongside. James Henderson assesses the leading business priorities of CIOs today.

“ very company today is a Consequently, many CIO are Meanwhile, cost dominates the E technology company,” Deloitte simultaneously juggling business CIO agenda in the government and research director, Khalid performance and growth objectives energy sectors, with the majority Kark, said. with IT cost reduction and efficiency of respondents in government (65 “CIOs are involved not just improvement. per cent) and energy and resources in driving efficiency, but also in The four priorities that did not (59 per cent) picking “cost” as a top reimagining customer experiences, make the top five list are also business priority. reshaping how work gets done, and significant, with regulations and Delving deeper, Kark said even rewiring business models.” reconfiguration important for some performance and growth are top For Kark, this is not just rhetoric, but not for all CIOs. of mind for consumer business, with the Deloitte findings illustrating In addition, cybersecurity and manufacturing, and health care that organisations big and small, talent were lower enterprise CIOs, with more than half selecting across industries, and across priorities, perhaps because they these as business priorities. geographies, share common business are fundamental for achieving Furthermore, CIOs in technology priorities, which are all directly other priorities, or because and telecom, as well as in financial linked to the heart of the business. they don’t drive profitability, or services, identified innovation as the According to Kark, CIOs around maybe because responsibility top business mandate, with 58 per the globe were nearly unanimous for these are shared with cent and 50 per cent identifying it as in identifying the leading business other executives. a business priority, respectively. priorities, with five dominating “But both are critical building the agenda; performance, cost, blocks that could impact all five Think ecosystem, customers, innovation, and growth. top priorities, so it could be risky not industry “These top priorities were to ignore or deprioritise them,” “CIOs today are operating in an consistent across industry, geography, Kark added. environment where industry boundaries are blurring, supplanted by forces within their ecosystem of “Every company today is allies, partners, customers, and even a technology company” competitors,” Kark added. “Internal company goals and external competitive pressures are and size of organisation,” said Kark, now dictating priorities, and CIOs citing one understandable exception. Verticals must be able to operate “outside-in” “Only CIOs involved in the public With the exception of the public with regard to their industry context.” sector selected “cybersecurity” over sector, the top five priorities were In short, Kark said CIO business “growth” as a top business priority.” consistent across industries, priorities were not confined to their Kark said CIOs have moved from though there were some industry; in fact, more than half of leading a supporting function to differences in emphasis. the CIOs picked one business priority managing a business function, with “Customers remain a focal different from their industry’s top business leaders now expecting point for travel and media,” Kark three business priorities. them to not only contribute to the explained. “Almost three in four CIOs That said, it’s essential to put first bottom-line business priorities but from travel, media, and hospitality things first because “if you don’t fulfill also to enable and even drive top- selected “customer” as their top basic performance expectations, line initiatives. business priority.” you’re a sitting duck.” „

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Source: Deloitte research | SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au A PERFECT FIT FOR ANY LANDSCAPE

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CONTACT KYOCERA TODAY Phone: 13 59 62 | Kyoceradocumentsolutions.com.au 16 INTERVIEW/INFRONT SYSTEMS

CARVING OUT A CUSTOMER-CENTRIC CLOUD STRATEGY

As cloud adoption changes the focus of channel partners – James Henderson speaks to a systems integrator who built a blueprint for the modern-day customer.

hree years ago, Infront acknowledged that the channel Systems managing must now go “above and beyond” T director, Allan King, the traditionally accepted level stepped out of the spotlight. of customer service, as end- Throwing himself into nine users seek end-game clarity in months of offline customer the cloud. engagements, the entrepreneur “You’ve got to paint a strategic sought counsel in the wake of picture because organisations a dramatic upswing in are under pressure,” he said. cloud adoption. “Most CIOs are reluctant or down Following consultations, right obstinate about going back research and analysis of the and asking for the same capital to Australian market, the Infront of run IT as last year. today differs dramatically to the “Is this rational? No, but they one first established in 1998, with just don’t want to do it.” or private, despite only 13 per cent having an “optimised” “Infront is not a commodity reseller” strategy in place. Rewinding back to 2013 cloud shaping a deepened Hybrid Cloud however, similar IDC research customer-centric strategy. For partners circumnavigating findings highlighted a “steady “There’s still a lot of confusion the Australian market, a drive increase” in the adoption of cloud out there,” observed King, fresh along Highway 1 presents services in Australia, emphasising from launching the company’s checkpoints crammed with cloud a dramatic upsurge nationwide in new-look hybrid cloud solutions. adopters, as local organisations the years that have followed. “The market and across the country edge in the “Three years ago represented conversations are different direction of hybrid models. the beginning of our journey as a because of cloud, which means Such adoption is playing out company,” recalled King, an ARN the ability to be relevant for a in the numbers, with 67 per cent Hall of Fame inductee. customer is more difficult.” of local businesses embracing “From our perspective, we Consequently, King cloud in the form of either public had to first acknowledge the

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au INFRONT SYSTEMS/INTERVIEW 17

Allan King - Managing Director, Infront Systems

learning, we uncovered a need to address the gap emerging when organisations transition to the hybrid cloud.” In subscribing to the view that change is the one true constant in business, King said Infront’s cloud blueprint is built on three core pillars – Insight, Unity and Prime – and is now ready for mass customer consumption.

Insight As IT struggles to cope with delivering more with less, the overwhelming appetite for business innovation prompted the creation of Insight, a cloud advisory services arm of Infront, built on the premise of aligning disruptive nature of cloud new demands of the end-user. corporate objectives with IT because as a data centre “We worked directly with direction. specialist, it’s imperative to be customers to understand their “There’s more questions than aware of exactly what the market expectations and opinions of the answers in the cloud which is place is demanding.” cloud,” he explained. “We wanted why we created Insight,” King During those 1,000 days, to know what cloud meant to explained. “Given the complex Infront has fundamentally our customer base and the state of the hybrid cloud, we are flipped its focus, engineering a concerns they had, and this now better positioned to new vehicle of growth through called for a very rational and understand the pitfalls and the hybrid cloud. considered approach. errors that can be made during Pivoting with the customer at “We’ve always talked to our the transition process. its core, the Canberra-based customers because we’ve always “Our role as a strategic technology provider has had something to sell, but this partner is to utilise this emerged from the was about resetting our strategy. intellectual property to help our transformation tunnel with a “After nine months of customers avoid the common refreshed strategy built on the customer development and mistakes along the way.”

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 18 INTERVIEW/INFRONT SYSTEMS

Encapsulating strategy, transform IT from a technology architecture and transformation builder to a service broker,” in a cloud context, King said the he explained. Insight team advises “Prime is a cloud centre of organisations on the workloads excellence which provides better suited for on-premise or managed services around cloud, moving applications and Office 365, Microsoft Azure operations without the business and AWS. We provide expertise noticing change. across integration, API development and support, Unity focusing on security and Delving deeper into the heart of compliance, data protection Infront’s revamped cloud and SIAM support.” strategy is Unity, a hybrid cloud solution engineered for Building Success operational simplicity and At Infront, King has been business agility. constructing cloud solutions “By integrating best-in-class from the beginning. technologies with native cloud In starting out building services, we are providing the private clouds, the leading choice and control an VMware and EMC partner is now organisation requires to innovate focused on delivering customer in cloud and grow,” King said. outcomes which leverage the “The foundation for Unity is a “unique value proposition” that reference architecture designed leading cloud providers such as specifically for the customer, AWS and Azure provide. “We run our businesses only for our customers and we have “Three years ago represented the beginning to go where we have to go to of our journey as a company” achieve the right outcomes on behalf of them,” he added. With customers including based on end-user feedback. Prime the Australian Government Organisations want hybrid Spurred by declining budgets, Department of Finance, the cloud because business King said many organisations National Museum Australia and expectation is exceeding the now have “ambitious plans” to Fuji Xerox among others, Infront ability of IT to respond.” consolidate IT infrastructure is already reaping the rewards of In short, Unity enables the and operations, eliminate a reworked cloud strategy. transformation of IT unnecessary data centres, In heading the regional organisations through the migrate data and applications infrastructure and operations at automated delivery of hybrid to the cloud, and centralise American real estate giant cloud services, in a bid to services to save money and CBRE Group, Darren Warner, modernise data centre streamline operations. outlined the criteria required infrastructure and lower Yet while a unified hybrid for channel success in a operating costs. cloud offers “enormous changing customer world. Coupled with intelligent promise” for achieving these “Infront is not a commodity machine learning to ensure cloud goals, particularly in addressing reseller,” he said. “They are a security, Unity blends together fiscal pressures, King strategic partner that infrastructure, applications, data acknowledges that it also understand our business and integration, governance and data presents significant challenges. help us achieve outcomes.” protection, allowing customers “Skilled resources are For King and Infront, such to embark on a hybrid cloud limited and IT must still appraisal validates three years journey without forgoing the manage the day-to-day of hard-work, both on-premise legacy investments of the past. operations while trying to and in the cloud. „

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au Let the transformation begin.

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DellTechnologies.com 20 ANALYSIS/VMWORLD 2016

VMworld 2016: Key channel considerations In a room filled with thousands of partners and customers at VMworld 2016, VMware took to stage to talk about its strategies and future direction. Hafizah Osman was on the ground in Las Vegas to examine its impact on the local channel.

Cross-cloud architecture in VMware’s vision “From a partner As part of VMware’s evolving cloud strategy, the company unveiled Cross- perspective, the cloud architecture that provides cloud freedom and control. This is an extension opportunity for us of the company’s cloud strategy, enabling is resurgence in customers to manage, run, connect, and secure their applications across clouds and partner interest” devices in a common operating environment. Alastair Diaz - VMware In addition, it previewed its Cross-cloud services as new SaaS-based services to manage, govern, and secure applications running in private and public clouds, including the big public clouds of IBM, Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google. The vendor has further developed to play a pivotal part in the growth of Dell Diaz also said Cross-cloud Architecture its VMware Cloud Foundation, a unified Technologies – the combined Dell and announcement plays into the vendor’s software-defined datacentre platform EMC entity – with the vendor’s hybrid cloud trans-Tasman plans, following the recent that simplifies the lifecycle management strategy central to its progress. formation of the A/NZ cloud solutions group if private cloud infrastructure - it’s now At VMworld 2016, Dell chairman in April. available as a new “as-a-service” option. and CEO, Michael Dell, moved to quash “A/NZ already adopts a SaaS first VMware CEO, Pat Gelsinger, said doubts over the future of the virtualisation and cloud first strategy,” he said. “So developments in cloud, such as these, specialists, following months of speculation this enables customers to choose the need to be embraced to set apart leaders as to how and where it fits post Dell’s best offering of cloud. From a channel from laggards. acquisition of EMC. perspective, the opportunity for us is “There are three categories of “The breadth and depth of our ecosystem, resurgence in partner interest.’ customers that will benefit from this – and this opportunity for us, is tremendous those that are hardcore VMware partners since we announced the formation of Dell Distribution impact that become more relevant as we move Technologies, bringing together EMC and Avnet is targeting a widening mid-tier of forward, those that are challenged to get VMware,” Michael Dell said. companies already underway with managed out of the hardware business, and the “The open ecosystem of VMware is services in Australia, forming the distributor’s multi-cloud customer that see our pieces absolutely critical to this puzzle. We’re core VMware focus in the months ahead. as part of their strategy,” he said. only going to continue to encourage the “It’s no longer just about selling “We want to help as many people build business down that path.” technologies,” Avnet Technology Solutions clouds using the VMware technology stack. A/NZ vice-president and general manager, And as the desire for customers to be in Impact on A/NZ Darren Adams, said. multi-cloud grows, this gives us a wide VMware A/NZ vice-president and managing “we want to expose partners to the variety of partnerships.” director, Alastair Diaz, said these VMware stack. So, the closer we get to The vendor also launched Workspace announcements put VMware in a “good VMware, the better we’ll get at doing that.” One, Windows 10 integration, and expanded position” and align to the structure the According to Adams, Avnet also intends on its relationship with IBM, by enabling vendor has recently put in place locally. to leverage the new technologies from it to become the first partner to offer the “If we look at our traditional SIs, cloud VMworld 2016, while investing deeply with company’s Cloud Foundation-as-a-Service service provider partners, resellers, its technical people. solution. distributors, traditional partners, and “It gives us a deeper engagement with technology partners, they’re all merging our partners,” he added. “We want partners Impact of Dell-EMC and what came out of VMworld this year to take advantage of these things and we’re As outlined in Las Vegas, VMware expects benefits them all,” he said. very well positioned to do just that.” „

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Creating a customer checklist Keeping the customer close remains pivotal to ongoing channel progression – Artis Group, managing director, Chris Greatrex, outlines how to James Henderson.

ith one eye on the vendor or industry awards and “Having coverage is key,” he boardrooms of recognition, they all add up to added. “We play predominantly W Australia, Artis provide increased credibility.” within the enterprise and Group has evolved with the In deploying technologies into government space and they need customer in mind. Toyota Financial Services, The to see that coverage. It’s crucial “During the past six years, Weather Channel and the NSW to have local people on the we’ve built our business based on State Government, Artis is no ground and while we like to say what a CIO wants,” Artis Group, stranger to the top end of town, it’s no longer a requirement in managing director, Chris having also provided services for Australia, it’s still an important Greatrex, said. the Fair Work Ombudsman, the part of the sales process.” “We started out in a small Royal Brisbane and Women’s In between helping to create office in Sydney with one Hospital and the Professional Artis in 2005 and returning as development contract and Standards Councils. managing director in 2011, realised that we needed to build Serving up primarily Greatrex worked in the US our capabilities quickly.” Microsoft Office 365 and SAP establishing both NY Metro, and Fast forward to 2016 and Artis Business ByDesign solutions, the US Federal Government has presence across five cities, company is one of the leading businesses, which incorporated with an expanded applications- providers of services to NSW different attitudes to cross-

“It’s crucial to have local people on the ground and while we like to say it’s no longer a requirement in Australia, it’s still an important part of the sales process”

based portfolio built around the Government, operating as a country travel. Microsoft and SAP stacks. Microsoft Gold Partner and the “As long as we fixed the “It hasn’t been without largest SAP partner on both sides problem the customer didn’t care challenges to arrive at this position of the Tasman. which state they came from,” he in the market,” he acknowledged. “Today, there’s a greater said. “It was never hidden but “But we now have the depth and desire to see where you already there was no requirement to see breadth of products to compete have runs on the board, and to travels details or where a within the end-user space.” know how you’re tracking as a technician or support member is business,” he added. based, it’s just not a big deal.” Checklist But for Greatrex, runs must by In Australia however, Speaking as a well-travelled and made both home and away, with organisations continue to display seasoned IT veteran, Greatrex organisations chasing country- reservations when engaging categorises customer success wide technology providers for with partners out of state, with through the ability of a partner national deployments. the nation still valuing the local to satisfy three overriding CIO As the world’s sixth largest touch when transacting deals. concerns – credibility, country, and one of the most “Buyers are still unsure of credentials and coverage. disparate, Australia presents people flying in from different “First and foremost, they many a challenge for the one states to do business,” Greatrex said. want credibility and credentials,” – or even two – state reseller, To combat such reservations he explained. “Whether that be with customers seeking national however, Greatrex has expanded certifications, case studies, alliances and partnerships. his team to bolster Artis’ national

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au Chris Greatrex – CEO, Artis Group 24 INTERVIEW/ARTIS GROUP

coverage, with 11 dedicated sales the company restructuring is advisor to midsize and enterprise members operating across five sales team to better reflect its companies, Artis now works with cities nationwide – spanning refreshed focus within the ASX-listed organisations, State Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, applications market. and Federal Government, Melbourne and Sydney. Today, the company has providing business software and “Lots of partners say they are bolstered its capabilities across services to customers Australia- national but we have a genuine application deployment, data wide and overseas. footprint,” he explained. “I spent a analytics, customer relationship Honing skills in design, lot of my early days recruiting management, enterprise resource development, management, personnel across the country to planning, collaboration and cloud. integration and support of critical ensure we could provide a “We’ve built a new sales business applications, under localised service to the customer, team because knowing one Greatrex’s direction, the Sydney- whether that be in Melbourne product, or one aspect of a based company has forged a or Brisbane.” solution is not enough today,” reputation for replacing outdated Since selling the company’s he said. “We offer an end-to-end hardware and software systems hardware business to The Missing solution and customers have to with flexible new solution sets. Link in 2011, Artis has executed see this, otherwise they will Spanning banking, finance, on its geographic expansion look elsewhere. insurance, health, media, plans, entering Brisbane, “When we sit down with a education and agri-business, Canberra and Melbourne, while Artis’ level of differentiation is also establishing an Adelaide based on its ability to provide base through the acquisition of customers with 24/7 support. services firm Tapestry in 2014. “CIOs are demanding genuine “There’s an advantage to 24/7 support and not many being based in state,” he partners offer this,” Greatrex added. “Our staff on the added. “We build an application ground know the dynamics of and deliver it to the customer but the market, the challenges of also maintain and manage it the customer and how to should they require. win business. It’s difficult to gain “We sign support agreements traction otherwise.” and take over old applications with customer they want everything a view to modernising it over time, Skills ticked off in one meeting, and if subject to budget constraints, With Artis’ geographic expansion we’re not having conversations and offering this round-the-clock confirmed, Greatrex continues to about particular solutions that support is a deal breaker for us.” develop the company’s internal we should be, then someone else Through incorporating an sales operations, viewed as a will be and they’ll be eating into always-on type approach to critical part of delivering our space.” serving the customer, the increased value to the customer. As explained by Greatrex, company now works with the “The skills required for an Artis offers customers choice by Government of Thailand, infrastructure salesperson partnering with leading global providing application support for compared to an application vendors, which also includes its superannuation system. salesperson differs,” he AWS, SaaSPlaza, Concur, “This is huge validation of our acknowledged. RecordPoint, AdxStudio, Aptean, work,” Greatrex said. “It’s not often “The application space is AvePoint, ClickDimensions, work in Asia is moved offshore to complex and requires a deeper Nintex, and ActiveDocs. Australia but we provide understanding of work flows and “We go to market providing assurance that if something goes integration. It’s a more sophisticated a whole suite of capabilities wrong, we will get it fixed. CIOs sale in that sense and because of to avoiding competing for will always need this assurance.” this, requires a different sales force.” wallet share, and it’s a successful Such assurance, which Artis Since selling its method for us,” he added. has spent six years creating, will infrastructure services team to forever act as the key criteria network integrator, The Missing Services between winning or losing in the Link acquired 16 Artis staff, with Founded as a technology start-up eyes of a CIO. „

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orming a key part of the common business F vernacular, the concept of Core vs. Context is taking on new meaning in the channel today. It’s the leading question on the lips of every vendor, distributor and reseller – does this process create a differentiation that wins customers? If it does, it’s Core. If it doesn’t, it’s Context. “Perhaps ten years ago, everything was Core,” Avnet Australia and New Zealand vice president and general manager, Darren Adams, said. In speaking as a channel veteran of over 30 years, Adams believes that as resellers become closer to the end-user, the realisation that certain offerings are no longer central to making money is starting to dawn. As the clichéd tsunami of technology crashes down on the Australian market, there is a growing consensus in the channel that partners must be operating on the lucrative side of such delineation to ride the crest of the wave. “Resellers must move to outsourcing the contextual aspects of their business and instead focus on what is core,” Adams advised. “As an example, for a large systems integrator, having a network operation centre is core to what they do. But for a mid-tier

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au AVNET/INTERVIEW 27

Core vs. Context Customer buying patterns have altered the definition of mission-critical for the channel – Avnet Australia and New Zealand vice president and general manager, Darren Adams, explains the impact to James Henderson.

SI or ISV, it’s probably not so they starting to look and act like a “We’ve learned that our might seek to outsource that distributor in some respects, in resellers are not all equal,” Adams element of the business. terms of licensing and how the explained. “We have the big “If you look at the cost of renewals aspect of the business. players who provide lots of doing business, the price of goods “Some parts of the channel revenue and are valued highly, used to be $1 million at 20 points almost have an operational feel to but we also need to look after and of margin, creating $200,000. it, yet ten years ago, operational service our ISVs, SIs and MSPs. But today, the price of those efficiency was really the domain “In raw dollar terms they may goods might be $500,000, and of the distributor. actually be smaller, but they are a reseller might only make five “There are resellers in the crucially important in allowing points and come away market that make a lower return us to bring specific solutions with $25,000.” than a distributor makes, yet to market.” Collectively, Adams believes ten years ago that would resellers are succumbing to never happen.” Technologies “incredible pressure” through For Adams, the forces of the Underpinning Avnet’s deepened diminishing margins, forcing a market are combining to form a reseller play, the distributor has also reacted to the increasing end-user appetite for new and “Be clear on your strategy but emerging technologies, through be prepared to change it” the launch of six dedicated business units. Spanning cloud, cognitive change of tack in terms of new approach, based on computing, data analytics, the customer delivery. distributors being non- Internet of Things (IOT), mobility, “Resellers have no choice but traditional in the way it security and enterprise to trim the fat,” he explained. thinks and operates. networking, the distributor is “Long gone are the days of “Today we might be now offering a solutions throwing solutions into a bundle partnering, tomorrow we might specialist approach in Australia, and not worrying, resellers can’t be competing or complementing, designed to accelerate growth in do this anymore.” and that calls for the channel to software-driven technologies. work together in a high-integrity Billed as the primary growth Swim Lanes model,” he said. “Sometimes it’s driver of the ICT industry during Change for the reseller naturally wise to move outside of your the next decade, 3rd Platform triggers a chain reaction in swim lanes a little where it solutions will be responsible for a distribution, as market makes sense to do so.” 75 per cent increase in mechanics transform and Defined by an ability to “think worldwide technology spend, industry gears shift. outside of the box”, Avnet is which IDC expects to rise to “Our job is to go under the adopting such a mentality to its $US5.3 trillion by 2020. covers and understand why it’s core reseller base, viewing its Through its seismic scale, the different,” Adams said. “Today partner community through a 3rd Platform stands to reach some traditional resellers are modern-day lens. trillions of IP-addressable

