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CHANNEL | BUSINESS | TECHNOLOGY | COMMUNITY
APRIL 2016 | Vol. 21 No. 3APRIL 2016 | V lV 21 N 3APRIL 2016 | Vol.VV 21 No.NN 3
CONTRIBUTORS
MARTIN ANDERSON
BARRY ASSAF
GREG BARNES
JAMES BYRNE
PHIL CAMERON
BRIAN CORRIGAN
MADHU DUBEY
MARK FIORETTO
DEAN HODGSON
MARK JONES
WILLIAM KESTIN
NITIN KUCHARA
NINA MCMAHON
PIP MARLOW
KEITH MASTERTON
MOHEB MOSES
MARK RANSOM
FRANK SKIFFINGTON
JOHN WALTERS
JAMIE WARNER
RHODY BURTON
JAMES HENDERSON
SCOTT ATKINSON
RUSSELL BASKERVILLE
RAPHAEL BLANCHET
RUSSELL FRANCIS
BEN TOWN
IBM’s channel solution
RHODY BURTON
THE HOT SPOT
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arnnet.com.au | APRIL 2016 |
CONTENTS 1
April
REGULARS
6 News
10 Appointments
48 Networking
49 Storage
50 Telecommunications
51 Acquisitions
58 Products
60 Apps
61 Community
COLUMNS
2 Editorial
Tipping the next big thing is rather like playing needle
in a haystack. Security, unified communications,
Internet of Things - they all have friends.
4 Guest Editor
Brian Corrigan reflects on his lengthy stint
at ARN as editor, then editorial director, from
December 2003 to September 2008.
8 Partner round-up
As Tasmanian ICT companies enter a period of
maturity, the development and implementation
of a coherent industry wide strategy is of critical
importance to inform strategic pathways for
growth and development.
12 The hot list
Each month this column looks at partners on the
upward move. These are the companies to watch.
14 MSP/Compensation
Noted analyst, Moheb Moses, explains why
you can’t change your business if you don’t
change compensation.
15 Thought leadership
Mark Jones says forget how to be a great leader but
instead ask why are you a leader in the first place?
16 25 years
The tale of how distie giant and market leader,
Tech Pacific, was eventually sold in 2003, reads
like a chess game. Mike Gee follows the moves as
we look back on 25 years of ARN.
46 Words from the wise
Hall of Fame inductees, Phil Cameron and Pip
Marlow, offer valuable pointers and insights for
all channel players in 2016.
56 The workplace
Having a pool party as your next work function?
Make sure you encourage good behaviour and
responsible drinking. Madhu Dubey explains why.
INTERVIEWS
20 IBM’s channel solution
IBM A/NZ director of global business partners,
Rhody Burton, sat down with ARN in a very candid
and personal discussion about her journey into
IT, lessons learned along the way, and some
personal insights and even unknown facts.
30 Scoring goals with ARN
James Henderson has crossed the Tasman to
take up the reins as Editor at ARN after a stint
running Reseller News in New Zealand.
FEATURES
24 Buy vs. Build? The changing
dynamics of the datacentre
EMC and VCE opened up the Buy vs. Build debate
alongside key distributor partners and resellers
at an exclusive ARN Roundtable.
34 IoT and Big Data:
the disruption starts here
ARN deputy editor, HAFIZAH OSMAN, takes a look
at the two biggest market disruptors for 2016 -
IoT and Big Data - and highlights the growing and
evolving partner opportunity.
40 Flash Forward:
The storage evolution
This roundtable considered the latest trends
in the storage market, highlighted where flash
technology makes sense, and examined the market
opportunities for businesses and service providers.
52 The future of IT
It’s a software-driven, open source world, and
we’re just living in it, according to bernard
golden, who delivers four tenets for the future
of the IT industry.
3020
24
40

| APRIL 2016 | arnnet.com.au
2 EDITORIAL
Needle in a haystack
I
t was a bit like playing needle
in a haystack for real. There
we were at the 2016 Judges’
Networking Lunch, the opener for
the 2016 ARN ICT Industry Awards
season, and the more I chatted,
the more I became aware of one
fundamental thing: Most people
were betting on different horses
when it came to the next big IT play.
And I mean the ‘anything but Cloud’
play. The truth is, if you aren’t making
a Cloud play by now, then maybe
you shouldn’t be. There are lots of
people on the Cloud offering every
imaginable play. There is little room
for little guys trying to get a toe-hold.
At least one industry analyst is
prepared to bet that sometime in the
next 12 months, the Cloud fallout
will begin as small companies,
unable to deal with small margins,
simply go under or bail out.
Smart start-ups are positioining
themselves around Cloud add-ons,
extras, new solutions, cleverware.
The big boys will slug this one
out. Let’s face it, even the disties are
giving it a go.
AN EYE FOR SECURITY
So where to look for that elusive
money-making sector that offers
opportunity? I had a fascinating chat
at the Lunch with FireEye Regional
Alliance Manager, Chris Barton, who
is seeing his company deliver stellar
growth (and I mean stellar) in a
sector that can’t possibly not grow.
Let’s face it: Data, data, and more
data equals never ending increased
need for security. Every business needs
security and as we agreed, not cheapo
security where the holes are so big the
hackers don’t even need to hack. They
evolution of the workplace, driven
by the rise of the digital office,
and unified communications
in particular. “Without emerging
unified communications technology,
workplace evolution and the shift
to remote working would not be
possible,” he noted. So pencil in UCC
as an area worth exploring.
AND THEN THERE’S IOT…
The perennial Internet of Things
was muttered about as a strong
possibility and lots of big, big money
is currently going into IoT. Has it
arrived? No. Will it eventually arrive?
Well, yes, logically, it has to as both
business and home become more
and more technologically dependent.
So, as one person said, start testing
the water now, find a nice pool, and
start wading in. But be careful.
You know, it all reminds me of a
comment made to me years ago by
a very savvy industry guru who said
that when disruption and confusion
reign and infrastructure is being
remoulded, opportunity is at its
greatest. I’m going with that now.
NEW EDITOR
Finally, I’d like to welcome James
Henderson to the position of ARN
Editor. He will be the face of ARN and
a contact point for many of you. As
such, this will be my last editorial.
It’s been fun for five years. Now
James can start scratching his head
and pondering the mysteries of the
channel in search of some wise words
each month. I have no doubt that he
will succeed.
Mike Gee
Editorial Director, ARN
just walk in and take what they want. So
a security play would be good, although
Barton did make an interesting
observation when he said that
perhaps the future in security looks so
lucrative that the big boys like Google
and Microsoft might well want to come
and play. That remains to be seen.
HOW ABOUT UNIFIED
COMMUNICATIONS?
Somebody else was a big proponent
of unified communications and
collaboration (UCC). Now I admit I
am not the biggest know-all when it
comes to UCC but rather fortuitously,
and coincidentally, that morning I
had written a story about Ingram
Micro in the US acquiring NETXUSA,
a UCC value-added distributor
focused on VOIP solutions and IP
phones for telecommunications
service providers and resellers.
It was an interesting buy. Ingram
said, in a statement, that NETXUSA
complemented its established UCC
business, bringing a strong portfolio
of IP communications products from
companies such as Cisco, Digium,
Edgewater, Polycom and Yealink.
This got me thinking that Ingram
wasn’t making a UCC add-on move
unless it saw some real potential in
this market. And where the big boys
roam, the rest of you should be taking
notice because opportunity beckons.
Consider this: 2014 research
findings reported a 26 per cent
increase in open remote job postings
compared to the prior year, with hiring
managers expecting many more to
come over the next five years.
Wavelink MD, lan Rubin, told
Reseller News NZ recently that
this change reflects the continuing
”It all reminds me of a comment made to me years ago by a very savvy
industry guru who told me that when disruption and confusion reign and
infrastructure is being remoulded, opportunity is at its greatest”

4 25 YEARS/GUEST EDITOR
Y
ou know those
moments when
something takes
you back to a different
time and place in your life?
Well I had one recently
as I sat in a North Sydney
boardroom waiting for a
client. I was checking the
tech news when I saw that
Ingram Micro was being
sold to a Chinese investment
company for $US6 billion.
Suddenly I was
transported back to my old
desk in St Leonards, it was
2004 and we were breaking
news that Ingram Micro was
acquiring its biggest rival in
the region, Tech Pacific. Could
that really be 12 years ago?
A lot has happened in the
Australian IT industry since
then but it seems the more
things change, the more
they stay the same. Phil Sim,
another former ARN editor,
noted in these pages recently
that Dell’s direct model and
online competitors were
supposed to kill the channel
back in the dotcom days.
We know now that the
channel adjusted and this
never happened. In my time
as editor, Cloud computing
sounded the alarm bells but,
once again, smart channel
operators have found a way
to stay relevant as the world
around them changes.
As you’d expect in an
industry defined by change,
there has been plenty of
Staying relevant as the world
around you changes
Brian Corrigan, Guest Editor
Brian
Corrigan,
Guest Editor
A lot has happened in the Australian IT industry … but it
seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.
consolidation. Rumours of
Express Data being up for sale
were never too far away but
few would have considered
Dicker Data as a potential
suitor. Chalk and cheese
doesn’t even begin to describe
that cultural match up but
David Dicker knows a thing
or two about this business. I
would never bet against him.
Looking back, ARN also
changed significantly during
my spell in the editor’s chair.
Our weekly page counts
shrank dramatically as
advertisers pushed more of
their spending online, but
we became a more active
part of the community as
our business reacted to
changing market conditions.
We formed stronger
relationships with industry
leaders by starting a series
of roundtable talkfests and,
encouraged by this success,
launched an annual awards
evening that has gone from
strength to strength. I’m
immensely proud of the
team that launched the ARN
IT Industry Awards.
When I left ARN for
The Australian Financial
Review I never completely
lost sight of the channel.
Listed service providers
like Data#3, Oakton, SMS
Management & Technology
and UXC were on my beat.
Now, I’m running the
content marketing division
of Spectrum Group, a tech-
focused communications
agency. In a funny twist of
fate, IDG Communications
has relocated since I left the
business and I’m now based
in the same building as the
current ARN team. It’s a
small world.
Brian Corrigan was Editor and then
Editorial Director of ARN from December
2003 to September 2008.
3OBSERVATIONS
1
SMART CHANNEL
OPERATORS
HAVE FOUND A
WAY TO STAY
RELEVANT AS THE
WORLD AROUND
THEM CHANGES
2
IN AN INDUSTRY
DEFINED BY
CHANGE, THERE
HAS BEEN
PLENTY OF
CONSOLIDATION
3
WE BECAME A
MORE ACTIVE
PART OF THE
COMMUNITY AS
OUR BUSINESS
REACTED TO
CHANGINGMARKET
CONDITIONS

