{"id":26887,"date":"2016-11-01T12:42:50","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T04:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=26887"},"modified":"2016-11-01T15:12:39","modified_gmt":"2016-11-01T07:12:39","slug":"tech-giants-lay-strategies-channel-networks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2016\/11\/01\/tech-giants-lay-strategies-channel-networks\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech giants lay out strategies for channel networks"},"content":{"rendered":"

MACAU \u2014 At the Canalys APAC Channels Forum held in Macau recently, the term \u201csimple\u201d was the common root word uttered by technology giants Dell EMC, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, HP, Inc., and Lenovo in describing how their channel programs are evolving to help partners increase revenues amid a disruption in the technology industry.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to simplify the channel program much more. It is too complicated,\u201d said Gianfranco Lanci, corporate president and COO of Lenovo, during a Q&A session. Lenovo currently has 60,000 resellers in Asia Pacific and has plans to add more, according to Lanci.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as possible we want to simplify how we run the business together. To do this, we are going to introduce a business portal in Asia,\u201d reveals Lanci. \u201cThe opportunity for the channel is still big. The channel industry is going to exist forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lanci also told delegates that Lenovo will continue to innovate. \u201cInnovation will become important; but to innovate you need to be financially solid because innovation is expensive.\u201d Lanci also said that the two areas of growth for Lenovo and its partners are mobile phones and the data center.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Philippine media, Ivan Cheung, Regional General Manager, Lenovo Asia Pacific Region, said that in the Philippines, 100% of Lenovo\u2019s business is handled by 8 distributors, and the plan is to extend the depth and breadth of the channel network in the country.<\/p>\n

\"Ivan<\/a>

Ivan Cheung, Regional General Manager, Lenovo Asia Pacific Region and Nick Reynolds, Chief Marketing Officer for Asia Pacific at Lenovo. PHOTO: MELBA BERNAD<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt may not always be true that adding more distributors is best for the business,\u201d says Cheung. \u201cIf we add more distributors and we don\u2019t grow our revenues fast enough, then our existing business partners will be affected.\u00a0 If we need to expand, we will need to evaluate whether or not adding more distributors will benefit the overall business. There are a lot of things going on quickly right now, such as hyperconverged infrastructure and flash technology which our existing partners may not have the capability to pick up; and if we see that capability gap, we will consider adding more partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growth opportunities: data center and mobile phone\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

As for areas of growth, Cheung said that while they are still looking for more growth in the PC business, the company is investing on expanding its data center business in the Philippines. Lenovo currently has around 13% to 14% share of the data center market in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur core business is PC but we have two growth engines: mobile phones and data center,\u201d added Nick Reynolds, Chief Marketing Officer for Asia Pacific at Lenovo. \u201cGlobally, that is where we are going to see growth coming from. But we still want to grow marketshare in the PC and tablet business, and our stated goal globally is to reach 30% marketshare for the PC. We have three premium brands: ThinkPad, Yoga, and Moto. Moto has the the lowest marketshare among the three, so we are looking at exciting growth from our handset business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the challenges being faced by Philippine distributors, Cheung said many are concerned about the currency fluctuation. The US dollar has been gaining strength against the Philippine peso since the start of the year. Distributors are also looking for new products to increase their marketshare. The partners are also looking for a stable and predictable channel policy which they can align with their respective strategies.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur business partners have also said to us that we need to improve our systems and tools; help them become more efficient, and make it easier to do business with Lenovo,\u201d adds Reynolds. \u201cSo today, we are doing a soft-launch of the new Lenovo business partner portal. This is one of the tools we are rolling out and will be coming to the Philippines in the next six months; it will assist all business partners to do very simple things but more efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n

The portal, Reynolds explained, will provide information about the latest pricing, promotions, reseller rebates, incentives, and earnings. \u201cThe portal will also have things that are useful to help sell, like marketing content, whitepapers, case studies, and deal registration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The portal is currently available in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, and will be rolled out in the rest of Asia Pacific in the next six months.<\/p>\n

“A true partnership is when we partner for profitability; that is a strong statement of intent and so we need to translate that into action,” said Amar Babu, Chief Operating Officer for Asia Pacific and Chairman for Lenovo India.<\/p>\n

\u2018Channel happiness\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

At Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, achieving \u201cchannel happiness\u201d is key, according to Peter Ryan, Chief Sales Officer, Enterprise Group, HPE. <\/b>\u201cSimplicity and agility of the channel program is a priority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his keynote at the Forum, Ryan said the company has been in a “perpetual motion in the last 12 months.” In November last year, the company officially split itself in two: HP, Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, betting that two is better than one.<\/p>\n

For HPE, the growth areas for its business partners are digital transformation, hybrid IT, edge, hyperconverged infrastructure, and cloud computing, according to Ryan.<\/p>\n

\u201cHyperconvergence presents a huge opportunity for the channel,\u201d says Ryan. \u201cWe view ourselves as a key player in the ecosystem that will drive digital transformation going forward; and we have a strong belief that hybrid IT will win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certification and competencies are key<\/b><\/p>\n