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 28 INTERVIEW/AVNET

“things” – devices, monitors, and market activity, as mergers and sensors – and billions of users “Perhaps ten years ago, acquisitions connect and split through millions of new everything was Core” vendors in equal measure. applications and services with a Looking down from a high- potentially global user base and level helicopter, the channel is unlimited hardware resources. successful in distribution, and changing as vendors fight for Yet as Adams explained, the there’s a blend between aligning relevance and supremacy, 3rd Platform is not just a with vendors and technologies.” prompting distributors to stay technology revolution; it’s also Going forward, Adams close to patterns emerging both a customer revolution. expects to see further vendor locally and globally. “This demonstrates our activity from Avnet within the “Balance and nimble,” Adams strategic future,” he said. “They next twelve months, cementing explained. “They are the two key represent the key pillars of our the distributor’s move into words that will define go-to-market strategy and reflect next-generation technologies. distribution today. Balance in the the changing requirements of “When you look at what’s sense that it’s never quite as bad the end-user.” hot in the market and where or quite as good as it seems and With over 450 solution customers are heading, the being nimble in how you operate. specialists on board globally, at next-generation area is Be clear on your strategy but be a local level, the launch has crucial,” he added. prepared to change it.” been complemented by an “Our traditional plays around Alluding to the “fail fast” internal company restructure, servers, storage, networking and approach of many an expanding which sees Adrian Chu, data centre continue to be business, Adams accepts that Winston Wong and Paul Oxley strong and ahead of market previously, the company commence director roles figures, but we’ll also continue “sometimes hung onto an idea” covering Customer Solutions, investing in this new market in that was struggling, instead of Next-Generation and Data Centre the coming months.” cutting loose and starting over. Solutions respectively. “It’s almost child-like to hang “We’re setting ourselves up Future onto an idea these days,” he for success and see our vendors In representing both Dell and EMC observed. “You have to be as an important part of that,” – now Dell Technologies – Adams prepared to say this isn’t working, Adams added. “If you don’t have a acknowledges that distribution move on and chase the next idea strong portfolio it’s hard to be strategies can be dictated by and make that work.” „

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au IT’S MORE THAN JUST ANOTHER MONOCHROME LASER PRINTER

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Available from these Brother Authorised Distributors: 30 EDGE 2016 EDGE2016 EDGE 2016 brought togetherEDGE 250 senior A/NZ ICT industry executives to 2016collaborate and interact in an inspiring corporate environment. The four day destination conference on the beautiful Hamilton Island offered keynotes, panels and compelling business sessions within a high level interactive environment. Building EDGE 2016… approach of many. Australia and New Zealand’s leading destination channel conference Under the duress of new and was designed with the reseller in mind - James Henderson emerging technologies, the channel consensus remains that ramming explains how the channel helped build EDGE 2016. product down the throats of partners simply doesn’t fly in 2016. reating a conference fit for 250 serving channel media outlet - surely, Partners are kept awake at night of the industry’s leading we should do the same? because of business problems, not C influencers is no easy feat. So we did, with EDGE 2016 being technology issues, and to reflect this Today, Australia is littered with the culmination of six months of dramatic swing in focus, a Grow Your briefings, seminars, webinars, readjusting and reorganising our Business theme was established. workshops and the like, all spouting approach to better serve the needs of Spanning four core areas, EDGE the usual rhetoric of being a “must the reseller today. 2016 focused on Change Your Culture; attend” and “absolutely critical” to the To do this, we sought counsel from Change Your Model; Know Your future success of the reseller. the partner community, assessing what Customer and Disrupt Your Selling. Yet the channel needs more hits the spot from a news, analysis and Built following direct feedback from than merely a tired technology pitch events perspective, and how we, as a the partner community, guest keynote from a robotic vendor – partners in leading voice of the industry, can adapt speakers and sponsors subsequently 2016 no longer allow for such an to better address this. aligned with the overriding theme of outdated approach. Grow Your Business, offering insights While ARN has a long and rich Business Agenda around changing business models, heritage in providing hard technology In the months prior to our kick-off on up-skilling staff and creating new news - an approach which will always Hamilton Island, leaders from the revenue streams. remain - the changing shape of the partner community combined at ARN Book-ended by a world-renowned market also dictates a new play for our headquarters to offer advice as to how culture guru in Stan Slap and one of 25-year-old publication. EDGE 2016 could address the overriding Australia’s most successful In watching vendors fight for challenges of the everyday reseller. entrepreneurs in Steve Baxter, EDGE relevance, distributors realign Consequently, a business agenda 2016 reflected the new world of the priorities and partners disrupt from was formed, stepping away from the channel, and crucially, outlined how within, as the industry’s longest traditional technology saturated partners can progress within it. „

ARN EDGE 2016 partner planning session

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au EDGE 2016 31

Stan Slap – CEO, SLAP Company

Change your culture In drawing on discussions from two headline keynotes, six plenary sessions, 12 breakouts and countless engagements during four days of conferencing, here’s what the channel learned at EDGE 2016 – ARN reports.

hanging an organisation culture,” he stressed. “Your employee “As a manager, what goals do you entrenched in culture stands culture has 25, 35, 55, or maybe even have for your business?” he questioned. C tall as one of the toughest tasks 75 stories and every one of them is “Increased revenue, faster time to a partner will take on. about you. market, protected market share, world Akin to rolling rocks uphill, “The combined power of these domination - now which employee overhauling the dynamics of the stories decides what your people will could ever argue with the irrefutable workplace is not pretty and is not easy, or won’t do, and it does not matter logic of these corporate strategies? yet remains crucial to the future what you say as a leader.” “In a perfect world, people wouldn’t prospects of a partner. Advising leaders to “learn to accept argue at all, they’d immediately grasp In holding a position of authority, that you won’t hear those stories”, Slap this logic and devote themselves the onus falls on business leaders to said the blueprint for cultural wholeheartedly to achieving them. realignment lies with the manager “Well wake up, wipe the drool from EDGE COMMUNITY your desk and say hi to reality, because real world neither business logic nor “Stan Slap’s keynote was timely and relevant” management authority will ever DAVID BIRD - COMPUTER CONCEPTS LIMITED convince an employee culture to dedicate themselves to a corporate remodel the internal make-up of a empowering employees, while cause as if it were its own.” company, ensuring ongoing humbling themselves in the process. For Slap, if partners want employees progression in an increasingly “Don’t buy the cake, bake them the to buy into and meet the overall goal of competitive landscape. cake and if you can’t bake it means the company, “that’s fine, but you’ve got Yet in delivering a cold reality even more,” he said. to know how to sell it to them”. check during his headline keynote at But while the channel can spend a Consequently, knowing how to sell EDGE 2016, Stan Slap fired bullet holes lifetime talking about how business to an employee culture, and knowing into such plans of attack. cultures work, the “channel doesn’t how the culture works and knowing “As a leader, you can’t change have a lifetime”, as Slap noted, how to work it remain core to your culture because you are the outlining the bigger issue of the day. instigating change for the channel. „

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 32 EDGE 2016

Change your model As technologies and customer demands change, traditional business models are struggling to keep pace.

he overriding consensus at EDGE 2016 concluded that sticking to the playbook is no longer enough, with growing businesses T opting to thrive, rather than survive in a contracting market. For value-added resellers, the opportunity to access a steady cash flow presents a welcome change from the days of fluctuating business patterns and the increased commoditisation of hardware and software. Yet the notion of moving to a recurring revenue remains a sticky issue in Australia, as partners struggle to walk away from the cash cow of yesteryear.

Recurring revenue In chasing the OPEX-based dollar however, EDGE 2016 advised partners to assess current business models and change both accordingly and responsibly. With the box dropping vs. recurring revenue mix different depending on the reseller, the sweet spot outlined on Hamilton Island sits 60/40 in favour of recurring, as the channel slowly edging to a new way of servicing end-users. But numbers aside, the industry remains unified in the belief that irrespective of the business, partners must introduce a substantial portion of recurring revenue to ensure ongoing profitability. Such an approach played out among the delegates, with most partners adopting a hybrid model, offering reselling or integration services in addition to managed services. With this model, the managed Datto breakout session services offerings are essentially another line of business.

“Partners must introduce a substantial portion of recurring revenue to ensure ongoing profitability”

Business shifts As the motivation for building a managed service provider business becomes greater, specialisation will remain pivotal to partner success, as customers seek tailored end-to-end services. Citing the need to drop the ‘Jack of all trades’ type generalist Barracuda Networks breakout session mentality, the modern day partner outlined at EDGE 2016 is a partner taking on a “trusted advisor” role, honing in on specific verticals, market types or technologies. Internally, the shift from VAR to MSP involves technology, staff and business alterations, forcing resellers who depend on large but infrequent payments to transition to accepting more payments of lower amounts. Naturally, sales representatives must now need to learn how to sell services instead of products. As revealed at EDGE 2016 however, not all sales representatives can make the transition, asking new questions around how businesses how up-skill staff and reward them accordingly. In short, building an MSP practice takes time and money, yet represents a viable next step for partners seeking progression in a David Vitos (NOVA IT), Maarten van Hattum (Datacom), Jack Alsop (StorageCraft), James Wootton (Protega) changing channel. „

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au EDGE 2016 33

Know your customer

The lifeblood of a partner’s business is built around the knowledge of its customer base.

ut while the old adage of 'know your customer’ Steve Baxter B remains true, customer wants and needs are changing, triggering To avoid this, chatter on the Consequently, partners of the new spending habits across conference floor pointed to the future must articulate value in the market. importance of profiling customers and business terms such as key process As outlined by Steve Baxter in grasping what the new-breed of buyer outcomes and impact to key closing EDGE 2016, the most successful looks like before presenting solutions. performance indicators (KPIs) and in businesses listen to their customers. Today, most CIOs cannot simply doing so, requires deep vertical “I’m not saying it’s easy but a lot of adopt new services without making industry knowledge, and new go-to- people forget that,” he said. “They’re changes to existing processes and market models. the only ones with an honest opinion applications, yet crave the speed and But as the impatient and around so we’ve got to listen to them agility required to instigate demanding customer waits for change, in order to move forward.” organisational change. EDGE 2016 confirmed that the channel For Baxter, the biggest lessons for a One strategic challenge staring cannot wait any longer to starting partner involve understanding that partners square in the fact is the need planning its own intellectual property. the customer “is not wrong and knows to better understand client value Emphasised on countless occasions the direction they are working drivers, and to more effectively during the week, smart channel towards.” articulate their own value propositions partners are realising – very quickly Losing sight of your customer, and as a result. - that the IP they sell in the future failing to recognise they are changing Irrespective of size of stature, should be their own, and will present remains a sure-fire way to stumble at customer approaches are changing as the most viable way to gain a leg up the first hurdle. they become more informed, calling over the competition. for partners to have greater awareness This is not a merely a value-add and EDGE COMMUNITY of who owns which part of the project, margin protection play, rather this is “It’s great to hear our who owns the customer and where the developing actual differentiation as profitable relationships within an part of the assets of a company, partners succeeding organisation lie. leveraging a unique offering to truly by being very customer As example cited at EDGE 2016 is understand the modern-day customer. the IT spending centre steadily shifting In short, the onus now falls on the obsessed” away from the central IT function and partner to build new value on top of STEFAN JANSEN, AWS to business buying centres. existing capabilities. „

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 34 EDGE 2016

Disrupt your selling With a multitude of products and market research available, customers are failing to respond to traditional closing tactics, rendering the conventional sales approach obsolete.

DQþHYLü*UDELü (Forward IT); Noel Ervine g IT) and Abie Gelbart (Perfekt)

ith a multitude of products In light of traditional reselling an advisory-based relationship with and market research diminishing, channel partners will C-levels remain fundamental to W available, customers are become more significant trusted ongoing success as digital failing to respond to traditional closing advisors for customers, providing transformation creates new challenges tactics, rendering the conventional consulting and insights on technology- for IT decision makers. sales approach obsolete. based solutions to drive business Following on from the notion of Representing a shift to opportunities and challenges. building a managed service provider consultative selling, businesses are Additionally, vendors must also business, partners must now learn how gaining traction through a platform come to the party, offering support to sell services instead of products. of consultation and trust, through market development funds, Given that services are intangible, deepening the relationship through staff training and local case studies to sales teams must adjust pitches based advice and insight. help partners disrupt from within. on opportunity costs and the costs of As part of changing business models, EDGE 2016 confirmed that resellers must now offer end-users “There’s greater demand for partners that more than advice about technology, as can up-sell and cross-sell services” they are tasked with taking the IT helm to allow customers to redirect energy and resources elsewhere. With strong vendor backing, downtime that they can prevent, Ideally, partners will free partners can leverage or deepen rather than just selling features of a businesses to focus on core relationships with the C-suite - still product. competencies, with the rise of cloud viewed as the most valuable asset a Delving deeper, there’s greater computing and mobility the first steps partner can have. demand for partners that can up-sell toward this future. As explained at EDGE 2016, building and cross-sell services when they're working with a customer, rather than working only on the task immediately at hand. Echoing the sentiments based around better understanding end-user requirements, partners are zeroing in on specific verticals or customer types, whether it be healthcare, education, SMB or enterprise. But once the target market is defined, partners must thoroughly learn and understand its needs, challenges and dynamics because when a customer opens the door, it’s imperative to demonstrate in-depth Nick Beaugeard (HubOne), Chris Munro (Kiandra IT), Faith Rees (SixPiviot) and James Wootton (Protega) knowledge of the market. „

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au

EDGE2016

What we learned from EDGE 2016 Post-EDGE 2016, a changing channel has emerged. To be successful in this new era, partners should look to these lessons learned.

EDGE COMMUNITY Be the glue Resellers better be the “This was the best EDGE ever. With glue, and they better be strong glue because it’s one contract already signed and a 1critical as a brokerage. few more on the A successful partner of today expands value-added offerings, way, it’s been hugely profitable” develops new NICK BEAUGEARD, HUBONE revenueopportunities and broadens integration expertise. The end game for this new approach is a partnership built deliver value instead. on customer dependence, a Build a service Most are innovating within dependence on the reseller to The resellers who are the cloud as they face deliver as the first port of call. succeeding are the challenges from a market As one reseller at EDGE 2016 resellers building a filling up with new partners, put it – “No matter what the 2service. No longer do they such as born-in-the-cloud question is, if customers pick up simply buy some technology players who require little the phone and ask you it first, and pass it onto the customer, investment and can essentially that’s gold.” they build services on top to “just give it a go”. But for every market EDGE COMMUNITY disrupter, remains a victim of disruption. That being the smaller resellers across the country, those running lifestyle businesses with a small “EDGE was a brilliant articulation customer base and a straightforward approach to of the changes in our industry” the market. KARL SICE, STAPLES Australia is crammed with smaller resellers who just want to look after their three or four customers, and they frankly don’t care about changing.

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au EDGE 2016 37

EDGE COMMUNITY

“CertaOne has increased its EDGE COMMUNITY audience with channel partners because of EDGE” JACQUES TESSON, CERTAONE

But what happens when having a true understanding of those three or four customers this particular area of “EDGE was truly do care? The moment they look the industry. at the market and decide to Technology vendors are brilliant given make some changes, then not specialists within certain the calibre of challenges will occur. industry sectors – they have knowledge but the sheer attendee, quality Engage with the depth of knowledge required of the breakouts, business is far greater, which represents From a reseller a niche opportunity to keynote speakers perspective, the specialise. CIO used to be the Reverting back to the idea and plenary 3pinnacle of the of being the glue, such a sessions” call cycle, but this is changing. specialised approach makes RONNIE ALTIT, INSENTRA While the high-level pitch it difficult for a reseller to be is still required, the channel removed from the equation must now be mindful of the because no other nature of businesses and how competitor will have the they operate. same IP, connections and address changing customer Take marketing as a leading understanding. demands. Aside from vendor land, example – this department is collaboration is also playing out at driving the business to market, Collaborate a partner level, with traditional providing partners with different With the status quo competitors combining to routes to explore. now out of the window, effectively ‘get the job done’, as But there’s little value in and the desire to go it businesses stretch the resources of isolating IT, being mindful of the alone waning, the the channel. wider business involves working 5channel is adopting a Today, the channel is better pragmatically with the IT collaborative mindset, recognising together, and the market is department, and perhaps looking that they no longer have all the prepared to engage as the towards the marketing team to answers, or the capabilities, to barriers to joining forces wane. „ drive an idea, with consultancy tying into this role. EDGE COMMUNITY

Specialise “We’ve already actioned several great Irrespective of conversations to drive new business technology, the Australian market is opportunities” 4waiting for KERRIE-ANNE TURNER, VMWARE specialised partners to take the lead, with recurring value in

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 |

38 HALL OF FAME/LUNCH

Celebrating the leaders of the channel ARN hosted its annual Hall of Fame lunch in Sydney, honouring the leading players within the ICT industry.

uring the past ten years, a host of the “Our goal is to understand the context within Australian industry’s finest have been which they're making their decisions, the D inducted into the ARN Hall of Fame. pressures they're under, and the priorities as they Housing 32 of the leading contributors to the flow from the executive down into IT,” he said. ongoing health of the local market, the annual “Wherever possible we aim to have input into ARN Hall of Fame provides a forum for high-level the development our clients' IT strategies. This discussion and insight. depth of relationship always leads to long-term This year, ARN welcomed Andrea Della alignment and successful projects time and Mattea, Ian Poole, Craig Scroggie and Dave time again.” Stevens to the Hall of Fame, following their From a vendor perspective, Microsoft induction in 2015. Australia managing director, Pip Marlow, cited In tapping into the brain trust of the industry, digital transformation as the biggest shift in the ARN quizzed inductees on the changing demands changing demands of the customer. of the customer, and how the channel can “They are embracing the power of technology

“Our customers need both a technology partner and a business partner to help them succeed” Pip Marlow

capitalise on the new technologies entering to transform how they do business and drive new the market. revenue streams,” Marlow said. For Insight Enterprises managing director of “To capitalise on the opportunity ahead, we Asia Pacific, Andrea Della Mattea, the role of the know our customers need both a technology partner has “changed dramatically” as the market partner and a business partner” transforms at rapid pace, with the value of IT now For Marlow, this is a “dual role” that both the recognised as a business enabler. vendor and the partner network needs to excel at, “This is core to Insight and during our 25-year as emerging technologies dictate the course of history we’ve continued to evolve our ability to action in the channel. connect clients with solutions and services that According to Distribution Central managing enable all aspects of their technology director, Nick Verykios, however, the market is no requirements to deliver business outcomes,” Della longer shifting, “it's lifting”. Mattea said. “Partners that are succeeding are lifting their Echoing Della Mattea’s sentiments, Thomas offerings to include new ways of solving new Duryea Consulting CEO, Andrew Thomas, said problems. the company continues to invest “time and “Hold faith in what you do well. This is the resources” into understanding the broader contemporary business partner profile that end demands of the customer. customers are looking for.” „

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au LUNCH/HALL OF FAME 39

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 40 HALL OF FAME/LUNCH

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au LUNCH/HALL OF FAME 41

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 42 CHANNEL COACHING

Top 4 ways to manage a multi-generational team In this newly created column, Holly Morgan, examines ways partners can enable growth through new strategies and approaches, reminding the channel to work on all areas of the business to enable ongoing transformation.