6 NEWS/DISTRIBUTION
T
he dust had barely settled on
the shock sale of Ingram Micro
to Chinese company, Tianjin
Tianhai, for $US6 billion, when rumours
gathered rapidly that oft-mooted but never
concluded sale of Distribution Central was
on the cards and about to drop.
A Friday of whispers turned into a
Monday morning of confirmation, as
March 14 opened with an early email
from Arrow vice-president, global
communications, John Hourigan,
announcing the company had finally
snared the offspring of Scott Frew and
Nick Verykios.
Finally! We’ve asked Scott and Nick five
or six times in the past two years, ‘Are you
selling to Arrow?’ It had been the most
consistent of rumours. And, to be fair, Frew
has always said, ‘If somebody walks in the
door tomorrow with the right amount of
money, I’ll sell.’ This time he did.
Arrow was suitably happy: "The addition
of Distribution Central to our presence in
the region expands and strengthens Arrow’s
business in the value-added distribution
marketplace,"
It’s president of Global Enterprise
Computing Solutions, Sean Kerins, said.
"This acquisition supports our strategy to
expand Arrow’s portfolio and build strategic
capabilities to help meet the evolving needs
of our customers."
The buyout follows Arrow's acquisition
of Observatory Crest in October 2014,
a distributor of IT security solutions
and services based in Sydney. "The
combination of Distribution Central
and our capabilities from the earlier
Observatory Crest acquisition makes
Arrow the leading value-added distributor
in the region," Kerins added.
JEWEL IN THE CROWN
But the real jewel in this crown, as far as
Arrow was concerned, was announced on
February 11 when Hewlett Packard Enterprise
– after an extensive review of its Australian
processes – chose Distribution Central as
one of its distribution partners for 2016 and
beyond. A month later, the DC deal was done.
The gossip mill had Ingram Micro (a few
days before it was sold to China), Avnet,
Arrow, and Westcon, in the queue to buy DC
depending on who was on the end of the
phone. But if this was horse race, Arrow
was Black Caviar – unlikely to be beaten to
the prize.
So an iconic Australian distie bites
the dust. But at the ARN Judges’ Lunch,
the real question being bantered around
was ‘What happens next?’ And ‘Where is
distribution heading?’
One long-time industry observer confided,
“Every Australian distributor, bar two, is
up for sale right now. But the price tags
are too high. Wait and see what happens
though when the prices come down a little.”
FURTHER CONSOLIDATION
No matter who you talk to, it seems that
further consolidation is inevitable. The
massive Chinese companies have started
2016 with $23.8 billion of outbound deals so
far this year, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg. After just 48 days of 2016, that’s
already closing in on the record of $US25.6
billion announced during the whole of last
year. China watchers say it is just the start.
Frew questions the current distributor
landscape, asking for definition around the
term “value-add”. “What does it mean?”
he asks. “Distributors now say they are
value-add but what do they add? Most have
no engineering resources for example,
and resellers work out quickly whether the
story stands up or not. Yes, distributors
need a good vendor to sell, but it’s also
about wrapping all of those things around
a product that will save and make resellers
money. And that’s all it boils down to.”
HEADY ROAD
Over 12 years, Distribution Central burned
a heady road. “When Distribution Central
opened up, Ingram Micro was hitting a few
billions, Westcon was hitting around half a
billion and all of the big boys were already
in play,” he recalled. “There was no room
for a distributor to come in but we did and
we made it to number six.”
Frew believes the future for his now-
ended project is bright: “Distribution
Central will have no problem shooting
through the $450 million mark this year and
with Arrow’s backing, I see no reason why
that won’t continue to grow in the future."
But he won’t be here to see that. He was
set to leave Australia on April 12 for a new
home in Surrey, England, where he will run
his real pet project, iasset.com – a potential
billion-dollar baby. Verykios will stay for now.
And so the distribution landscape
settles once again, but for how long? The
smart money says not long at all.
Arrows buys DC - what does
it mean?
Frew’s bottom line
“The reason I picked Arrow to be the acquirer is
because they need everyone of our staff on the ground
in Australia. If one of the local global distributors had
been the acquirer, it would have destroyed operations
and accounts and that was a key consideration.”
Is this true?
“Every Australian distributor, bar two, is up for sale right
now. But the price tags are too high. Wait and see what
happens though when the prices come down a little.”
Mike Gee and James Henderson
Scott Frew Nick Verykios

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8 PARTNER ROUND-UP
Tasmania - challenges, growth
Tasmanian-based IT service providers and tech innovators experience similar challenges to other states
in terms of attracting IT skills and retaining talent. But securing useful, experienced and current advice
for their tech investments, is another issue they face. JULIA TALEVSKI speaks to partners about some
of the opportunities and challenges they’re facing this year.
William Kestin
TASICT CEO
Tasmania is
experiencing an IT
renaissance of
creativity and
expansion at the
moment. The industry is
growing, helped by the cabling
underneath Bass Strait and the
state receiving the nbn roll-out
before all other states. This is
providing opportunities for
remote areas to sustain
start-ups, which encourages
companies to enjoy regional
lifestyles while staying connected
to the rest of the world.
Whether it is a Launceston
IT business surpassing the $100
million sales mark or a Hobart
company, whose software has
just been purchased by the
largest bank in the US, many
success stories show Tasmania
punching above its weight.
However, the challenges
for Tasmania include the lack
of properly educated and
trained staff coming out of our
university and TAFE to fulfil
the expansion needs of some
companies and the lack of VC
companies, and in part the
government, properly investing
in the growth of our industry.
David Moore
I HATE MY PC FOUNDER
As a mobile
computer support
business servicing
homes and SMBs,
the main
challenges I see in the
Tasmanian market is the
ongoing struggle to obtain
decent Internet connectivity.
While parts of Tasmania
have been early to wonderful
speeds, most of the people I
deal with are struggling with
ADSL (and not even ADSL2+),
old satellite, or patchy
Next G services.
Those who have been
lucky enough to get onto nbn
services are often treated to
poor customer service. I often
get called out to a new nbn
installation only to find that
it isn’t actually working; then
it becomes a battle to get an
nbn technician back.
The attractiveness of
Tasmania’s low population
density is also its Achilles
heel. It can be difficult and
uneconomical to get decent
service and product delivery
to people in more remote
locations. It’s kind of sad to say,
but simply by being punctual,
honest, following up and
showing empathy, I’ve been
able to build a good customer
base in a rural area.
Nina McMahon
ELAN PROJECTS LEADING DIRECTOR
This year has
been all about
growing our
PopUp Wi-Fi
product. We work
right around Australia, bringing
Wi-Fi for events like Stereosonic,
Dark MOFO, Gympie Music
Muster and Ad:Tech. Companies
like Sony, Boost Mobile, Nissan
and Vodka O sponsor the Wi-Fi
that we customise for them. We
also bring fast Internet for
crowds anywhere.
While our company is
Tasmanian-based, 12 months
ago one of our co-founders,
Linden Kurth, moved to Sydney
to service the mainland.
Our clients are production
companies, festival, event and
conference organisers.
We face two key challenges
in running our business from
Tasmania. The first is securing
investment to scale PopUp Wi-
Fi. This is to meet an already-
surging demand for our
services nationally. The other,
is particular to our business
model and relates to a lack of
Tasmanian population density
– there are simply fewer
events with sufficient budget to
engage with us.
We are constantly staggered
by the enormous disparity
between the affluence on the
mainland and in Tasmania.
Basing an office in Sydney has
definitely been the difference
between sinking or swimming.
They are wealthier and always
hungry for the next innovation
that will give their event a
further point of difference
and profitability. People in
Tasmania still ask us “does it
work?”. 200 events under our
belts, yet we frequently get
emails from people we’ve never
met simply booking the service
in Sydney.
As Tasmanian ICT companies
enter a period of maturity, the
development and implementation
of a coherent industry wide
strategy is of critical importance
to inform strategic pathways
for growth and development
- TASICT AND IN-TELLINC
of Tasmanian ICT companies produced a
product or service for sale in ICT markets
of
ppro58% p
uct or service for s
- TASICT INDUSTRY SURVEY RESULTS