In an interview with Philippine media, Neeraj Sharma, Vice President, Indirect Sales, Enterprise Group, Asia Pacific and Japan at HPE, says that the growth in hybrid IT is driving transformation in the channel market.\u00a0 In the Philippines, more than 90% of HPE\u2019s business is done through the channel.<\/p>\n

\"Neeraj<\/a>

Neeraj Sharma, Vice President, Indirect Sales, Enterprise Group, Asia Pacific and Japan at HPE. PHOTO: MELBA BERNAD<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe transformation is forcing the partners to look at new models, it\u2019s creating cost pressures on their cost margins, and hence, they have to change their skills. We are seeing partners maturing from just being hardware sellers and support service providers to advisors.\u201d<\/p>\n

To help its Philippine channel partners in their transformation journey, HPE is looking at getting more partners certified, according to Neeraj. \u201cClearly for us certification is a key thing. But we feel that we need to go down the solution path even stronger, so we are introducing competencies for specific solutions.\u201d Neeraj noted that it is important that HPE\u2019s partners develop their skills in cloud computing and hybrid IT.<\/p>\n

Neeraj said that it is also helping its partners create demand. \u201cWe also make sure we compensate them on the objectives we want to focus on. As we move towards this transformation journey, we will also be launching a service provider program in some countries, and gradually come to the Philippines as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neeraj says that the goal behind achieving HPE\u2019s \u201cchannel happiness\u201d is creating enough demand and business opportunities for partners. Joint business planning is also a key part of HPE\u2019s channel program, he said. \u201cFor us, compensation, transformation, and enablement of business partners is very, very critical.\u201d<\/p>\n

HPE\u2019s distributors in the Philippines are MSI-ECS and Thakral.<\/p>\n

A partner-led company<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe separation of HP has enabled us to move forward more rapidly,\u201d said Richard Bailey, President of Asia Pacific Japan, HP, Inc. in his keynote address. \u201cHP is transforming the channel program so channel partners can make more revenues. We are also reinventing the sales platform, and one of the enabling technologies is social media. We are not only a partner-first company, but also a partner-led company.”<\/p>\n

Bailey said that opportunities for channel partners lie in rapid urbanization; changing demographics; hyper globalization; and accelerated innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrint security is a top priority for HP Inc.; and mobility is exploding,\u201d said Bailey.<\/p>\n

Simple, predictable, and profitable<\/b><\/p>\n

While HP believes two is better than one, Dell and EMC have gone the opposite direction. In September 7, Dell Technologies completed the acquisition of EMC Corp., creating a\u00a0 $74-billion company with an expansive technology portfolio, and now the world\u2019s largest privately-controlled technology company.<\/p>\n

In his keynote, John Byrne, Dell EMC\u2019s President, for Global Channel, says that Dell and EMC channel partners have already completed the integration process and are now in the market selling Dell, EMC and VMware together as one solution. Byrne says that in most cases, Dell EMC will focus on deepening its relationships with current partners rather than recruiting new resellers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are building a world-class partner program that is simple, predictable, and profitable,\u201d said Byrne.<\/p>\n

Byrne said the new Dell EMC Partner Program will integrate two channel programs and will encompass the entire Dell EMC partner ecosystem, inclusive of solution providers, cloud service providers, global alliances, OEM solutions partners and distribution.<\/p>\n

Scheduled to launch early next year, the program provides transparency while ensuring predictability and profitability, according to Byrne.<\/p>\n

Byrne noted that partners can expect greater consistency on a global scale, including one common approach to deal registrations alongside greater staff incentives to cross-sell.<\/p>\n

Today, Dell EMC\u2019s channel business is worth $35 billion and over 60% of its business goes through the channel. Amit Midha, President APJ Commercial Dell EMC, adds that out of the 63 countries where the company does business in APJ, 58 are 100% channel.<\/p>\n

“The marketplace needs solution providers,” said David Webster, President, Dell Asia Pacific and Japan – Enterprise Sales. “CIOs want prescription and direction. If you’re not best-of-breed and you’re not number one, CIOs will not do business with you.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MACAU \u2014 At the Canalys APAC Channels Forum held in Macau recently, the term \u201csimple\u201d was the common root word uttered by technology giants Dell EMC, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, HP, Inc., and Lenovo in describing how their channel programs are evolving to help partners increase revenues amid a disruption in the technology industry. \u201cWe need to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,19,2,25,22],"tags":[4869,4872,4876,148,4875,2294,4873,4874,4877,3383,312,423],"class_list":["post-26887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-laptops-computers","category-headlines","category-mobile-products","category-software","category-spotlight","tag-canalys","tag-canalys-channels-forum","tag-channel-programs","tag-cloud-computing","tag-dell-emc","tag-digital-transformation","tag-hpe","tag-hpi","tag-hybrid-it","tag-hyperconvergence","tag-lenovo","tag-mobility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}