he channel has reached a often leap into things and if they T unique point in history where have that conversation with a Gen X, many business owners face they avoid the mistakes that Gen X the challenge of managing multiple has already made.” generations within the same workforce. Moses said partners should Ranging from baby boomers to therefore assess the areas generation X, then Y (aka millennials) particular employees feel and Z, each demographic brings comfortable working with. different strengths to a business. “If you’re not a social media Yet the potential for disruption expert, you should surround yourself remains high as managers and with people that have those skills,” fellow employees attempt to he said. “Don’t feel guilty about the collaborate as a team, having to ones that you aren’t comfortable navigate between the mixed bag of with, instead discover ways to mindsets and personal motivations. leverage those resources around you “As a Gen X, you don’t have to to get that information.” have the same skills as Gen Y or a millennial,” Channel Dynamics co- Moheb Moses Praise different 3 contributions In a group setting such as a joint “If you’re not a social media expert, you should project or meeting, Moses advised surround yourself with people that have those skills” partners to ensure they acknowledge what each worker brings to the team and reward appropriately. founder and director, Moheb Moses, “For example there’s a different “Gen Y are used to instant said. “But you do have to know how mindset because Gen X have gratification as a result of social to work with them, understand them, grown up in an era with a strong media,” he observed. “Every time interact with them and leverage respect for authority. By the same they put something on Facebook, them as peers in the workplace.” token, someone who is a Gen Y they expect to receive a thumbs up As a result, Moses offered has grown up to respect authority, or a ‘Like’ and often this translates four tips for managing a multi- but believe authority is earned, not into the workforce. generational team: automatically bestowed.” “This differs greatly to a Gen X mentality that believes you have got 1 Ensure each generation 2 Leverage to work hard and only when you do are educated about complementary skills work hard, you get a reward.” varied motivational With each generation drawing on drivers different abilities within the workplace, Emphasise commonality Moses said the channel should Moses said employers can surround 4 “Acknowledge times when facilitate a mutual understanding themselves around others that offer you see the generations working of differences between all a complementary skill set. together,” Moses advised. generational levels. “The millennials and Gen Y For Moses, it’s important to As business owners, partners can bring vitality, energy, enthusiasm encourage workers to share knowledge find themselves in a position to learn and an understanding of social to reach a common team goal, whether what each employee values, wants media, whilst Gen X bring with them it’s an entry-level millennial teaching and needs to be most productive. experience from having spent 30 a baby boomer how to use social “If you understand the drivers years in the industry and offer strong media for a project, or a baby boomer and the motivators for each, you can interpersonal skills,” Moses said. detailing the history of a long-term reach a middle ground. “Many Gen Y and millennials client to a Gen X salesperson. „

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au Systems featuring the latest 6th Gen Intel® Core™ processors CHOOSE YOUR VR READY SYSTEM offer cutting-edge Intel technologies and the performance necessary to conquer power-hungry VR worlds.

Copyright © 201202 6 Intel Coorporrraattitioioonn.. All rights reserved. Intel, the Inteteelll logogogo, Intel® ExExpxxppeerienenncce What’s’s Inssidideiddee™,™, annndd the Intennttetell®® ExExpExpxpererieririeencennncceeW Whahaat’’s InInside™ logo are trademarks of Intel Corporar tioioonni innt thhe U.S. and/or other countries. *OthOtO eerr nnanamaammess aandannd brb aandannndds may be claimimeed as the prororoperpepertyty ooff othottthheersrs. 0416/CMD//CAFCA /PDF 44 IBM GLOBAL FINANCING How can partners transform the technology conversation through financing?

As new technologies flood the market, and competition increases in parallel, the need for innovation heightens. IBM Global Financing and partners debated the issue during an exclusive ARN roundtable – James Henderson reports.

o create competitive advantage in a changing world, T organisations must embark on a path of transformation, leaving behind legacy in pursuit of disruptive technologies and platforms. Yet despite limitless opportunities Phil Morris (ISI) and Craig Punshon (IBM) entering the market, Australian businesses remain bound by budget finance is becoming more important there is a risk position we need to take constraints and strategies, blocking the because of it.” within the channel as a result of that. pace of change across the industry. “The emergence of new technologies “We encounter the same issues Emerging technologies has created a gap of knowledge from a in conversations,” observed IBM Triggered by the rise of the 3rd financing perspective, even though the Global Financing manager, Craig Platform - and the explosion of Cloud, desire is definitely there to bridge this.” Punshon, during a recent ARN mobility, big data, analytics and social Echoing King’s comments, HCL roundtable discussion. alongside - technology buying centres Technologies director of advisory “That CAPEX is harder to push are shifting as customers seek new relations, Brett Moorgas, said that as through than it ever has been, that requirements from partners. the industry buckles under the duress budgets have been cut and that Cloud As the Australian digital economy of new solutions and services, a greater is changing the game. expands, organisations nationwide are need for flexibility within commercial “This leads to a common question of revisiting and realigning strategies and models is arising, citing finance as a key why do I even need to buy new business models to ensure a more element of the equation. technology at all and this represents an creative and agile approach to market. “In Australia more lines of business extraordinary change in such a short Yet despite the clear direction of are getting involved not just in period of time.” travel, businesses of all flavours seek purchasing decisions, but they are In utilising financing however, assistance in alleviating risk and actually driving them as well,” he said. Punshon said partners are allowing flexibility in the delivery of With such high stakes, Moorgas transforming businesses through new projects. said the line of business units are greater flexibility and purchasing “The notion of financing has been increasingly taking a front seat in options, acquiring leading edge around forever but we are seeing technology initiatives by flexing solutions to drive larger deals with dramatic shifts in the market,” Infront budgetary muscles, as two major types higher rates of success. Systems managing director, Allan of technology spending patterns play “Our charter is to be an enabler to King, acknowledged. out across Australia - projects funded our customers and partners,” he added. “Today customers want models that by IT and projects funded by “The conversation has changed and place all the risk with the partner and technology buyers outside of IT.

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au IBM GLOBAL FINANCING 45

“When you look at the emerging technologies of Cloud, digitalisation and the Internet of Things, the key difference is that today the business is starting to not only initiate, but fund and work in these areas which suggests organisations are not as hung up on the traditional ways of doing business,” he added. “But because they are doing this with a limited budget, they see IT more as the enabling piece of the puzzle and are becoming more open to alternative commercial models.” In the pursuit of maintaining a lean balance sheet with optimum cash flows, large organisations accumulating huge “There’s a need for partners to boards are getting on the right side of tangles of platforms throughout years leverage financing to change that the CAPEX vs. OPEX divide, of IT spending and silo-led projects. model so its team can be recognised up understanding that the rate of “CIOs have certain financial targets front and then have the money flow innovation requires an open approach and metrics they need to hit, one might over a period of time.” to technology acquisition. be CAPEX and one might be OPEX, but For King, Zeilinga’s issue represents the ‘Holy Grail’ of the entire industry from a financing perspective, as Cloud “We are seeing discussions were nobody continue to change the rules of engagement across the channel. wins on any side and that has to change” “The challenge is that Cloud providers are putting credits out there but they can’t be recognised until it’s Challenges it’s a conversation partners must have,” consumed and that brings a whole But in the digital world of today, CIOs ISI Australia senior account manager, range of troubles,” King added. are essentially asked to do more with Phil Morris, said. “The remuneration packages and less, with a heightened need to support “We deal with businesses across a commission-based structures of the and enable the organisation, on less range of maturity levels and the past will have to go because the risk money than the year previous. discussion always comes back to the placed on the company is too great.” Embarking on the legacy-to-digital problems presented by legacy Generally speaking, the industry journey remains fraught with infrastructure and how customers can party line boasts that partners should complexity for Australian business get this right.” change sales models to reflect the change decision makers however, with many In short, many technology buyers of the market, yet problems remain are challenged with maintaining around customer spending habits. traditional environments as the case “Customers today don’t want a for modernising the legacy estate contract, they don’t want to sign it,” becomes more complex by the month. Datacom licensing general manager, Yet the challenge doesn’t just sit Peter Stein, added. with the end-user, as the channel also “They want a 14-day clause when adapts to new ways of closing deals and they can change but you’ve then got incentivising sales representatives infrastructure sitting there.” through the Cloud. In response, Punshon acknowledged “The way I’m measured drives a lot the reality of today in that “nobody of my behaviours,” KPMG First Point wants to sign anything”, creating added Global director, Jan Zeilinga, cautioned. financial complexities for the channel. “If customers are deploying multi- “The customer wants the full offering million dollar projects and I sign them but nobody wants to take the risk,” he up and deliver, but they only pay me $5 said. “There’s natural pressure which per month to use it, then all of a sudden reflects the changing state of the new Paul Timmins (UXC) I don’t get measured very well. market.”

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 46 IBM GLOBAL FINANCING

Brett Moorgas (HCL Australia Services); Peter Stein (Datacom); Patrick Cheetham (Tech Mahindra) and Allan King (Infront Greg Cassano (IBM) and Sonia Eland (CSC Services) Systems) and Jan Zeilinga (KPMG)

“We are seeing discussions were propensity to win by up to 33 year they deem peak, around the nobody wins on any side and that has percentage points, reducing the Christmas period,” Tech Mahindra to change.” pressure to discount by offering enterprise architect, Patrick Cheetham, affordable payment plans. added. “We were able to confidently say Opportunities The result is the prevention of deal up front that this is what it will cost you In seeking reduced upfront payments slippage and a differentiated proposal and you won’t run out and that got us and a simplified budget, customer for the channel, as it attempts to carve over the line and won us the contract. demand is creating a new-found out opportunities amidst changing “The CFO had confidence in our relevance in financing, yet despite the market dynamics. ability to deliver and they were need intensifying, complexities remain. Speaking as COO of UXC Connect, prepared to pay a premium because “This isn’t a simple equation,” IGF Paul Timmins said the financing option running out of capacity at Christmas director, Greg Cassano, added. “If it essentially always “reverts back to dwarfed everything else.” were easy partners and customers what the customer wants”, with size Cheetham said fusing the need to could solve this with their own balance and stature also key factors for deliver mission critical applications sheets but the reality is that they can’t. partners to consider. with financing in a flexible model can “Given IGF’s scale, credit rating “If you have a customer signing up help partners stand out from the pack. and specialised focus within IT, we to a contract based around their critical But as CSC director of digital have the ability to make a difference in applications, then you can guarantee alliances, Sonia Eland, outlined, there’s those changing conversations because you’re going to lock them in for five no “one size fits all” financing model for we’re having a lot of them across years,” he said. “Yes they might have the the channel to cut and paste to the country.” convenience of termination but they customers, illustrating the need for a Speaking as a financing veteran, are not going to leave because the case-by-case approach. Cassano said IGF is seeing the “full technology is too critical. “Flexibility is crucial in financing,” breadth” of offerings play out locally, “There’s risk and reward in this Eland added. “There’s no money for from volume-based deals to risk vs. approach and while it does vary from digital transformation and every reward and everything in between. customer to customer, it would be minute that a C-level speaks, they are “That’s our role in the channel,” extremely naive in this age to go into a essentially committing to more projects he said. customer as an account manager and have less money to spend. According to Cassano, without having finance as part of “So innovation has to be self-funded organisations are turning to financing your kit bag.” and that’s when partners can be providers to help navigate change to While partners may not have the creative and figure out what’s in the kit more innovation platforms, citing entire mechanics of the deal outlined, bag of possibilities and use these tools to “flexibility, simplicity and protection” Timmins stressed that the option of help take customers to the next level.” from obsolescence as key factors. financing should always be present as In taking customers to that “Financing essentially makes a vehicle to drive innovation within elusive next level, Eland advised technology affordable and lets an organisation. partners to embed financing into organisations drive growth and profits “I had a conversation with a CFO six the sales framework, in a bid to in your own business,” he explained. months ago around providing the unlock innovation. „ As outlined by Cassano, financing elasticity to ensure they don’t run out This roundtable was sponsored by can help channel partners increase of capacity during the 41 days of the IBM Global Financing.