PARTNER ROUND-UP 9
On a different note, we
have noticed an interesting
trend taking place. Our
mainland clients are generally
enthusiastic and supportive
that we are a Tasmanian
Startup. “Brand Tasmania”
seems to extend as far. It has
been particularly noticeable in
the really positive attitude that
mainland and even overseas
clients demonstrate towards
PopUp Wi-Fi being founded and
based in Hobart.
I think a key issue to
address, in order for the tech
and innovation landscape in
Tasmania to flourish, is for
Tasmanians to identify with
the attitude that others are
increasingly gravitating towards
us. The Hobart waterfront area
is growing some of Tasmania’s
most exciting ICT companies
and provides the opportunity
to grow the Tasmanian Tech
brand through trade missions
and through local awareness of
what it all means to us.
Doing business is great in
Tassie, and getting better if
you’re clever and lucky enough
to have a revenue-based
start-up. If I was hunting for
investment for an idea, I’d
head elsewhere.
Martin Anderson
IONATA DIGITAL MANAGING DIRECTOR
As a Web and
app development
agency, the main
challenge we
face is
continuing to find suitably
experienced staff as we grow
our team.
Tasmania is a fantastic
place to live and work but
there is a reduced pool of
experienced candidates for
positions as they become
available. As an agency, we
are looking to address this by
engaging with local education
institutions to meet the next
crop of developers and also
recruiting team members
from interstate. We have
recently added team members
who were keen to move to
Tasmania from Melbourne
and Adelaide.
The great thing about
working on the Internet
is that it allows us to
service customers all
around Australia and as
far away as New Zealand
and Malaysia. We help
people sell skin care
products online in Newcastle
and manage public
transport ticketing systems
in Christchurch.
Although our customers
are spread far and wide we
have made the decision not to
off-shore development work
and to focus on building a
dynamic team of developers
and creative problem solvers
in our Hobart office. We
value the creative spark that
comes from collaborating
to solve problems which is
why we continue to seek out
best available talent to join
our team.
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10 NEWS/APPOINTMENTS
EMC’s Chris Trevitt joins HPE
Former EMC A/NZ general manager of
channel sales, Chris Trevitt, has joined Hewlett
Packard Enterprise (HPE) as its director –
indirect, South Pacific Enterprise Group.
Trevitt commenced his role on March 29.
Trevitt takes over from Kaaren Lewis,
who held on to that role until January 29.
Lewis was the company’s channel, SMB,
and alliances indirect sales director. The
company’s SMB country manager, Nicholas
Lambrou, took on Lewis’ responsibilities, in
addition to his, up till Trevitt’s employment.
As for the EMC A/NZ channel business, it
has been managed by A/NZ general manager of service provider,
systems integrators and alliances, Mark Fioretto, and Brett
Harris was named A/NZ general manager, mid-market, inside
sales and distribution since Trevitt’s departure.
Trevitt was with EMC for about 10 years, starting out as a
commercial account manager (between 2005 and 2008) before
moving up the ranks and becoming A/NZ general manager of
channel sales.
Prior to being EMC A/NZ general manager of channel sales, a
role he was in for almost three years, he was its National Australia
Bank enterprise account director for a little over three years.
He also previously spent about seven years at IBM as its
account manager.
- HAFIZAH OSMAN
FRED VIET JOINS
MICROSOFT
Microsoft has hired Fred
Viet to head up its Surface
commercial channel in A/NZ.
Viet previously spent more
than 11 years at Lenovo,
most recently as its A/NZ
channel director. He first
started at Lenovo as a global
account manager before
taking on the role as a sales
director for large accounts.
WAYNE ANDREWS
STEPS DOWN
FROM CSC
Computer Sciences
Corporation (CSC) chief
financial officer and chief
operating officer, Wayne
Andrews, is stepping down
from his position after
more than three years with
the company. Andrews is
being replaced by CSC’s
finance director in Asia,
Stuart Adams, who will be
relocating from Singapore to
Australia to take on the role.
CAPGEMINI A/NZ
APPOINTS NICOLAS
AIDOUD AS CEO
Capgemini has named
Nicolas Aidoud as its A/NZ
CEO.AidoudsucceedsDeepak
Nangia,whowillmovetotake
on the role of chief customer
officer for Asia-Pacific and
the Middle East and assist
the executive chairman
in expanding Capgemini’s
footprint in this region.
EMMA ROGERS
LEAVES AWS FOR
SERVICENOW
ServiceNow has named
Emma Rogers as its
Asia-Pacific and Japan
corporate communications
director. Rogers joins
ServiceNow from Amazon
Web Services (AWS),
where she held a number
of roles – she was public
relations manager for
almost three years and
Asia-Pacific analyst
relations senior manager
for more than two years.
PETER BRADY JOINS
KASPERSKY LAB
Kaspersky Lab has
appointed Peter Brady as
its new general manager.
Brady replaces Andrew
Mamonitis, who has since
taken on a director role at
distributor, Hemisphere
Technologies. In this role,
Brady will be responsible
for developing Kaspersky
Lab’s strategic business
plan for the A/NZ region,
and building partnerships.
COMMVAULT
APPOINTS NEW
VP FOR APJ
Commvault has appointed
Owen Taraniuk as its new
vice-president of APJ. In
the new role, Taraniuk will
be responsible for driving
growth.Taraniukhasalready
launched a transformation
program, which will see a
realignmentofthecompany’s
sales functions and partner
engagement model.
DROPBOX HIRES
FIRST LOCAL AND
ASIACHANNELCHIEFS
Dropbox has made two new
executive appointments
in A/NZ and Asia. Former
channel and alliances
manager at Infor, Greg
Kieser, has been named
head of partner sales A/
NZ at Dropbox and the
company has chosen
Marcus Low to be its head
of channels in APJ. The
two appointments will
drive channel strategy and
execution for each area of
the company’s focus.
BULLETPROOF
APPOINTS AAKASH
GANDHI
Bulletproof has hired
Aakash Gandhi as its
new general manager of
business development
and partners. In his
newly created role, he
will report to director
of sales and marketing,
Mark Randall, and will be
responsible for leading
Bulletproof’s sales team
as well as dealing with
the increasing demand for
Cloud services.
GORDON GAKOVIC
LEADS SOFTWARE AG
Software AG has
appointed Gordon Gakovic
as managing director
for its A/NZ operations.
Based in Melbourne,
Gakovic is responsible for
managing and executing
Software AG’s commercial
initiatives and marketing
strategies for the local
market. Gakovic will also
focus on strengthening
and expanding the
company’s footprint
across the region.
MILNE TAKES ON UXC
RED ROCK CEO POST
Philip Milne has been
named as the new CEO of
UXC Red Rock. He takes
on the post from Jonathan
Rubinsztein, who left the
company in January to
join Infomedia (ASX:IFM)
as its new global chief
executive. Milne will
be responsible for
leading the team to grow
the business.
IN BRIEF
VMware replaces John Donovan
with Kerrie-Anne Turner
VMware has appointed Kerrie-Anne Turner
as its A/NZ head of channels and general
business. Turner’s first day in the office was
February 15.
She replaces John Donovan, who departed
the VMware A/NZ business in November last
year and joined ForgeRock as its new A/NZ
and ASEAN regional vice-president.
With a 25-year career in the information
technology sector, including 15 years
with software company Symantec, and
holding both global and regional senior
executive roles, Turner brings to VMware
a comprehensive management and
leadership skillset and the strong industry
experience required to help continue the
company’s current trajectory into 2016.
Before joining VMware, she held dual
roles of vice-president Asia-Pacific and managing director Australia
at StayinFront and was responsible for the company’s strategic
direction, its operational productivity and sales growth targets in the
Asia-Pacific region. She held these positions for more than six years.
Prior to that, Turner was the A/NZ managing director at
MessageLabs for more than a year. She was also an Asia-Pacific
advisory board member at the company.
- HAFIZAH OSMAN
EMC: 2005 –
JANUARY 2016
IBM: 1997 – 2004
CAREER
STAYINFRONT:
OCTOBER 2009 –
FEBRUARY 2016
MESSAGELABS:
AUGUST 2008 –
SEPTEMBER 2009
STAYINFRONT: JUNE
2007 – AUGUST 2008
SYMANTEC: 1995 –
MAY 2007
CAREER

12 NEWS/BORN IN THE CLOUD
The hot list
Empired
Russell Baskerville
MANAGING DIRECTOR
NUMBER OF STAFF: more than 900
AGE OF COMPANY: 17 years
(was established in 1999 in Western
Australia, and listed on the ASX since 2007)
> PRODUCTS/SOLUTIONS IT BRINGS TO
MARKET: Empired’s core solution offerings
are in Cloud, enterprise mobility, big data,
and business analytics. These offerings
are delivered via three interactive business
streams: infrastructure and Cloud services;
consulting and application development; and
business and productivity solutions. Together
they provide extensive breadth of service
and expertise, and a range of services to
provide ‘end-to-end’ advice and solutions.
> BUSINESS DIFFERENTIATOR: We believe
we can leverage technology to deliver
tomorrow’s advantage today for our clients.
Dedication to this purpose, supported by
initiative, innovation, and growth, underpins
our value proposition and ability to deliver
high-quality business solutions. We
proudly boast a set of values and brand
commitments that define who we are
and what our stakeholders expect. These
have shaped an organisational personality
that we believe underpins exceptional
client experiences.
> FUTURE PLANS: We will invest in growth
and innovative services, with a clear focus
across the east coast of Australia. Our
investments will expand our capability in
data and IoT-related services and modern
applications, and leverage Cloud platforms.
> KEY MESSAGE TO THE CHANNEL IN 2016:
Put your people first, invest in innovation,
and evolve your services. Do this and our
industry, our clients, and all associated
stakeholders will enjoy great success.
BigAir Group
Scott Atkinson
GROUP CLOUD AND
MANAGED SERVICES CTO
AGE OF COMPANY: 14 years
(is publicly listed on the ASX)
MARKET: The BigAir Group is a national
business-focused ICT provider delivering
the latest Cloud-based solutions, managed
services, and network infrastructure.
We have our own national wireless
telecommunications network and
Cloud infrastructure.
> BUSINESS DIFFERENTIATOR: Our three
key pillars – network services, Cloud and
managed services, and campus solutions.
BigAir provides a wide range of network
services from its own national Fixed
Wireless network to more traditional cable
based solutions using fibre, dark fibre,
ethernet over copper and ADSL2. The BigAir
Cloud and Managed Services division is a
consultancy-based business that prides
itself on gathering customers’ business
environments and then delivering a fully
integrated solution. Our Cloud services
comprise both public and private as well
as hybrid options, and our technology
partnerships include only top-tier providers.
BigAir Campus Solutions provide
managed end-to-end high speed broadband,
networking, printing, billing systems and 24/7
operational support systems to the tertiary
student accommodation market. We’ve been
able to extend this experience seamlessly
into other campus style environments.
> FUTURE PLANS: We’ve been striving to
ensure that organisations deploy the right
type of network and technology, so they can
connect better than ever before. We began
by building and managing our fixed wireless
networks for business. We want to grow that
blanket coverage across the country.
We also have an end-to-end capability
and tools for mid-sized organisations to
free up their people and take the journey
towards more effective, efficient and
powerful ICT solutions.
Adopt an agnostic approach to infrastructure
when designing the perfect configuration
for your clients’ networking requirements.
Hosted Network
Ben Town
MANAGING DIRECTOR
NUMBER OF STAFF: 10
AGE OF COMPANY: Little over three years
MARKET: We provide white label solutions
such as Desktop as a Service, Infrastructure
as a Service, Wholesale Internet, Backup
Put your people
first, invest in
innovation, and
evolve your services.
Russell Baskerville, Empired
This regular column looks at partners on the upward move. These are companies to watch.
Each month, ARN looks at some of the companies that have risen to prominence already or are
progressing beyond their start-up origins. HAFIZAH OSMAN asked five company leaders to
file reports on their companies.

