CHANNEL CHIEF
DARREN GROSS at Tintri finds satisfaction in seeing partners win , since when they win through working together , Tintri also wins ! Tintri is very often one part of the puzzle in any partner opportunity and it is always rewarding to have sight of the total opportunity and worth to the partner .
dDescribe your current job role and a summary of the business model of your organisation ? Darren Gross is the EMEA Channel Director for Tintri and is responsible for Tintri ’ s distributors and resellers across EMEA and has been with Tintri for nearly nine years . Tintri ’ s business model is 100 % channel so every transaction is executed with and via one of Tintri ’ s valued partners .
Since Tintri does not transact any direct business in EMEA , it works closely with channel partners to drive new and existing business from demand generation through to post-sales support .
What are your strengths and abilities that you bring to the above role ?
Tenacity , passion , enthusiasm , and belief ! Resellers and distributors have vendors
Ultimately , it is the responsibility of the channel team to convince partners to include the vendor in their solutions from both a technical aspect as well as how they can make margin . stalking them every day to add to their channel network , so passion and enthusiasm for vendor solutions and depth of knowledge is critical to success for any channel director . Ultimately , it is the responsibility of the channel team to convince partners to include the vendor in their solutions from both a technical aspect as well as how they can make margin .
He has to be a trusted advisor to partners and since Darren also manages certain strategic accounts across EMEA this end user touch helps him in a player , coach role given his experience in managing at the end customer level . Diplomacy and honesty are also key strengths given there will always be channel conflicts to manage .
Please describe the opportunities and challenges that exist for channel partners in your market ?
One dynamic currently every vendor is seeing in the market today are customers looking to sweat their assets due to the current economic pressures . Extending support and maintenance agreements for just one more year , adding additional capacity where they can .
One of the biggest challenges in the market for channel partners is the overdistribution of big technology brands . Tintri competes hand in hand with their partners typically seeing between 5 – 10 resellers pushing the big brands , all competing for the same business . This is great news for the big technology brand partners as they will typically always secure a seat at the table .
However for other channel partner trying to win the business it is not good news as
Darren Gross , EMEA Channel Director , Tintri
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS 71