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au

48 THE HOT LIST

The Hot List This regular column looks at partners on the upward move - these are companies to watch. Each month, ARN looks at some of the companies that have risen to prominence already or are progressing beyond their start-up origins. Hafizah Osman asks company leaders to file reports on their companies.

NK2IT such as HP, Cisco, ongoing maintenance > FUTURE PLANS: NK2IT Nitin Kuchara Dell, Microsoft, assistance, and is looking to grow its MANAGING DIRECTOR VMware, Symantec, continual improvement. cloud offering solutions NUMBER OF STAFF: ATEN, and APC by mainly focusing on the LESS THAN 10 Schneider Electric. > BUSINESS hybrid model. AGE OF COMPANY: SIX The ‘Lifecycle DIFFERENTIATOR: Consultation Process’ Our strong partnerships > KEY MESSAGE TO > PRODUCTS/SOLUTIONS (LCP) is at the core of with strategic vendor THE CHANNEL IN 2016: IT BRINGS TO MARKET: NK2IT’s consultative principles to provide Data is everything. NK2IT is a Sydney-based solutions development. high quality solutions, Every single business systems integrator Our LCP system additional value to needs an efficient and ICT consultancy enables us to provide clients, competitive system having adequate provider for SMBs, comprehensive, pricing and additional tools, processes and corporate businesses holistic support to support is our key policies to manage and government clients throughout business differentiator. their data. Simply agencies, offering data every stage of their In addition to that, moving to cloud from centre Infrastructure business’ lifecycle. we pride ourselves an on premise solution solution(s) including This is through on operating with may not be sufficient, hardware and consultation, innovation, low overheads, as it would transfer software products implementation, after- people satisfaction the problem rather from vendors sales support and and expertise. than resolution.

eNerds recently won the ARN consulting, cloud by 50 per cent and Jamie Warner SMB Partner of the Year services, Microsoft increase profit. CO-FOUNDER in 2015 and has been Solutions, Internet NUMBER OF STAFF: a finalist in the ARN IT and procurement. > FUTURE PLANS: We 40 Industry Awards from intend to double the AGE OF COMPANY: 2009 to 2016. > BUSINESS size of the company 16 YEARS Clients sized 10 DIFFERENTIATOR: by 2020 and launch a to 250 staff partner eNerds has built a spin-off global SaaS > PRODUCTS/ with eNerds because suite of software, business in 2017. SOLUTIONS IT they need a midsize called NerdSuite, to BRINGS TO MARKET: MSP to deliver service differentiate ourselves > KEY MESSAGE TO THE eNerds is a mid- excellence and a one- in the market. Our CHANNEL IN 2016: As sized MSP servicing stop-shop experience. flagship product, former GE CEO, Jack businesses with 10 If a business has NerdPanel, delivers Welch, said, “if the rate to 250 employees outgrown its current a fully branded IT of change on the outside throughout Australia. IT provider or ‘one- portal experience to exceeds the rate of Bootstrapped in man band’, then it can our clients and end change on the inside, 2000 by founders take advantage of our users - it helps win the end is near”. In Jamie and Tristan full service approach. new business, reduce other words, we must Warner, eNerds has We provide support client churn, reduce innovate or get left grown organically, and and maintenance, in-bound support calls behind.

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au THE HOT LIST 49

Four Nines Examples of the towards disruptive George Kazangi services we have and emerging MANAGING DIRECTOR developed include technologies in areas NUMBER OF STAFF: FOUR ENGINEERS/ our SecureSTREAM such as CASB and CONSULTANTS WITH A TARGET OF 10 solution, SecureINSIDER, UEBA and will be ENGINEERS BY THE END OF THE YEAR and a SIEM solution working towards AGE OF COMPANY: delivered in the cloud. building strong LESS THAN A YEAR OLD We also provide relationships with the (OPERATIONS STARTED IN JUNE 2016) IaaS solutions with organisations we feel SecureHOST and will emerge as the PRODUCTS/ Antispam services leaders in these areas. SOLUTIONS IT BRINGS with SecureMAIL. Our Continuing to TO MARKET: Four Seccom Global products have been build our presence Nines is a technology Michael Demery developed so that we in the Australian services provider DIRECTOR can deliver successfully market through the to the channel NUMBER OF STAFF: to all size of business expansion of our including VARs, 19 from SME to enterprise. offices in Australia is MSPs, distributors AGE OF COMPANY: a strong focus in the and vendors. We 13 YEARS BUSINESS next 12 months. Also, provide technical pre- (STARTED IN 2003) DIFFERENTIATOR: developing a strong sales, professional One of the areas that presence in Asia and services and managed services to partners that PRODUCTS/SOLUTIONS sets us apart from the potentially the US complement their current products and services IT BRINGS TO MARKET: competition is in the through expansion or and allow them to extend the reach into their Seccom Global offers way we have been able focused partnering is customers and prospects. our customers a wide to take enterprise level also an objective. In general, we focus on the top two vendors variety of solutions solutions and develop in each segment of the infrastructure stack that range from fully services around these KEY MESSAGE TO THE including HPE, VMware, Dell, EMC, Datacore managed and hosted solutions and deliver CHANNEL IN 2016: and Veeam. The most common solutions we solutions, WAN and these services at a Adapt your business are working on are hybrid cloud design and connectivity solutions, price point palatable to to provide solutions implementations, migrations between sites, infrastructure the SME market. that meet your client. infrastructure and cloud and upgrades to various environments.

“We have been able to take enterprise level BUSINESS DIFFERENTIATOR: Our core differentiator is flexibility – to work with a large solutions and develop services around these variety of partners and the endless array of solutions and deliver these services at a challenges their customers bring them. It is also important to be flexible commercially, not price point palatable to the SME market” just with time. Sharing the risk with both our partners and their customers brings together Michael Demery - Seccom Global a new level of partnership. We see great opportunities with partners that understand the power of partnering in winning and delivering solutions, consulting, FUTURE PLANS: requirements. It is customer outcomes. auditing and Although we are still important that we implementation very much in the provide our clients with FUTURE PLANS: Four Nines plans to grow in services. Our business managed security the best solutions for both the number of engineers and specialists as was founded on service sector and their business. Far well as local resources in Melbourne in the next providing managed continue to develop too often, I speak to 12 months - the team is located in Sydney. firewall services to strong solutions and customers that are our clients partnering services targeted being sold on FUD KEY MESSAGE TO THE CHANNEL IN 2016: predominantly with towards this sector, we – Fear, Uncertainty Partnering will not just bring your businesses Fortinet, but we now are also very focused and Doubt. Also don’t greater capability and capacity, but if done well provide a far more on being Australia’s get so caught up in – that is with transparency, unity and trust, will comprehensive and leading cybersecurity future growth that allow you to contribute more to your customers’ sophisticated range company. We are now you lose focus on outcomes and objectives. of services. putting a lot of focus existing clients.

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 50 SECRET RESELLER

Shaking off the shackles of vendor oppression ARN’sARN s partner inside the industry lifts the lilid on the real world of the channel.

ealing with the big boys is back around to hit me square in the D becoming tiring. Looking face. Last month I was dealing with back, I’ve dealt with a a vendor manager with a strong number of large vendors through channel background and appreciation the years and rarely enjoyed a good for the partner community, someone result because of it. who puts in a shift in front of the Agenda continues to rule the customers and is generally on hand roost in business and this plays to help when required. out in full within the giants of This month a new manager the industry, especially those comes into the fold who has been Some vendors headquartered in the US. dealing in the direct side of the Not only are they trying to push business and once again, I get no view a 500- deals through at times that don’t love as the partner. seat deal and suit my business or that of my My acquaintances in vendor customer, they are only interested land admit this happens on a immediately in accounts at the top end of town. global level also, and while it’s not We’re seeing vendors fight new in the channel, it continues make the over a few select accounts in the to frustrate and annoy. Make enterprise and government space, up your mind vendors. decision that yet collectively they couldn’t give a Speaking of job changes, let’s not it’s not worth hoot about anyone else. forget the classic vendor move which So where’s the love for the mid- played itself out once again this their time market and SMB space? Across month – staff poaching. One reseller Australia the SMB market alone told me he spent time and money or effort. accounts for more than 95 per cent bringing through green kids straight of businesses, but if the vendor can’t out of TAFE or university, training run around the office screaming “I them up to an industry standard. just closed a $3 million deal”, then It’s the same for my business, they are not interested. I’m more than happy to invest in this Perhaps it’s because the US-based enablement because young minds vendors come from an industry where are more malleable and easy to enterprise means a very different mould. But as this reseller explained, thing to Australia. The American following two years of coaching, a mid-market is the equivalent of our vendor recently tapped them on the enterprise so naturally, some vendors shoulder with an increased offer of view a 500-seat deal and immediately $30,000 and away they go. make the decision that it’s not worth Do I blame these young guys their time or effort. for taking the money and the While some of the local multinational lifestyle? Absolutely representatives are great in the not. But I do take issue with vendors, sense they understand the Australian and distributors, taking talent out market, they are few and far between. of the Australian economy, without They’re also hamstrung by the bosses doing a single thing to train the that push for the big numbers, and the workforce they rely on. Double managing directors who see partners standards such as this do not sit as more of a nuisance than anything. right with the channel. „

Job Changes For partners wanting to submit their views Only recently that revolving door of anonymously, please get in touch via vendor management again came [email protected]

| AUGUST 2016 | arnnet.com.au

52 PARTNER ROUND-UP

Reputation key in regional NSW Channel players in regional areas face a unique set of challenges, but also a host of perks from operating in areas outside of the major metropolitan areas, not least being able to find easy parking close to customer offices. Leon Spencer chats to partners in regional NSW about what they do and how they do it – the good and the bad.

“The biggest differences in terms of problems that we see out here compared to the city are distance and communications infrastructure” Mitch Colton

virtualisation platform for our are still prohibitively expensive. hosting services from a VMware NFS That turns a lot of people off. stack to a Microsoft Hyper-V Storage “As far as getting out to see Spaces stack. people goes, there’s a lot more “One of the biggest issues we car time than there would be in see in our part of the market is the the Sydney metro area. When cloud, specifically, demystifying it you’re working out service level and explaining it to people. Clearly, agreements (SLAs) and response that’s not just an issue for us in times you’ve got to factor in that a regional area, but rather an your nearest tech might be 150 km industry-wide problem. However, I away. That means we have to build would say that seems to take longer systems that are more resilient so Mitch Colton to catch on where we are. that they can cater for issues arising FOUNDER AND CEO – COLTON “The biggest differences in terms from distance. COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES of problems that we see out here “We’ve got to be very generalist, “Two of our top priorities this year compared to the city are distance and we have to push ourselves as a are rolling out remote monitoring and communications infrastructure. generalist firm. We can’t focus on and management (RMM) software, The National Broadband Network just one industry vertical. and moving our clients more towards (NBN) is starting to rollout, this is “We work with accounting firms, managed service providers (MSPs). helping close the communications mining and industrial, medical, as We’re trying to be a bit more proactive gap that exists between Sydney well as a number of other industry in that regard, rather than reactive. metro and regional, however EOC sectors. Because of that, we have to “We’re also changing our and other Business Grade services carry a lot of additional knowledge.”