BORN IN THE CLOUD/NEWS 13
and disaster recovery, and VoIP to Managed
Service Providers across Australia.
> BUSINESS DIFFERENTIATOR: Hosted
Network is a 100 per cent channel focused
Cloud provider working directly with IT
integrators, software vendors and managed
service providers that are looking to make
a move into Cloud services. As part of our
relationship with them, we assist them with
their go-to-market strategy all the way
through to the sales and technical aspects
of their business.
> FUTURE PLANS: Our primary focus at the
moment is expanding our partner base
and building our training tools for our
partners to succeed with building their own
successful Cloud offerings.
Look at diversifying your offerings. One of the
quickest and easiest ways to build revenue
is to sell additional services to your current
customers. Look what’s available in the
market and do your research on products and
services that will align with your business
model, and solve your customer’s pain points.
At Hosted Network, we encourage
partners to diversify and build their
product portfolio, allowing them to be in
a position to be the one-stop provider to
accommodate all of their customers’ IT
needs. By not limiting their service offering,
they are remaining competitive, opening
doors to increased revenue potential, and
strengthening their client “stickiness” and
retention opportunities.
Velpic
Russell Francis
VELPIC CEO
NUMBER OF STAFF: 40, and growing
AGE OF COMPANY: Three years old in July
2016 (but the Velpic platform was formally
launched on July 1, 2014)
MARKET: The Velpic platform is a SaaS
Cloud-based Learning Management
System (LMS) that allows anybody to create,
schedule, view and report on video lessons.
> BUSINESS DIFFERENTIATOR: Velpic is
unique in the global LMS market place in
that it provides the user the ability to create
video based multimedia presentations
inside the Learning Management
System without having to use a separate,
complicated tool. It also allows the people
being trained to stream the video lessons
from the same platform. So our unique
selling point is that we have all the tools
anyone needs to create, schedule and
perform lessons and then report on the
results — all within the one extremely
simple to use browser-based application.
> FUTURE PLANS: Global expansion,
integration with other SaaS platforms,
maintaining first mover advantage.
> KEY MESSAGE TO THE CHANNEL IN
2016: Launching Version 3.0 which has
been specifically designed to attract SME
customers by providing enhanced training
capabilities for SMEs — a rapidly growing
market segment of the broader Learning
Management Systems market. Version
3.0 will activate the third and final major
sales channel in Velpic’s three pillar sales
strategy, with pillar one being enterprise
sales and pillar two being the reseller
partnership channel, both already in place.
Olikka
Raphael Blanchet
OLIKKA CLOUD LEAD
NUMBER OF STAFF: 25
AGE OF COMPANY: Five years
MARKET: What we do — Enterprise End
User Computing and Infrastructure; both
in the Cloud and on-premises. Why we do
it — Our focus is always on our customers
and what’s best for them, and we use our
specialised skills to ensure users have
a great experience on the platforms we
implement. We provide professional services
for design and implementation, and ongoing
as-a-service run, maintain, upgrade.
BUSINESS DIFFERENTIATOR: Olikka is
different. In fact, our name comes from the
Swedish word ‘olika’, which translates as
different, so being different is at our core
and has been since day one. We definitely
have a unique culture, and great people
who thrive in a high paced and flexible
environment, and we think that’s essential
in the Cloud era. Great people challenge
each other to think differently about what
enterprise organisations need, and this
translates to specific, crafted, modern,
non-cookie-cut solutions.
> FUTURE PLANS: From foundations in
systems management, automation and
virtualisation, Olikka has sharpened its focus
in the last two years to end user, Cloud, and
infrastructure. Being a dynamic, responsive
company, it is in our DNA to evolve, automate
and simplify whilst always retaining focus on
the end outcome for both the customer and
the end user. In such a connected, mobile
first world, Olikka sees a great future in the
Internet of Things, and our early projects in
the space are proving to be stimulating and
disruptive within our customer’s businesses.
We select our partners based on what we
believe is truly good for our customers
and we are continually assessing vendor’s
products and capabilities, and matching
these against our customer’s problems and
strategies. We enjoy talking to new vendors,
and when we do add a new vendor or
technology to our partnership list, we take
it seriously. Our message to all vendors
in the era of Cloud and consumption IT:
customers judge you on current execution,
not future plans.
“Our unique selling
point is that we have all
the tools anyone needs
to create, schedule and
perform lessons and then
report on the results”
Russell Francis, Velpic
“Customers judge you
on current execution,
not future plans”
Raphael Blanchet, Olikka

14 THE EXPERTS/MSP
T
here’s a
belief that
sales people
are coin-operated
(ie. they work
purely on extrinsic
rewards like their
pay packet). While
this may be true for
some, my experience is that the best sales
people are driven by intrinsic goals and
rewards (achieving results, recognition,
helping customers) with an understanding
that the money will follow.
Good compensation plans reward
success while enabling companies
to weed out non-performers. But,
equally, they should reward sales
people for doing the right thing.
There are countless stories of
compensation plans that had unintended
consequences from innovative sales
teams finding shortcuts.
Now, when the sales process is
established, the likelihood of that is
lessened. But when the business model
is untried or untested, the chances of
this are much higher.
Which is what I see in companies
transitioning to the Cloud but holding
onto old compensation plans. In fact, I am
aware of organisations where perpetual
license teams poached subscription
license clients (and convinced them to pay
a lump sum to own the software) in order
to achieve their targets.
So, in this instance, a compensation
plan should really be about rewarding
the behaviour that achieves results, not
the results themselves. Consider the five
different models shown in this article.
In the end, alignment is the key word.
Your reward system must align with the
behaviours you want, which must align with
your company goals. And if compensation
doesn’t change, nothing does.
Selling Cloud - change the
sales compensation
By Moheb Moses
It can be difficult these days to come up with
sensible reasons as to why businesses shouldn't
embrace Cloud-based productivity tools such
as Google for Work or Microsoft Office 365. The
benefits of the Cloud are many and expanding.
However, a number of common pitfalls for IT
professionals exist and can have lasting negative
implications on any organisation.
1Cloud means lots of support
for staff
Greg Meyers, corporate vice-president and CIO
of Motorola Solutions, says the surest way for IT
leaders to avoid the most common Cloud pitfalls is to
learn from others' mistakes.
"The biggest mistake I've seen others make, and
we've tried to avoid, was underestimating the change
to employees and being unprepared to support them
through the trauma that is changing the tools they
have used daily for decades," Meyers said. "Be
prepared to explain over and over why you're changing,
stay committed to your principles, have empathy for
those who won't be happy and provide overwhelming
training, support and change management."
2Limitations of Cloud's one-
size-ﬁts-all approach
Finding the right tools and applications that meet key
business objectives and requirements is paramount
to the success of a shift to the Cloud, according to Liz
Herbert, a vice-president with Forrester Research.
"One of the biggest challenges I see is the one-
size-fits nature of the Cloud," Herbert said. Simplicity
and ubiquity drive many of the Cloud's obvious
benefits, but the change can be a "huge challenge
for CIOs" moving to environments that don't play
favorites or tailor contracts to special interests.
3Proactive planning for
growth objectives
Companiescangrowinnewwaysandimprovebusiness
practices thanks to the Cloud, but these things don't
happen on their own. IT leaders need to rethink how
their businesses run and determine how assets -
software, hardware and data - can be optimsed to drive
business value, according to Matt Katzer, founder and
president of the IT consulting firm, Kamind.
- MATT KAPKO
5 different models, 5 different objectives
100% commission
up front (eg. the
first month’s
income as
commission
with no residual
payments).
This is ideal for
new customer
acquisition, but can
create a culture
that is not oriented
to customer service
or retention.
100% commission
on consumption (ie.
paying commission
totally on a
recurring revenue
basis). This is
ideal for customer
retention and
growth, but over
time will mean that
sales people are
less likely to chase
new customers.
Mix with more up
front (ie. higher
percentage paid
as commission up
front, with smaller
percentage based
on the customers
recurring revenue).
Main emphasis
is on acquisition,
but also drives
retention.
Mix with less up
front (ie. lower
percentage up
front, with higher
percentage based
recurring revenue).
Some acquisition,
but focus in
predominantly
retention and
growth.
No commission
(ie. reps on a fixed
salary). This is
better for customer
retention,
although it can
also be applied to
acquisition. This
model reduces
“bad” behaviour,
but can be very
challenging to
manage.
3 common Cloud pitfalls
IT leaders should avoid
MOHEB MOSES: is an ARN Hall of Fame inductee; CompTIA director, A/NZ channel community; and co-founder of
channel sales consulting and training firm, Channel Dynamics.
21 3 4 5

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP 15
M
y favourite concept in management theory
is called the ‘Peter principle’. Named after
its author, a bloke called Laurence J. Peter,
it articulates a common feeling in the workplace:
“managers rise to the level of their incompetence.”
Ha! Rising to the level of their incompetence.
How wonderfully amusing, dark, insightful, cathartic,
and terrifying.
You know this story, right? The annual reviews tick
around and a hard-working employee is rewarded for
a job well done. Along comes the pay rise and more
responsibilities – they’re inseparable.
Well, Mr Peter discovered that’s not always the best
decision a leader can make. Your erstwhile colleague’s
past performance shouldn’t be the only reason why
they’re given a new role with greater responsibility.
Without the right training, or abilities, power goes to
their head, poor decisions are made, or people struggle
to follow the freshly empowered leader.
It’s a tough scenario because we’ve all been
there. That’s the “terrifying” aspect I referenced
earlier. Obviously the normal way to “get ahead” on
the corporate ladder is by demonstrating you’ve got
leadership and management potential.
MANAGING UP
The game we play is called ‘Managing Up’. We convince
our boss we’ve got the ability to think and act like them
and, if all goes well, the promotion is ours.
This linear thinking is insidious. We want to know
how to be a leader, a manager, a better person. Faced
with a new opportunity or stretch goal, we work hard
to overcome our secret perceived incompetence before
it’s no longer secret.
Think I’m exaggerating? Here’s the list of Inc.
Magazine’s Top 10 business books of 2015: Stand
Out, Team Genius, Team of Teams, Serial Winner,
You Win in the Locker Room First, People Over Profit,
Corporate Awesome Sauce, Do Over, Work Rules!,
and Steal The Show.
The trouble is nine out of 10 books are focused on
the incompetence dynamic – different variations of
“how to be a better leader” and “how to do a better job
at work”.
The only book that’s different. People Over Profit,
by Dale Partridge, is described by Inc. as: “A manifesto
and action plan for companies to remain socially
Forget how to be a great leader.
Why are you a leader in the
ﬁrst place?
By Mark Jones
MARK JONES is Chief
Storyteller+CEOatFiltered
Media, a brand storytelling
agency in Sydney.
responsible not because it's the right thing to do but
because it's the only way to survive.”
The subject matter sounds inspiring. But the
keyword in this description is manifesto – the author’s
attempt at articulating a higher calling.
Partridge appears to have looked past the obvious
obsession with “how” and gone for something far
more inspiring. Why are you a leader in the first place?
What’s your purpose? If you don’t have one he’s about
to give you one: a mission to transform profit-obsessed
corporations. It’s the principle that matters here.
This point was driven home by Michael Jr., one of
my favourite comedians. He told the story of a segment
in his act called “break time” where he chats with the
audience. Upon meeting a school music teacher, Michael
Jr. invites the man to sing Amazing Grace. What followed
was an understated, deep-register vocal rendition.
Sensing an opportunity to unlock something
amazing, Michael Jr. then asks the man, of African-
American descent, to sing the “’hood version”. Out
of nowhere came an entirely different performance.
The man picks it up a notch or three, jumps to a high
register, and his vocals soared all over the place like a
black gospel singer. Powerful stuff.
THE PUNCHLINE
The punchline here are words that apply equally to life
as they do leadership and team building.
“The first time I asked him to sing, he knew what
he was doing. The second time I asked him to sing, he
knew why he was doing it,” Michael Jr. said. “When you
know your why, your what has more impact, because
you’re walking in, or towards your purpose.”
It follows that the antidote for the Peter principle
is not more books about how to be a great leader, but
why you’re a leader at all. Get that right and the rest
will follow.
The antidote for the Peter
principle is not more books
about how to be a great leader,
but why you’re a leader at all

