One dynamic currently every vendor is seeing in the market today are customers looking to sweat their assets due to the current economic pressures . margins are eroded and it just becomes a margin war to win the business .
Which technologies and innovations can make a difference to the channel market dynamics in the near future ?
AI deployments require two main components – massive compute power and storage – lots of storage ! Tintri ’ s parent company DDN have been a player in AI marketing for many years already delivering storage and data-management solutions at massive scale , collaborating with partners such as NVIDIA , whose GPUs power largescale AI compute environments .
Today , real AI is the reserve of the big technology companies , but as it enters the mainstream there will be demand for all organisation whatever size or market for AI deployments from research to production .
How can a channel partner disrupt the regional market and gain a leading competitive position ?
Differentiation and value-add ! Tintri ’ s product portfolio is massively differentiated and disruptive which gives partners the opportunity to step outside of the pack pushing the big technology brands , adding value through differentiation and TCO savings for the customer , ultimately meaning they are not competing with everyone else in the channel and as a result they can retain far more margin .
There are , unfortunately , quite a few vendors and resellers out there that are only interested in the sale but most customers these days look to the partner to add value as a SME and consult on which technologies they should be investing in , environmental health-checks and continuous touch .
Tintri witnesses the reality of this in their day-to-day business with successful partners that offers value-add often retain accounts for years and will be the first port of call for any pending refresh . Conversely , partners running a margin-based churn business run the risk of not being invited back to the table in the future .
Which non-competitive business do you admire for its channel drive and strategy ?
Darren , in particular , is impressed with Salesforce . com , which is not only a great solution and has gone to market via a fantastic channel and partner program that no matter what size or type of company you are , there are benefits , tools and incentives for all partners . He admires how Salesforce . com have created an eco-system of partners , meaning they will support you in whatever way you want to participate to sell , consult and implement sometimes bespoke solutions .
Which aspects of your job role do you find rewarding and which challenging ?
Darren finds great satisfaction in seeing partners win , since when they win , through working together , he and Tintri also wins ! Tintri is very often only 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 , knowing that through working with them to secure the data management component , he has helped them secure a much larger piece of business .
How do you best like to de-stress and re-charge off work ?
It is always the call of the outdoors . Cruising the canals of the UK at a snail ’ s pace where you get to see so many beautiful places or walking mile after mile and of course spending time with family and friends usually with a glass in his hand ! •
72 www . intelligenttechchannels . com