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au PARTNER ROUND-UP 53

“Having Windows and Mac in the same shop doesn’t really happen in the city, but Apple allows it in a regional area”

on new capabilities that otherwise an Apple territory. We’re now the haven’t been available. authorised repairer and reseller James Howell “Connectivity has been an issue in in the area. As such, we became a CEO – PDK IT what we do, and the NBN is helping to proprietary limited group, and in a “This year we’re focusing on address that. But since it’s still rolling small town that can be big deal. expanding into the Internet Service out, it’s continuing to be an issue for us “Having Windows and Mac in the Provider (ISP) space, as well as as we’re moving forward. Over time, same shop doesn’t really happen voice and unified communications. that will become less of an issue, but in the city, but Apple allows it in a Over the past nine months, there are still some places…where regional area. we’ve completed all of our NBN even satellite products don’t really “On the Windows side of things, certifications to be a direct NBN ISP. don’t suit what businesses are after. there’s more and more competition, “We’re also thinking about “The benefits of being in a and one of the challenges we face expanding the number of regional regional area include being able to is in maintaining our reputation as cities that we’re looking after, and get available parking, and the cost of providing the best customer service. possibly open another office but running the business is lower. “We don’t compete on price so right now, Albury is the focus. “One of the great things about much because we focus on service. “Our challenges include the Wagga Wagga, in particular, is that Instead, we aim to keep our standards remoteness of the geography. we have a great university campus up. We try to get the balance right We’ve got large travel times in Charles Sturt University, so we’ve between what we need to charge and between places. The geography is got access to some really good grads what the market in Katoomba will bear. mainly a factor when we’re rolling coming out that want to stay local.” “Boosting the Apple work will be out new systems, but we also challenging and staffing will be a service a large footprint. major issue going forward. I’ve been “We’ve got customer sites in lucky in that regard. But it will be South Australia, Victoria, NSW, and a challenge to manage this growth some opportunities going on in trajectory we seem to be on. Queensland, and we’re factoring in “One of the main things we have that geographical range already. to focus on in an area like this is “One of the other things we have reputation. It’s a small town and to look at is the education for our word of mouth is important. If you customers. A lot of customers aren’t Guy Fordy don’t have a good interaction with aware of the different products that FOUNDER – GOODBYTES people, word will get out. So, it’s are available, and we need to make “We acquired an Apple dealership essential to be on your game on that sure that we educate customers in town in June, so we now have count at all times.” „

Nasser Sedghi MANAGING DIRECTOR – CBM COMPUTERS “The IT industry just keeps evolving “One of the biggest challenges still rely on IT based in city-based and changing. As a business, we we face – and this is industry head offices. That takes away a have to think about how we can wide – is that the overall general chunk of business opportunity in catch up to those changes and knowledge of people in relation to IT regional areas. offer new products and services. is increasing. That can be a little bit “One of the benefits of operating in The traditional market has changed helpful sometimes, but it can also be a regional area is that it is much easier drastically, and things are becoming a bit dangerous for both sides. One of to deal with the customers. Once you more competitive and taking an the side effects of this is that some work with customers, they trust you. entirely new direction. So, it’s people devalue the professional IT “That’s why face-to-face important for us to think about how providers and service people. interaction is important. You also we can provide support with these “The scope of IT development is have a presence in the community changes and develop strategies about much less in regional areas than it is compared to the anonymity of a how we can get more involved in the in the big metropolitan areas. Branch big city. Additionally, the level of cloud business. offices based in regional areas often expectation is different.”

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 54 OPINION/FILTERED MEDIA

Rediscovering your leadership buzz By Mark Jones

alf way through a big Leadership buzz, for me, comes Hclient meeting it hit me – Mark Jones is the when I’m witnessing the results leadership buzz. Even if you Chief Storyteller of my orchestration efforts. It’s a don’t identify as a leader, you know + CEO at brand bit like a conductor. You’ve been what I’m talking about. storytelling agency planning, organising, encouraging, Some people call it being in the Filtered Media, and empowering and directing those “flow” or “the zone”. Whatever your host of The CMO around you. We’re all working definition, it’s one of those moments Show, a podcast together to hit a deadline, or deliver I suspect most of us yearn for about brand on project outcomes. at some level. We’re looking for storytelling and the After weeks of solid, focused satisfaction, meaning, or simply future of marketing. work. It all comes together. You a few moments where we love see pieces of the puzzle that were our work. Well, here’s pre-formed in your mind suddenly In the leadership context, this how it happens clicking in real life. buzz can be rare, fleeting or non- in my world. Yes, this story echoes theories existent. If you’re caught up in the The short story such as servant leadership or the daily grind of decision making, is counter- power of positive reinforcement. stress, planning and simple hard intuitive. It’s not But if you truly want to rediscover work, it’s easy to become separated about you. It’s the buzz in leadership – deeply from the technical processes that not so much enjoying those fleeting moments of often deliver a regular stream of satisfaction. For example, as a journalist at “Step away from the detail for a moment the Financial Review, I regularly and look at your team” found the flow deep in the process of writing and editing articles. There’s actually nothing quite like the feeling what you do, but the actions of the satisfaction – it starts with taking of creating, shaping text, and mixing people around you. yourself out of the picture. art and science in real-time. The buzz I experienced in the They added their piece to the To top it off, my ego copped a client meeting came as I listened puzzle, with their own unique spin, good serving of satisfaction every to a succession of our team leaders and the greater picture is much morning when I picked up a copy of present and discuss the work richer and more complex as a result. the paper and saw my byline. Hard they’d prepared. So here’s a tip if you’re a leader work has its reward. We saw charts, research findings, lacking leadership buzz. Step away But what if you’ve been slugging creative proposals, content calendars, from the detail for a moment and it out in the management trenches and long lists of activities achieved. look at your team – the source of – removed from the technical work If it sounds like I’m indulging in a inspiration is much closer than that once propped you up? humble brag, you’re right. you think. „

KEY TAKEAWAYS Leadership buzz comes If you’re caught up in the If you truly want to Step away from the detail when you’re witnessing IT’S EASY daily grind of decision rediscover the buzz in for a moment and look at the results of your TO BECOME making, stress, planning leadership, it starts with your team - the source of orchestration efforts. SEPARATED and simple hard work, it’s taking yourself out of the inspiration is much closer FROM THE easy to become separated picture. It’s not about you. than you think. TECHNICAL from the technical processes PROCESSES that often deliver a regular stream of satisfaction.

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CHANGING MOBILITY PLAY

have a mobile strategy in The mobility market at its most traditional is stalling. With the enterprise place, highlighting room for mobility conversation now spaning BYOD, security, productivity, and organisations to mature in the others, enterprises must balance connecting more devices, apps and data space. In addition, only 31 per cent for business productivity with tightly handling security and controlling of respondents said they have cost. Hafizah Osman trawls the depths of the enterprise mobility market to measurable return on investment find the opportunities that matter, assessing where MSPs should position from their mobile infrastructure. Citrix A/NZ director of themselves to maximise short- and long term future plays. workspace product sales, David Nicol, said as BYOD has become nterprise mobile mobility-based business solutions more mainstream, users have adoption is on the rise enables businesses with the come to expect more value E in Australia and New capacity to change and innovate. in exchange for having their Zealand, as businesses find A recent study by Red Hat employer manage their device. reasons to embrace mobility found that the A/NZ region is “In addition, with business through streamlined operational already on a mobile journey. In its critical information being efficiency, increased productivity, Red Hat A/NZ Enterprise Mobile blended with personal and better collaboration. Index report, it stated that 65 per applications, IT security However, to succeed in gaining cent of respondents currently administrators are struggling these benefits, businesses must have an enterprise mobile to deliver a policy or plan to change in a way that backs the strategy in place, while 26 per protect and manage a business’s agility of new mobile initiatives cent are planning to have one in systems from the challenges as well as the stability of core the next one to two years. presented from Shadow IT.” IT functions. Infrastructure However, just 15 per cent of According to Nicol, business supporting an agile approach to respondents said they currently mobility is no longer a luxury but

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au TECHWATCH/MOBILITY 57

Matrix42 enterprise mobility improved features but still technical director, Wayne managed by the business.” Phillips, said mobile adoption has Opportunities and risk increased significantly and that The rise of mobility is expected cloud has been a key supporting to bring along a wide ranging factor in the rise of mobility. opportunities. It is evident that “Cloud has changed the scale without a mobile strategy, any of the mobility discussion,” he business will be left behind. said. “It’s very hard to think of Tableau Software A/NZ mobility without cloud services. country manager, Nigel Mobility means different things Mendonca, said by equipping to different businesses, so the employees to work while on the breadth of mobility has increased go, productivity is increased and exponentially.” downtime is reduced. This is in addition to the rise “Enterprises in Australia are in high-profile data breaches revamping their IT strategies over the past few years, leading to include a fully functioning to increased legislation and strict mobile offering. It’s imperative corporate governance around to provide the right tools to data security. As a result, Phillips complete the job, and to move mentioned it has given rise to away from providing just the a whole new mobile security basic apps, such as email, to technology sector. including more niche apps in He also spoke about the their offering.” consumerisation of traditional To stay ahead of the curve, IT services, which has led to the Mendonca suggested the rise of mobility. channel ensures it is educated in “These consumer services, all vendor mobile offerings. allowed end users to work more “Knowledge around mobile a necessity. freely, whenever and wherever applications will provide the “Businesses have two key they wanted,” he added. added value as this will soon be a mobility considerations,” he “Corporate users didn’t wait ‘must have’ rather than a ‘would said. “The first is to meet the for IT to deliver the software like’ for enterprises,” he said. expectations of their employees and services they needed, so However, one of the – to conveniently have access they built their own Shadow IT main advantages of mobility to core apps and data from any department. The only effective also provides the most risk. device they choose wherever way for the enterprise to Mendonca said it gives IT less they are. To attract and retain combat this is to provide simple control over how employees use talent, particularly from younger consumer style service, with their mobile devices, including generations – this is becoming a ensuring how secure the minimum requirement. devices are. “The second is how mobility GROWTH OF MOBILITY SNAPSHOT “We recommend businesses can create a competitive Empired cloud design and integration national business manager, enforce a strong BYOD policy to advantage through value to their Jaen Snyman, said device management and security conversations minimise this risk. From making customers or real productivity have matured into a user enablement and productivity conversation, sure all devices have a password gains.” with MDM and device security seen as table stakes. to using additional software such In addition, Nicol said with “The first conversation on the topic includes the productivity as Mobile Device Management budgets becoming thinner, gains and applications the customer wants to use on the devices. It’s (MDM), there are many ways to mobility is key to the success much more of a business driven conversation and requirement to have counteract this risk,” he said. of enterprise IT programs the entire workforce being able to securely perform their normal work Mendonca added that the from anywhere, on any network and with any device. such as BYOD, as the working channel should familiarise its “The conversation stretches into enabling enterprise systems to environment is portable, secure teams with MDM offerings provide mobile apps and the roadmap of new applications to be made and security solutions to make and virtual irrespective of what available in a mobile app format,” he said. devices are being used. educated recommendations

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 58 TECHWATCH/MOBILITY

on which solutions work the broader security architecture. manager, Ashish Vadujkar, said best together. “Customers are seeing the changing nature of the Channel opportunities the benefit of using secure, workplace will further change RXP Insight national practice integrated mobile collaboration the conversation on mobility. director, Stephen Wayne, said as the foundational building “As devices become more the channel can get involved by blocks for core transformation capable and have started to replace helping organisations apply the projects. The opportunity for traditional desktops as a work latest mobile security solutions our partners is to incorporate it technology asset, users will want to so they can deploy corporate into part of a broader solution further interact and use the devices applications to devices without to create or improve on line-of- they have at their disposal and worrying about compromising the business processes,” he said. are highly familiar with,” he said. security of their enterprise data. Wood added that partners Even though the future “Smarter solutions which want to provide additional value needs of mobility are hard to allow corporate applications to their customers around larger predict, Vadujkar said what is to deployed to BYOD devices transformation projects, rather certain is that users are becoming require smarter security than just reselling software. accustomed to fantastic user solutions to protect organisations, “Our partners in particular experience with various manage the application layer on are looking to position platforms they use in their devices. This has to be done in themselves as a one-stop shop personal lives and will want that a way that employees don’t feel across these technologies. same ease of use and familiarity they are being micro managed “As an example, we recently in any tool the enterprise delivers. by the organisation.” partnered with Matrix42, “For enterprises, the challenge He said partners should focus MobileIron, Airwatch, and Okta to is how to ensure the desires and on helping organisations package make Dropbox available through productivity of employees is mobile based applications and their EMM solutions. These maximised, whilst ensuring that services, ideally pre-integrated, to integrations will allow IT admins the business maintains secure help drive down the implementation to access value and take advantage and omnipresent access.” timescales and henceforth of our partners’ EMM visibility Consequently, collaboration accelerating the time to value. and management capabilities.” remains a core area of focus. “Organisations want solutions Wood also said as legacy “Employees are moving away faster, cheaper, whilst still solutions start to reach end-of- from the deluge of email to instant maintaining high quality. A life, an opportunity exists for messaging and collaboration cookie-cutter approach does traditional resellers to replace via screen sharing and Web provide reassurance of quality, these with Enterprise File Sync conferencing. They want to saves time, provides consistency Share solutions, which not only bypass the inbox and gain the and repeatability, and replaces the core functionality immediacy of collaboration for ultimately de-risks the solution of storage and back-up, but adds fast decisions and quick results. implementation lifecycle. layers of mobility and security. “Video will rapidly become the “The consumption of these default choice of communication, services should allow business Mobility of the future placing pressure on corporate intelligence consumers to choose Vocus Communications corporate networks to respond to the data to subscribe to the business service and wholesale products general tidal wave that is coming.” „ or services relevant to them, and then allow them to further CHANGING C-LEVEL CONVERSATIONS customise as desired,” he said. REFFIND CEO, Rob Van Es, said many companies do business. recognising how apps and enterprise Dropbox A/NZ managing C-level executives are recognising the “The C-suite conversation mobility technologies can facilitate director, Charlie Wood, need to engage with employees and has changed to focus not only on greater connectedness and stronger attract more millennial workers. This is providing more communications but team communication,” he said. mentioned channel partners essential to both retain high performing also bringing a more personalised, Van Es also suggested that should broaden their offerings by employees and increase productivity. strategic mobile approach to increase organisations use mobile apps and looking at new ways of updating He attributed a recent KPMG engagement with employees and technologies to ensure employees their clients’ infrastructure and study, which showed that 79 per appeal to new millennial workers. know the value of their contribution, enabling collaboration through cent of Australian CEOs are worried “This predominantly relies on reward and incentivise excellence in about how millennials’ differing corporate management taking an active their teams, and keep them updated mobility, but simultaneously, business needs would change the way role in their team’s communications and on important business developments. staying within the dimensions of

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Samsung Galaxy Note 7: A premium price for sub-par features At $1349 you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a laptop review, but no, this really is the price of Samsung’s new phone - Nick Ross and Chris Player explain.

ince the Note 5 (there’s no word appearing. We have not The back is covered in Gorilla S Note 6 – we’ve jumped to the struggled with typing on any other Glass version 5. While this sounds 7 to keep continuity with device (since the S7 Edge) as strong and looks good, we’re Galaxy S range nomenclature) the much as this. completely over having glass Note range has been transformed It’s a basic functionality fail and exteriors to phones: it’s just one into a fashion-conscious phone, we’re inclined to say, don’t buy this more thing to break. rather than an ugly-but-functional, phone without a case – just so you’ve The Note’s of old had plastic supreme professional tool. got something to hold onto at the crumple zones which would absorb We’re still quite sad about that. sides - this is ridiculous for a phone impact and protect the phone. The But is this any good? that costs over $1300. glass on the rear also makes the The Note 7 features a 5.7in, 1440 It’s not just typing that suffers, Note 7 particularly slippery (the S7 x 2560, 518ppi AMOLED display; because the software doesn’t had the same problem), whether in 64,4GB RAM; Exynos 8890 Octa-core register your fingers at the sides, your hand or pocket. This is another CPU plus Mali-T880 GPU; 16MP/5MP it also doesn’t register some reason for keeping it in a case. cameras; Android 6.0 Nougat; intentional screen presses at the The battery generally lasted a 3,500mAh fast charge battery; Iris Samsung Galaxy sides when you actually want to full day under reasonable usage – Scanner; Fingerprint reader; and a Note 7 make them. lots of internet and Facebook, MicroSD card slot. The device Olympics watching plus some map measures 154 x 74 x 8mm and navigation and a bit of gaming – weighs in at 169g. but not much longer. The insides are basically the Video was among the best we’ve same as the Samsung Galaxy S7 seen in some respects. Focusing is which launched six month’s ago, so fast, smooth, silent and accurate – it’s disappointing that a premium is unlike most competitors. It also did being charged for a chipset that’s a reasonable job at smoothing out looking long in the tooth. footsteps while walking around. Samsung’s Touchwiz operating Sharpness could be impressive environment sits atop standard although it was much better when Android without being too both the camera and the subject conspicuous but it does seem to were still. add some lag to proceedings on But the big letdown was a regular some occasions – but generally flickering during lighting changes – apps open near-instantly and we this was more of an issue indoors suffered few performance-related when moving between darker and issues in terms of speed. brighter areas. We found that the edge-to-edge A special mention needs to be screen could be infuriating. While made for low light. In a very dark the sides of the screen don’t curve child’s birthday disco, the screen down to the extent seen on the S7 acted like night-vision goggles – Edge, you’re constantly touching you could actually see more using the edges of the screen as there’s the camera than in real life which no bezel. is a huge difference to most The Samsung keyboard also digital cameras. seemed to have a slight delay when For this amount of money we registering input meaning we’d expect perfection but we don’t frequently experience the wrong have it here. „

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au COMMUNITY 61

Veeam delivers technical sneak peeks Nimble Storage names top A/NZ partners

Deloitte Consulting has taken out the Nimble Storage partner of the year award at its annual A/NZ partner conference. Blue Central took home the Australia northern region partner of the year gong and Onel Consulting won the Australia Southern region partner of the year prize. Solista’S Noel Allnutt received the most valuable player for sales award, while Datacom’S Philip Smith, took home the 'Most Valuable Player’ award. The New Zealand partner of the year award was awarded to Origin IT. BY CHRIS PLAYER

All the winners of the 2016 Nimble Storage A/NZ Awards

VeeamON Tour in Sydney Veeam recently hosted its annual VeeamON Tour in Sydney. The company’s customers and channel partners gathered to- gether for the event where Veeam showcased technical sneak peeks, insights and business scenarios to IT decision makers. BY HAFIZAH OSMAN

Google’s Renee Gamble Google staff educates attendees

Google Atmosphere Live Google’s Atmosphere Live was a forum for industry to discuss, educate and engage current and potential customers on the latest developments in Google’s workplace technology. The event was held in South Melbourne and featured Google’s James Snow and Renee Gamble, and Canva chief evangelist, Guy Kawasaki. BY CHRIS PLAYER

arnnet.com.au | SEPTEMBER 2016 | 62 COMMUNITY

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EDGE 2016 With headline keynotes and breakout sessions, shaping the theme of Grow Your Business, EDGE 2016 raised the bar for channel conferences. Partners also networked in structured sessions, 3 one-on-one meetings, activities, the EDGE Cup in golf, and memorable dinners. Photos by Maria Stefina. 2

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1. Dell panel session 2. Interactive breakout session 3. Winners of the EDGE Cup 2016 4. Partners on a trip to the Whitsundays 5. Alan Hodson (Dienst Consulting), Gavin Douglas (AWS), Stuart Speers (Enterprise IT), Zack Levy (Strut Digital) 6. Mark Ellis (Datacom), Jeremy Mitchell (Huawei), Maarten van Hattum (Datacom), Stephens Knights (Commulynx) , Leo Lynch (Huawei), Jared Hirst (Servers Australia) 7. Georgia Lloyd (Atmospheric), Matt Roberts (SAS IT), Jarrod Watson (Ingram Micro), Greg Flanagan (Plan B), Mike Russell (Origin IT), Kelly Raines (Acquire) 8. Michael Pratt (Dell), Scott Atkinson (BigAir), Jules Rumsey (Cloud Plus), Richard Mitton (Oriel)

| SEPTEMBER 2016 | arnnet.com.au

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APC BY SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC 55 INGRAM MICRO 7, IFC BROTHER 29 INTEL 25, 43 DELL 19, OFC KYOCERA 13, 15 9 DICKER DATA 9, 21 LENOVO OBC FIREEYE 51 OKI 59 HP 3 STORAGECRAFT 35 I-LAN 63

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