16 25 YEARS
How Tech Pacific was sold to Ingram
By Mike Gee
T
he tale of how distie giant and
market leader, Tech Pacific, was
eventually sold in 2003, reads
like a chess game and ARN journalists
(at the time) had fun following out.
Let’s start in on November 24, 2000,
with a news flash from ARN’s Mark
Jones: Tech Pacific embarks on Initial
Public Offering (IPO) voyage.
Jones wrote, “[Netherlands-
based parent company] Hagemeyer
has revealed late it plans to either
float or sell off Australia’s largest
distributor. The Dutch company has
engaged Salomon Smith Barney to
explore the IPO or sale of Australia’s
largest distributor.
“The move ends weeks of speculation
about the Tech Pacific Group’s future
after some sources in contact with ARN
suggested it was in due diligence to be
acquired by another distributor, such
as US-based Ingram Micro.
“Tech Pacific Group CEO, David
Arnott, said the primary driver was
to explore an IPO listing on a stock
exchange, most likely in the Asia-Pacific
region, and possibly the ASX.
“He said Hagemeyer is not attempting
to sell the Tech Pacific Group, but
concedes anything is possible.”
FOUR MONTHS LATER
There was more huffing and puffing
on March 28, 2001, with a story by
Anthony Doesburg, about Tech Pacific
NZ’s sale to Ingram mooted.
Doesburg reported: “The Asia-
Pacific head of $US30 billion
distributor Ingram Micro, Hans
Koppen, doesn’t rule out buying Tech
Pacific NZ, although it’s not clear
whether Tech Pacific is for sale.”
“Tech Pacific is ‘in a little limbo’,
according to Koppen, since Hagemeyer
said in November that it is considering
selling or taking the IT distribution
business public.”
SIX MONTHS LATER
On August 29, 2001, ARN’s Brett
Winterford reported that the Tech
Pacific sale was on hold and that and
the proposed sale of the distribution
giant had been cancelled.
He wrote, “Hagemeyer stated
market conditions were not conducive
to earning what it considers to be a
suitable price.
“The group decided it was in the
best interest of shareholders to keep
Tech Pacific as part of its portfolio.
“With the current uncertainty
affecting the ICT industry worldwide,
it has become clear that extending the
divestment process further would not
maximise shareholder value.”
“Recently we came to the conclusion
that given the present state of the IT
market and the Australian economy,
we can’t get a sales price that reflects
the value of Tech Pacific. We can’t get
what it’s worth, so we won’t sell,” said
Hagemeyer CEO, Rob ter Haar.
“Hagemeyer will look at selling Tech
Pacific again when the economic tide
has turned, said chief financial officer,
James Riddell. “As the cycle recovers,
APRIL 2001 Much to the bewilderment of smaller
resellers, Tech Pacific announced it would
charge resellers $33 for orders under
$1000. Those placed on the TP website
would incur a $22 fee.
MAY 2001 Toshiba’s former distributor, CHA, is forced
into receiveship by ANZ bankers. Ingram
Micro is appointed national distie alonside
Tech Pacific and Dicker Data.
JULY 2001 After his short-term contract expired,
Siltek Asia-Pacific CEO, Bruce Harvey,
high-tailed it out of the country. This left
the distributor’s Australian operations
without a figurehead.
AUGUST 2001 After a short stint in the Australian
market and an even shorter stint running
a channel program, Gateway closed
up shop - 200 people lost their jobs as
a result.
SEPTEMBER2001 HP and Compaq shocked the IT world with
a planned merger. HP would acquite its
arch-rival for $US25bn in the largest deal
since Compaq acquired Digital in 1998.
OCTOBER 2001 Microsoft launched its new operating
system, Windows XP, with fashion models,
hot air balloons and helicopters.
JANUARY 2002 After flip-flopping several times, Tech
Pacific finally abolished its $33 ($22
online) for orders under the set minimum
of $250.
MARCH 2002 XBox mania hit retailers as consoles and
games flew off the shelves to the delight
of retailers. Larger retail chains got the
gig: Myer, Grace Bros, Kmart, Target, Big
W, Toys ‘R’ Us and Electronics Boutique.
Cisco produced plans to bypass
distributors and sell to its Gold partners.
JULY 2002 IT services company, Commander, acquired
leading HP reseller, Centari Systems, for
an initial payment of $16 million.
AUGUST 2002 Powerlan exited the reseller business
following Theo Baker’s shock
decision to wind up the old Powerlan
Queensland business and place it in
voluntary administration.
Timeline 2001-2003
On March 31, 2005, the Tech Pacific name
disappeared with the completion of the merger
of Tech Pacific’s business into Ingram Micro
throughout Asia.

18 25 YEARS
OCTOBER 2002
Volante landed a record $12 million
managed services deal with oil and gas
company company, Santos.
DECEMBER
2002
Data#3 took a hit of about $2 million
to soothe creditors and customers of
the disastrous Queensland Software
Services (QSS) joint venture.
FEBRUARY
2003
Ingram Micro global CEO, Hans Kopper,
declared the company would knock Tech
Pacifc of its Australian distribution
throne within three years.
MARCH 2003 Intel officially launched Centrino.
APRIL 2003 Cisco bought Linksys.
MAY 2003
Harvey Norman launched its first
concept retail store in Chatswood,
Sydney, featuring digital cameras,
notebooks, PDAs, mobile phones,
entertainment consoldes, games and
accessories.
JULY 2003
Cellnet acquired Queensland-based
components wholesaler, Cassa Australia,
for $1.47m and assumed $2.31m in debt.
AUGUST 2003
Local components and peripherals
distributors BBF and Bluechip Infotech
announced a share-swap merger,
effective January 1, 2004.
OCTOBER 2003
Following a six-week distribution review,
Cisco dropped Tech Pacific in favour of
retaining value-added relationships with
Express Data and LAN Systems.
HP realigned its distribution landscape,
adding Avnet Partner Solutions while
ditching Digiland and eXeed.
DECEMBER
2003
Management at Sydney-based
distributor, Alstom IT, made an offer
to its US parent to buy out the local
distribution arm.
then sure in the long-term we’ll look at
divesting Tech Pacific,” said Riddell.
NEARLY 14 MONTHS LATER
Come October 17, 2002, and ARN’s Gerard
Norsa reported in a story that Tech
Pacific is no longer for sale. “Just over 12
months ago, Tech Pacific was for sale to
the highest bidder. When a buyer could
not be found, the sale went on hold. Now
there are no plans at all for Australia’s
largest distributor to change hands.
“Kerry Baillie, Tech Pacific’s local
managing director, claims that the sale
of Tech Pacific is not just on hold, it is
off the agenda altogether.
“‘None whatsoever,’ was Baillie’s
response to the question of whether
there were still any plans for Hagemeyer
to sell Tech Pacific. ‘It would not be on my
agenda even if it was still for sale, but
I have actually asked that question [of
Hagemeyer] and was told a definite ‘no’.’
“Nor is there any consideration from
the company’s Dutch owners to attempt
to grow its own local market share and
revenues through acquisition.”
EIGHT MONTHS LATER
However, that state of affairs didn’t
last long. On June 15, 2003, Anthony
Doesburg reported, “Tech Pacific
changes hands”.
“Hagemeyer, has sold a 58.5
per cent stake to investment company
CVC. Hagemeyer is holding on to 31.5
per cent while the remaining 10 per
cent has been sold to Tech Pacific
management,” he wrote.
“New Zealand managing director,
Tony Butler, says CVC expressed
interest when Tech Pacific was put up
for sale in late 2000. But an agreement
couldn’t be reached, and Tech Pacific
was eventually withdrawn from
the market.
ANOTHER FIFTEEN MONTHS LATER
Finally, on September 27, 2004, ARN’s
Brian Corrigan reported: Ingram Micro
buys Tech Pacific for $700 million.
“Ingram Micro Inc. has bought Tech
Pacific Holdings in a deal estimated at
$700 million. The announcement will
see Ingram significantly strengthen
its IT distribution arm in Asia-Pacific,
a move which had been highlighted
as a company priority. The deal is
expected to be finalised by the end
of the year”, he wrote.
“The news follows ongoing
speculation that Tech Pacific would
issue an IPO on the ASX if it was unable
to negotiate a trade sale. CVC had
owned a 58.5 per cent share in Tech
Pacific and Hagemeyer a further 31.5
per cent. The remaining 10 per cent
was split between senior management.”
On March 31, 2005, the Tech Pacific
name disappeared with the completion
of the merger of Tech Pacific’s business
into Ingram Micro throughout Asia.
And so a signficant chapter in
Australian ICT industry finally came
to an end.
Tech Pacific managing director, Kerry Baillie,
carries the 2004 Olympic Games torch through
the streets of Sydney.
Blow-by-blow
24.10.2000
Tech Pacific
embarks on
IPO voyage
28.03.2001
Tech Pacific NZ
sale to Ingram
mooted
29.08.2001
Tech Pacific sale
on hold
17.10.2002
Tech Pacific is no
longer for sale
15.06.2003
Tech Pacific
changes hands
27.09.2004
Ingram Micro buys
Tech Pacific for
$700 million
Timeline (continued)

