More than ever, there is a tremendous market opportunity to capitalize on additional growth and expand the addressable IT market. But it’s not going to get there with the status quo.
Over the past decade and particularly over the past two years of extreme digital disruption, technology has become much more tailored to fit complex business demands of end users. As a result, channel customers need a partner that has the scale, scope and relationships to compile hardware, software and services together into a single business model.
As technology evolves, historically physical delivery models are becoming increasingly virtual. While there will always be a need for the traditional linear distributor, customers want a partner, or in this case, a solutions aggregator, that can provide more than just technology; they need someone who can play a bigger role in solving end user challenges. Solutions aggregators fill that role of designing, integrating complementary components, adding value along the way, and then delivering and implementing these solutions to customers.
Generally, they are going beyond the brand of the vendor and assembling solutions to bring tools, processes and platforms together which allows our partners to create their own offerings and go to market as leaders in their field. Services, like solution design, integration, implementation, customization and peer-to-peer enablement communities play a vital role in the solutions aggregation model, helping to speed time-to-market, reduce costs and increase profitability for channel partners.
The beginnings of solutions aggregation started about ten years ago when the first dedicated hyperconverged infrastructure solution was brought to market. This sparked the trend of bringing specialist vendors together to form a single high-performing solution that consists of servers, storage, software and services. Since then, solutions aggregation has become a critical need and competitive differentiator for partners to expand their value.