TALKING POINT

Vibhu Kapoor, Regional Vice President – Middle East, Africa and India, Epicor

Vibhu Kapoor, Regional Vice President – Middle East, Africa and India, Epicor, discusses how the rapid growth of data centre infrastructure across the Middle East is reshaping channel expectations and creating new opportunities for partners to evolve into strategic orchestrators of complex digital projects.

At a surface level, data centre projects resemble an extension of existing channel opportunities that involve large volumes of electrical, networking and infrastructure components delivered over time. But in practice, they operate at a completely different level of co-ordination and precision. Multiple systems must come together in tightly sequenced phases, and a delay in a single component can disrupt entire project timelines, with immediate financial and operational consequences.

This fundamentally reshapes customer expectations. It is no longer enough to confirm product availability. Customers need certainty around when materials will arrive, how they align to project milestones and where potential risks may emerge. Traditional operating models, where orders are managed in isolation, communication is fragmented and inventory is treated as static, introduce too much uncertainty. At this scale, the channel can no longer get by with simply fulfilling demand. It is orchestrating

Materials are often committed months in advance, and without a clear view of future demand, it becomes easy to misallocate stock or underestimate requirements.

outcomes, and that shift marks the next evolution of the channel ecosystem in the Middle East.

What makes the data centre surge so significant is not just the volume of opportunity, but the type of capability it demands and, in turn, develops. To operate effectively, channel partners are being pushed to build a far more integrated view of their business. Procurement, inventory, sales and logistics can no longer function as separate workflows; they must be aligned to the realities of each individual project. This creates a level of end-to-end visibility that allows teams to understand not just what is happening today, but what is required at each stage of delivery.

Long project timelines add another layer of complexity. Materials are often committed months in advance, and without a clear view of future demand, it becomes easy to misallocate stock or underestimate requirements. The result is a familiar but costly issue: inventory that appears available but is already committed elsewhere. Addressing this requires a shift towards forward-looking planning, as partners must anticipate demand, account for long lead times and identify potential supply constraints before they impact delivery.

At the same time, these projects generate a constant flow of operational data. Supplier performance, delivery timelines and project milestones all provide signals that, when properly understood, can improve execution. Channel partners who develop the ability to translate this data into actionable insight move from reactive problem-solving to proactive decision-making.

Taken together, these capabilities of end-to-end visibility, predictive planning and insight-driven operations represent a meaningful step forward. They not only enable success in data centre projects, but also create a more advanced, resilient operating model for the channel as a whole. •

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