20 INTERVIEW/IBM
She is a successful professional: a determined and driven unmistakable talent. But even she will admit
to sometimes suffering from “impostor syndrome” and thinking she had to dress more masculine in order
to impress with the “power pantsuit.” IBM A/NZ director of global business partners, Rhody Burton, sat
down with ARN in a very candid and personal discussion about her journey into IT, lessons learned along
the way, and some personal insights and even unknown facts.
Associate Editor, JENNIFER O’BRIEN, reports.
Change agent leads IBM’s
channel transformation

IBM/INTERVIEW 21
R
hody Burton doesn’t mix her
words when she starts talking
about women working in
IT and how to battle confidence and
self-esteem issues. “With impostor
syndrome, you are waiting for someone
to tap you on the shoulder and say,
‘what are you doing here? How did you
get this job? Someone more capable
is going to come in and take over.’ I
definitely, throughout my career, deal
with impostor syndrome,” she said, also
explaining how wearing the “power
suit” was one way to conform.
“I thought that was the uniform
in order to be successful. The people
who I saw as successful wore business
suits so I started emulating that,” she
said, but things changed once she got
involved with running the diversity
council at VMware.
“It was at that point that I recognised
here I am, getting dressed every day to
look like the man and to have my power
suits and the cufflinks and all of the
rest of it and, in fact, what is valuable
about me is that I am not like them. And
it was this ‘ah ha’ moment telling me to
be authentic. The realisation gave me
permission to be me.”
Manly-born and raised Burton -
who has close to 20 years experience
in the channel, having worked at
Seagate Software, Business Objects,
Crystal Decisions, VMware A/NZ and
SAP Australia and is also a WIICTA
2012 Rising Star winner - credits her
single mum’s hard-working nature
and dedication to family for her strong
work ethic.
“At one stage, mum had three jobs
to provide for my sister and me. But
we never knew it. I never looked back
at that time and thought we are poor,
we don’t have the money. I honestly
believe that my work ethic and the
fact that we have to work the hours
we have to work, and we have to juggle
motherhood within those hours,
everything that goes along with that,
that was normal to me.
“I got home from school and my
mum wasn’t there. She was at her
second job, trying to earn enough
money so that I didn’t know she was
struggling to pay for school shoes. I am
so incredibly close with my mum. She
would definitely be my inspiration for
that work ethic side of things.”
Burton never saw her gender
as a hindrance in terms of career
development. If anything, she said
she has been incredibly lucky with
the managers and leaders that she’s
been exposed to, and the sponsors and
mentors she’s met along the way.
“I have never found that being
a female has hindered my career at
all. I’ve been a little bit oblivious to it
and it wasn’t until I started running
the diversity council that I realised
a number of things. One of which is
just how many women don’t get that
opportunity, so I want to give back and
help them,” she said.
“I’m so passionate about supporting
things like women in IT and I’m also
incredibly passionate about trying to
encourage youth, male or female, to
choose our industry to work in. I just
naturally had people looking out for me
throughout my career and so I have to
give back.”
So how did Burton get into IT? Was
it something she always envisioned?
“Absolutely not,” she said, explaining
she wanted to be a lawyer or a writer,
but “never in IT”.
“This is probably something people
may not realise: I actually left school
in Year 10. I left school early primarily
because I wanted to earn money. I was
very driven to earn money. A lot of
my friends were older than me. They
had left school, they started getting
jobs. A few of them were temping and I
remember thinking they were earning a
lot of money and I wanted that. So I made
Mum put me through secretarial school
and I went out and I started temping.”
At 18, she left for the UK with a
friend and immersed herself in the
world of temping, during which she
landed a role at an IT company, dubbed
The Point Group.
“It was in the channel funnily
enough. We were the middle man
for the hardware vendors and
software vendors. I was hired to be
the office administrator for Angus
Panton. He was this amazing guy, an
entrepreneurial person who needed
help. He started to realise that I pick
things up easily. He was so slammed
with managing this business that he
started giving me more and more
things to do. I left school early, didn’t
have any experience in IT whatsoever
and within the first six months I had
two clients.”
When Burton, after three years
in the UK, returned to Australia, she
MAY 1997 -
DECEMBER
1998:
Partner
relations,
Seagate
Software
DECEMBER
1998 -
DECEMBER
1999:
VAR partner
manager
- Seagate
Software
DECEMBER
1999 -
FEBRUARY
2001:
Distribution
manager A/
NZ - Seagate
Software
FEBRUARY
2001 - JULY
2004:
Channel and
inside sales
manager
- Crystal
Decisions
JULY 2004 -
APRIL 2006:
A/NZ channel
manager -
Business
Objects
JANUARY 2007
- DECEMBER
2010:
Senior partner
business
manager -
VMware
MAY 2010 -
DECEMBER
2010:
Acting director,
channels A/NZ -
VMware
DECEMBER
2010 - JULY
2013:
Manager, Cloud
and Channels A/
NZ - VMware
JULY 2013 -
SEPTEMBER
2015:
Sales director,
channels - SAP
SEPTEMBER
2015 -
PRESENT:
Director of
global business
partners,
A/NZ - IBM
CAREER TIMELINE
”We are a new IBM. We are not a software,
hardware and services company anymore. We are
a cognitive solution company where the platform
is Cloud and we go to market by industry”
On IBM

22 INTERVIEW/IBM
began temping again, and given her
positive experience in the channel
was adamant she wanted to work in
IT. “There were lots of great jobs in
advertising that other women wanted.
But I said I would hold out for one in IT,
so just give me short term assignments.
If you spoke to mum or my family or
friends, they will tell you I’m quite
determined. I had decided IT was
the industry for me and I couldn’t be
swayed.” She got her foot in the door at
Seagate Software as partner relations
and the rest is history.
LIFE LESSONS
But perhaps one of Burton’s biggest life
lessons was an incident that happened in
childhood, which she credits for helping
her foster her relationship building skills
and developing a sense of courage.
“When I was 11, quite a life changing
thing happened to me. I fell off a cliff at
Freshwater Beach. It was the first time I
had really been hit with a big challenge.
It was about three-and-a-half metres
down and I landed on rock so I was in
hospital for ages. I had a lot of time off
school. I know I had gone from being at
this little public school where everybody
knew everybody to suddenly having the
first three to six months out in Year 6. It
was really a big deal,” she said.
“I broke both of my wrists, my jaw
in two places. I shattered my kneecap.
I was on the news and in the papers.
When you were 11 that was kind of cool.
I do remember coming back to school
that year and there were new kids
who had come in. I was almost like the
new kid for the first time. I remember
having to build relationships.”
Certainly, this ability to build
relationships has landed her in good
stead. It has also given her momentum
to take on new positions at a number of
different technology companies.
CAREER JOLTS ALONG THE WAY
From channel and inside sales manager,
channel manager, channel sales
director, acting channel director, Cloud
and channels manager, senior partner
business manager, and now director of
global business partners, Burton has
amassed a breadth of experience.
She said one of her biggest hurdles
was moving from VMware to SAP. “It
was a big, big culture shock. Being a
channel person, I don’t think I quite
appreciated just what a mature
channel organisation VMware is. And
I had always worked for fast growing
companies that are in a good space.
The culture is very much, ‘Yes, let’s
do this. Wow, that’s a great idea. Let’s
try that.’ And so I had come out of
these environments of enjoying what
I do and passionate about what I do. I
happened to be very lucky to work for
companies on this growth trajectory,”
she said.
“Suddenly, I was working for this
successful, established 40-year-old
organisation that is very process
driven and the answer isn’t always ‘yes’
because it is running a much bigger
business and everyone has a great idea.
I loved my time at SAP. It is full of really
really talented people.”
It also prepared Burton for her
current position at IBM. “It was the best
preparation for coming into IBM. And
now I’m at an 104-year-old company.
I have gone from those young ones to
older ones. I learned so much in those
two years at SAP. It prepared me for
being a better leader and better at
stakeholder management.”
CHARTING HER NEXT COURSE
Fast forward to today, and her journey
at IBM is an exciting time for Burton,
even though she says Big Blue wasn’t
initially on her job wish list.
“IBM wasn’t on a list of companies
that I aspired to want to go and work
for. Probably my perception of IBM
was that it was a big, old, blue suits
company and if you look at the press
and read what some of the analysts are
saying overall about the company, it
just wasn’t on my radar of companies
that I wanted to go to. And I did not feel
that my time at SAP was done.”
But she is thankful her path has led
her to IBM, a journey that has already
activated the change agent in her.
“IBM has transformed itself many
times over the years; in fact, we are
one of the longest standing companies
in this industry,” she said. “This is
an opportunity for me to be part of
something really special. This is an
opportunity for me to be part of a
change and a transformation and a
point in time for this company that is
really taking us into that new era.”
She said IBM is well placed to take
the transformative journey given the
company’s breadth of solutions and
capabilities. “What a great opportunity
to come in and help be part of that core
team that educates everyone on what it
is that IBM is today. We are a new IBM.
We are not a software, hardware and
services company anymore. We are a
cognitive solution company where the
platform is Cloud and we go to market by
industry. That is what IBM is today and
I want to be part of the team of people
that is helping not only our customers
see that and even get them to do things
in a new way, but the channel,” she said.
Burton is passionate about helping
current partners become more
sticky, build managed services, add
differentiators into what they do, as well
as attract new partners. “I would love the
message in the marketplace to be: ‘wow, I
didn’t know IBM did that. I need to go and
talk to them.’ My vision is we are going to
have more and more partners wanting to
come and talk to us about including IBM
in what they do.”
Her vision
My vision for the role and the team is I want
to be recognised as the vendor of choice, not
only for the traditional IT channel. There are
a lot of traditional IT organisations trying to
transform themselves and I want to be able
to let them know just the breadth of not only
solutions, but people within my organisation
who can help them on that journey and that
trajectory. I am also really interested in,
‘What are the new channels of tomorrow?
What does the new partner look like?’

24 ROUNDTABLE/DATACENTRE
EMC and VCE opened up the Buy vs. Build debate
alongside key distributor partners and resellers at an
exclusive ARN Roundtable at Rockpool Bar & Grill in
Sydney. Attendees discussed the changing dynamics of
the datacentre, the market opportunities for the channel
and from a local perspective, the emerging business use
cases. ARN Editor, JAMES HENDERSON, reports.
Buy vs. Build?
The changing dynamics of the datacentre
This roundtable was sponsored by EMC

DATACENTRE/ROUNDTABLE 25
“Let’s move away from this absolute
nature of the Cloud, and explore a fit
for purpose approach in the market,”
VCE/EMC chief technology officer
of Converged Platforms, Matthew
Oostveen, said.
As the changing dynamics of the
datacentre play out through the local
market - and disruptive factors change
the course of IT transformation -
Oostveen’s message to the Australian
channel is straightforward in delivery,
and resounding in its reach.
“Not every workload or application
is best suited to the Cloud, and the
Australian enterprise landscape is
changing to reflect this,” Oostveen said,
in addressing a host of key partners and
distributors during the exclusive ARN
Roundtable Lunch, Buy vs. Build? The
changing dynamics of the datacentre.
In citing a move away from an
all-out Cloud approach to business, he
said the datacentre of today is under
bombardment from a host of disruptive
technologies, such as the Internet
of Things, Big Data and software-
defined infrastructure.
Combining to foster a hybrid
Cloud environment, businesses across
the country are seeking alternative
ways to support growing demands for
new applications and services, while
juggling limited budgets and resources.
In Australia, and overseas, it’s
playing out in the numbers with more
than 80 percent of enterprise IT
organisations expected to commit to
hybrid Cloud architectures by the end
of 2017, according to IDC research.
Naturally, Cloud computing
continues to gain momentum locally,
but as the industry evolves, IT
organisations continue to standardise
on converged infrastructure as
the foundation for next generation
datacentres, with complexity and cost
reduction coming to the fore.
“From a partner perspective,” Tecala
Group managing director, Pieter
DeGunst, says, “we’re having many fit
for purpose conversations.”
Speaking as an EMC partner of
over 10 years in Australia, DeGunst
acknowledges that as new technologies
continue to impact the datacentre, fit
for purpose becomes a “wide ranging
conversation”, offering no one size fits
all approach for the channel.
“This is where we’re engaging with
our customers, through a consultative
process,” he adds.
Echoing DeGunst’s analysis of the
current datacentre state of play,
Nexus IT managing director, Sean
Murphy, said there is “no cookie
cutter” approach to developing
a hybrid Cloud model, as hyper
converged takes a top seat at the table
of Australian boardrooms.
“Two years ago, a CIO would read
a technology magazine and say they
want to be in the Cloud, and we’d build
a business case around that,” he recalls.
“We can put anyone 100 per
cent in the Cloud or on-premise, or
provide a combination of both, but
it takes time for that customer to
figure this out and work through the
complicating factors.”
Through blending on-premise
and Cloud environments, Oriel
Technologies chief technology officer,
Richard Mitton, said the coexistence
of both has derived from a reversal in
conversation, with the adage of “doing
more with less” prompting partners
to find real-time solutions to changing
business demands.
For Mitton, businesses now
explore running workloads on-premise,
retracting on a previous all out
approach to Cloud.
“But we’re just the IT plumbers,”
he said. “Businesses essentially want
to keep running in the same way so
the changing market is disruptive
for the plumbers in the respect of
Cloud migration.”
Guests:
Ben Le Huray
INGRAM MICRO
Matt Oostveen
VCE/EMC
Adrian Chu
AVNET
Cam Wayland
CHANNEL DYNAMICS
Richard Centellas
VCE
Darren Ashley
BEARENA
Alex Kennedy
DATACOM
Sean Murphy
NEXUS IT
Richard Mitton
ORIEL TECHNOLOGIES
PieterDeGunst
TECALA
Moderators:
James Henderson
Jennifer O’Brien
Photos:
Maria Stefina
CORE 1:
Value and solutions
“Through our EMC architects we actively engage
with partners to educate the channel on the vendor
portfolio and new products coming to market.
Resellers old and new must understand the value
they bring to the table and how to deliver solutions
to the end user market.”
– Ingram Micro’s Ben LeHuray

Milton observed, “Customer
businesses don’t change as fast as
we want to change the IT plumbing”,
indicative of the varying degree
of maturity levels across the
Australian enterprise.
“Cloud means different things to
different organisations,” adds Datacom
national Cloud manager, Alex
Kennedy. “As a partner our role is to
assess where each customer sits in
terms of Cloud adoption, and the level
of maturity they have.”
In adopting a hyper converged
approach to the market for the past
three years, BEarena managing
director, Darren Ashley, said CIOs
of today require differing Cloud
strategies, yet crucially for partners,
“always repeat what they’ve done
before.”
“There is a pattern to follow,” he
said. “But it remains an education
play given the rapid pace of
technology today.
“Our goal is to make the
infrastructure invisible and the next
stage is to assess the Cloud goals of the
CIO, which shifts the focus onto which
workloads should stay on-premise,
and which should move to the Cloud.”
WORKLOADS
Whether it’s considered a blessing or
a curse, CIOs today have a multitude
of options when it comes to running
workloads, creating complexity for
partners around which applications
should reside where within
an IT architecture.
“And that’s the key question,” VCE/
EMC’s Matt Oostveen observed.
“Pragmatic CIOs understand that some
workloads will be kept in house and
that others are suited to the Cloud.”
But as Oostveen explained, the
question of how partners can provide
business leaders with a homogenised
view of workloads and management
capabilities remains.
“We’re trying to bridge the chasm
between the two and this is where the
conversation lies for CIOs,” he said.
VCE senior director of vArchitects,
Ricardo Centellas, reinforced the
fact that CIOs of today want to
understand how partners can close
the gap between workloads, as the
conversation shifts to business use
cases and experiences.
“Of the CIOs I meet, they want
to know about managing and
orchestrating workloads, as well as the
provision and integration aspects of
hyper converged technology,” he said.
PERCEPTION VS. REALITY
Akin to the ongoing industry dilemma
of ‘to Cloud or not to Cloud?’ the
continuous enhancement of IT has
been both a boon and a burden for
channel partners.
In drawing on previous market
experience, Murphy observes that as
the dynamics of the datacentre change,
the role of the partner transforms in
parallel, as “cloudify” application trends
trigger new industry challenges.
“Most workloads aren’t public Cloud
ready and are built on a system that’s
25 years old,” he said. “But the solution
to this problem comes in at a budget
of $500,000, placing the onus on the
partner to intelligently and creatively
provide an alternative outcome.”
Centellas, in referring to the value-
add of seasoned channel partners
in Australia, believes such market
behaviour represents an opportunity
for resellers to former deeper
engagements with customers, through
establishing a business starting point.
“Partners are critical to EMC and
we understand that on occasions
customers want $5 million worth
of technology and expertise for
$500,000,” he acknowledged.
“But here lies an opportunity.
Customers think they understand
the business criteria and needs of
applications but they don’t know
the smarts or possess the IP and
background that partners have.
“As such, there’s a chance for
partners to open the dialogue with
customers and make trade-offs to
ensure a mutually beneficial outcome.”
BUY VS. BUILD
Once committing to a hybrid Cloud
model, reflecting the current
approach for Australian businesses,
organisations must now decide
whether to buy or build.
Prompted by EMC’s newly released
hyper-converged appliance VxRail,
the question returns to the boardroom
amidst a changing datacentre outlook.
While the build path may appear to
be limitless in its customisation options,
CORE 2:
Workloads
“Pragmatic CIOs understand that some
workloads will be kept in house and that others
are suited to the Cloud.”
– VCE/EMC’s Matt Oostveen

Buy vs. Build - top 5 channel opportunities
1Bearena managing
director, Darren
Ashley: During the past six
months, we’re seeing numerous
instances of customers being
secured by Cloud reps. But
with through hyper converged,
the direction of travel is clear
across Australia - businesses
are fully embracing hybrid Cloud.
Conversations of the past used to
be all Cloud, now they are more
focused around hybrid solutions.
2 Oriel Technologies
chief technology
officer, Richard Mitton:
We’re now becoming the customer
with regards to hyper converged
and this begs the question; do
I buy or do I build? This is the
conversation I’m having everyday
with vendors, focused around
how we partner together so we’re
joining forces going forward. The
channel used to come through us,
but now it stops with us. It’s a new
conversation and some vendors
get it but a lot don’t. Change will
need to happen because this is how
our customers want to buy. They
stopped talking speeds and feeds
three years ago, and the focus has
shifted to business outcomes and
solving problems.
3 Nexus IT managing
director, Sean
Murphy: For the organisations
that don’t want to pay for the
resources of partners, they sweet
spot for the market is the hyper
converged play. It allows partners
to provide a solution that has
the backing of a globally trusted
vendor with a guarantee to work
and meet its SLA requirements.
4 Datacom national
Cloud manager, Alex
Kennedy: I’m the new buyer
for vendors. The industry is being
disrupted by public Cloud and
the key for partners is to become
more effective to their customers.
Hyper converged is a way to
disrupt public Cloud providers and
offer new services that may not
be in the market today.
5 Tecala managing
director, Pieter
DeGunst: If I look at each
individual conversation,
approaching it from an educational
standpoint, what are we trying
to achieve? It’s about having the
diligence and the patience to
bring the conversation back to the
outcome you’re trying to achieve.
Let’s not skip the technology
aspect but we’ll get to that later.
Do you want to buy or build? Again,
let’s have that talk further down
the line. The main focus centres
around having a fit for purpose
conversation with customers,
and ensuring our staff are having
multi-level service engagements
because this is where we are
generating the most success.
through building their own hybrid
Cloud solution.
“Providing CIOs with the correct
infrastructure frees up resources
and staff to focus on other aspects of
the business.
“It allows organisations to look
upwards and recognise growth
opportunities, but they can’t undertake
this radical shift without both the
vendor and partner providing the
correct tools to achieve this.”
With the DIY approach to IT a
dying game, opening the door for
partners to both add and extract
value from strategic hyper-converged
infrastructure plays continues to gain
greater relevance across the channel.
“But for resellers, it’s hard to qualify
a clear differentiator between buy
vs. build,” cautions Ingram Micro
solutions architect team leader, Ben Le
Huray. “As such, partners are reverting
back to a per user and per business
case approach.”
Taking the distributor conversation
further, Avnet Technology Solutions
business unit director, Adrian Chu,
said top tiering partners throughout
Australia possess a “strong grasp on
reality”, with complexity and hardship
trickling down to the mid to lower tier
of partners.
“Through the lower end of our
partner base, we’re guiding them
through the process at a deeper level,
articulating and presenting the value
it’s a journey that presents significant
challenges for already overextended IT
staff resources.
For the process of continually
evaluating, integrating, managing and
sustaining hardware and software
solutions is both costly and ties up
valuable resource.
Traditionally, the alternative,
buying an IT converged solution, has
been the privilege of companies with
sizeable budgets
Irrespective of sector or size
however, Oostveen believes momentum
in the IT market has shifted.
Recent technological developments
now ensure partners can put
businesses, of all sizes, on the path
to eliminating complexity and
extracting value from hyper converged
infrastructure solutions.
“I don’t think this needs to be a
complicated message for the channel to
articulate,” Oostveen said.
“Businesses don’t know what
they don’t know and at present, they
don’t know that they are tying up
expensive resources and skill sets

of the changing datacentre market,”
Chu said.
“Lots of partners from the old days
are servicing one or two key clients
- which has been their core business -
but now the opportunity has arrived to
evolve and adapt. The converged play is
upon them whether they are ready or
not, and they need to get on board.”
As more businesses embrace hybrid
Cloud services, partners that continue
offering traditional IT services run the
risk of competitors with more efficient,
nimble business models capturing
customers and market share.
“At Datacom, we’re constantly
evaluating how we can provide
additional value in respect of the
changing converged infrastructure
market,” Kennedy added.
“We’re seeing a shift in customers
hiring architects, moving to the public
Cloud with some workloads still on-
premise. But they don’t realise that the
architect will stay to build the solution,
hang around for a while and eventually
move onto the next thing.”
Kennedy advised that six months
after the architect’s departure,
customers are left contemplating
how to run a changing and
convoluted environment.
“They thought it was a piece of gold
but it turned out to be a lemon,” he
said. “Our role as partners is to educate
enterprise on how the management
of processes during change and the
fit for purpose approach required to
go to market.”
RESELLER ENABLEMENT
With the hyper converged play
focused on the end game, defining an
outcome that best fits the needs of the
customers remains mission critical.
To extract value in this context,
Channel Dynamics director, Cam
Wayland, said partners should utilise
support from all aspects of the channel,
focusing on enabling staff to better
address business concerns during the
sales process, to avoid a race to the
bottom on pricing.
“Hyper converged is a great story
within the industry, but it’s what hyper
converged can deliver and the business
outcomes it provides that is the key
conversation to have for partners. And
that’s the play, educating sales staff to
drive business conversations rather
than product pitches.”
In capturing the partner skill set
within the Australian channel, Wayland
believes business and financial focused
training provides the deepest value for
resellers continually tasked with taking
new technologies to market.
“The technology is good but the
business skills training and value-add
messaging around how a partner
builds their own IP is what’s important,”
he said.
“If this issue isn’t addressed,
partners end up in a discounted
scenario because they haven’t properly
articulated their value proposition
from the outset, and because of this,
they become drawn into a conversation
about price.”
At Ingram Micro, Le Huray said the
role of the distributor in this equation
evolves around enabling partners to
put in the “hard yards” of backend work
required to offer differentiation in an
increasingly competitive world.
A refreshed approach to selling key to hyper converged success
With partner ecosystems in a state of
flux, and partners required to adapt to
shrinking margins, new competition and
ongoing skills shortages, the resellers
winning the hyper converged war are
those investing in long-term sales
training.
As outlined by BEarena’s Darren
Ashley, successful partners are finding
ways to better equip staff to delve
deeper into the datacentre conversation,
banishing a previous reliance on
traditional speeds and feeds methods.
“What we’ve focused heavily on is
positioning our solutions and steering
the conversations with customers,”
he explains. “Three years ago the
conversations were always the same,
focused around the speed of disks and
the specs of the product.
“I can’t remember the last time I had
this conversation with customers because
today, the discussion has developed to
focus on the business outcomes.
“One of my sales personnel went
through the entire sales process with a
customer, but returned to ask for more
discount because the hyper converged
offering was more expensive than the
competition.
“We sat down and talked it over and I
asked, “Where do you think you failed?”
For Ashley, if a sales person arrives
at the end of a process and the customer
is still making a judgment based on
price, then the partner has failed.
“It means we haven’t done a good job
of explaining hyper converged and the
key business benefits of the customer,”
he explains. “We’ve put our name to
hyper converged and undertaken lots of
sales training internally as a result.
“The easy way is hard and the hard
way is easy. If partners put in the hard
work up front, and follow these steps then
when the sales process arrives, they’ll cut
through it without hesitation or difficulty.
“But for those partners keen to take
the easy route there’s a misplaced
assumption that at the end of the
sales process, the customer will
automatically choose your solution.”
Going forward, Ashley believes
partners operating within the hyper
converged systems space must
evaluate different sales approaches,
technology options, potential use
cases, in keeping with providing related
services to customers.
“We have a lot of journeymen still
within the industry, those who have
been working in the channel of 30 years
and find it impossible to change their
mindset around how they sell.
“I’m seeing a huge difference in
approach from our younger staff coming
through, they are our top performing sales
reps because of this refreshed mindset.”
CORE 3:
Selling changes
“We recognise that the old relationships
required to sell are dying and that the
challenger sale is the new breed”
- Adrian Chu, Avnet

“Through our EMC architects
we actively engage with partners to
educate the channel on the vendor
portfolio and new products coming
to market,” he said. “Resellers old and
new must understand the value they
bring to the table and how to deliver
solutions to the end user market.”
It’s a testament mirrored by Chu,
with Avnet providing both technical
and sales paths to foster a challenger
methodology to sales, empowering
partners to take control of the
sales conversation.
“We recognise that the old
relationships required to sell are dying
and that the challenger sale is the new
breed,” he said. “We’re ensuring our
partners clearly define opportunities
within the market and educating the
channel on new methods rather than
traditional approaches to sales.”
As Kennedy explained, the art of
understanding what the customer
is trying to achieve within a hyper
converged environment can be
fraught with complexity, citing strong
sales staff at those widening the
conversation across different areas
of the business.
“Sales people can traditionally
be very product focused and while
a few may succeed, this isn’t the
required approach,” he said. “We
talk to customers at different levels
to ensure our finger is on the pulse
in terms of identifying ongoing pain
points and challenges.
Rise of hyper
converged triggers
changing channel
dynamic
As hyper converged architecture injects new
life into a stagnant IT infrastructure, sales
opportunities are emerging for channel partners.
But with opportunity comes challenge, with
resellers traditionally tasked with overcoming
costing barriers as revenue streams come under
duress.
“There’s disruption in the market and as a
company, we’ve become both the provider and
the customer,” adds Oriel’s Richard Mitton.
“On the topic of buy vs. build, is there a cost
to my organisation as a partner? When the
disruption eases, where will the dust settle
within the channel?”
For partners, Mitton believes the question
moves away from technology, touching on the
commercial aspects of hyper converged and how
the channel extracts value from the vendor.
“I’m now the customer so I need to benefit
and make this a mutually beneficial venture,”
he adds.
In recognising the changing position of
the partner within the market, VCE’s Ricardo
Centellas said vendors must now take credible
steps to ensure support is extended across the
channel.
“We often have that talk with partners and
when the service provider is the customer, EMC
comes in to review cost models and help rework
strategies going forward. We want partners to
talk to us about how they can inject value into
our offerings,” he said.
“If the conversation is dominated
by dollars and cents, then
maybe that isn’t the conversation
to be having.
“Partners must understand
that customers want to know how
to move the business from point A
to point B.”
While the goal has always been
for vendors to better engage with
partners, and assist from a sales
perspective, Wayland believes the
harsh reality and fluctuating market
conditions hinder the ability to tighten
the lines of communications through
the channel.
“The concept of alignment is
crucial,” he advised. “That’s the
order check for a high performing
channel, are vendors, distributors and
partners aligned in terms of training,
sales meshing, skills and supply
chains - if they line up, it bodes for a
healthy channel.”
To facilitate this change of
approach throughout the channel,
Oostveen recognises that generally
speaking, “vendors must be easier to do
business with” for partners.
Substantially altering the vendor
and partner relationship in the
process, Oostveen said from an
EMC perspective, there is changing
realisation that vendors must find
better ways to communicate through
its complex ecosystem of partners.
“We need to provide our partner
community with the right type of
access to the right type of people at
the right time, and this is crucial to our
ongoing growth within the market,”
he said.
In closing, Oostveen said
the “immediate opportunity”
for partners lies around “fit for
purpose”, through bridging and
binding together the workload and
infrastructure conversation.
As the changing dynamics of the
datacentre play out at a local level, and
the buy vs. build conversation deepens,
partners now sit at the intersection
of innovation.
But with further disruption ahead,
the Australian channel must lead the
conversation.

30 INTERVIEW
James Henderson took up the ARN editor’s role on April 4. Over
the last few years, James has been heading up Computerworld
and Reseller News in New Zealand.
But don’t expect a Kiwi accent because James hails from
Newcastle in the UK where the distinctive Geordie accent is
worn like a badge of honour. Think Monty Python’s Eric Idle or
Sting or the movie Billy Elliot.
His enthusiasm about ARN and the Australian channel
community is infectious. James talked to ARN president and
publisher, SUSAN SEARLE, about his love of football (his team
is Sunderland), his sporting journalism background and how he
ended up writing technology in Auckland.
SCORING GOALS
WITH ARN
What was your background before you
came into technology journalism?
I started my career in journalism 13
years ago as a features writer for ALove
Supreme magazine, which is an English
Premier League football fanzine (a
magazine for fans) covering Sunderland
AFC – my local football team.
From the age of 15 I remember
writing stories, cycling to pick the
magazines up from the printers and
then standing outside of football
grounds across England selling copies
for £1.50, rain or sunshine. So it was a
very hands on role.
After studying journalism at
university I became a sports reporter
for The Times of London, covering the
North East football beat and reporting
on Premier League matches.
Across Australia and New Zealand,
I’ve also worked for The West Australian
and The New Zealand Herald, focusing
on football, cricket, rugby and golf.
How did you end up in New Zealand?
After finishing my studies I was
commissioned to report on the 2011
Rugby World Cup for a range of
newspapers in the UK, following the
England national team on the ground
in New Zealand. Unfortunately, England
didn’t perform well so after losing to
France in the quarter-finals, I decided
to make use of my free time and travel
around New Zealand.
A few months turned into a six and
then after a year of making my way
around the North and South Islands,
I returned to Auckland to resume my
journalism career.
Why the IT industry?
Sport was naturally my first choice but
I struggled to dislodge the established
journalists in the industry, so I made
the conscious decision to refocus my
efforts in another industry.
And that’s when IT cropped up.
Initially, I was drawn to the industry
because of the people within it, and
the noise it was creating within the
mainstream press.
Given New Zealand’s reputation
as early adopters of technology, the
new and exciting technologies coming
to market ensured no day was ever
the same, and it helped bring me up
to speed pretty quickly. But crucially,

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