REGIONAL CHANNELS
VENDOR PARTNER SOLUTIONS
Dassault Systems The vendor provides 3D applications for modelling , simulation , social , collaboration , information intelligence , real time experience . The applications include 3D Experience , Catia , Solidworks , Enovia , Delmia , Simulia , Geovia , Exalead , 3D Via , Biovia , Netvibes , 3D Excite .
Oracle NetSuite Oracle NetSuite global business unit is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oracle . Key product groups include Enterprise Resource Planning , Global Business Management , OneWorld , Customer Relationship Management , NetSuite Professional Services Automation , NetSuite OpenAir , Omnichannel Commerce , SuiteCommerce , Business Intelligence , Experience .
IBM Security IBM security services fall under three principal heads : security transformation services , security operations and response , information risk and protection . Key products include : IBM QRadar Network Security , IBM QRadar Security Intelligence Platform , IBM BigFix Endpoint Protection , IBM X-Force
licensing . In the long term , cloud based licensing will be more lucrative than perpetual and annual licensing because of the significantly higher volumes of automatic licensing renewals .
“ The cloud model is completely different from the on-premises model . The cloud model is more on the long-term . This is another model of financing and channel partners understand that on the long-term they will make probably more money than what they are doing today ,” he explains optimistically . “ This works for IBM and for the business partners who have the competency .”
IBM ’ s software suite works across both on-premises and in the cloud seamlessly and provides one view of the system . For
Exchange , IBM Resilient Incident Response Platform , IBM i2 Enterprise Insight Analysis , IBM Security App Exchange , IBM X-Force Incident Response and Intelligence Services , IBM Cloud Security , IBM MaaS360 , IBM Identity and Access Management , IBM Guardium , IBM AppScan , IBM Trusteer .
IBM analytics IBM analytics solutions fall under the following sub categories : Analytics and data management , Business Analytics , Cloud data services , Data and Information Governance , Data Science , Enterprise content management , Hadoop and Spark , Hybrid Database and Warehouses , IBM Analytics partnerships , Line of business .
an end-customer using an IBM solution , the software could be on-premises or on the cloud . The only difference is where the data is residing for the end-customer and it could be partly in the cloud and partly on-premises , if required .
Whether it is analytics , middleware or security , Gulf Software Distribution is enabling its channel partners to offer their end-customers the choice of a hybrid approach , in addition to on-site and pure cloud Saas , since that is what IBM does best . Mazières points out that the end customer does not need to worry about the hybrid cloud integration . “ This is a unique value of IBM .”
“ These are not box moving projects ,” he continues . This requires a business partner with a proper level of education and this is where we are helping them .”
Channel partners who are ready to begin a hybrid cloud journey with their end-customers need to be educated and certified . Gulf Software Distribution is training and enabling its channel partners to get certified to begin the cloud journey with their end-customers . They can also use skilled resources from IBM and Gulf Business Machines to support the enablement of their channel partners . “ My mandate is to recruit partners and to enable them properly so they can be selling these complex solutions to the market .”
Other than the challenges of cloud partner enablement , cloud partner certification , and up-skilling , does Gulf Software Distribution face any other challenges in today ’ s regional marketplace ? There is at least one other area that a software value added distributor can face an uphill task and this is in financing . Unlike hardware and similar capital assets , software is intangible and cannot be automatically depreciated . Hence , it is not an easy purchase to be financially leased .
“ The hardware business in terms of financing is different from the software business , completely different . You cannot make a parallel between hardware financing and software financing , because there are no assets .” However , for the current ecosystem of 50 + channel partners , Mazières has always been able to find a financial solution , when there is a face to face discussion to close the deal . “ We always find a solution with our partners who are looking for deferring some payments .”
If Mazières was given a million dollars to invest into Gulf Software Distribution , where would he put it . “ I would invest it in people because our value proposition is complex solutions .” The solutions from IBM , Oracle NetSuite and Dassault Systems are complex implementation solutions , for which partners need to be educated , trained and certified . Suitable investment in such enablement can only help channel partners gain their market share .
24 Issue 05 INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS