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Consultative approach

Reseller ME investigates the opportunities for channel partners in the region’s move to desktop virtualisation and how they can aspire to the role of a trusted advisor.desktop v

The regional ICT market, fueled by the increasing number of infrastructure projects and fast-tracked by  investments in smart technology spending, is set to hit the $20 billion mark by 2020, as per reports by the research firm, IDC. This has further transformed workspaces within businesses to introduce and adopt technologies that enhance employees’ productivity. Desktop virtualisation is one such technology.

Arthur Dell, Director, Technology and Services, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Citrix, says, “Desktop and application virtualisation can be powerful drivers for business transformation, making it possible to deliver the apps and data people depend on whenever they need them, on whatever device.

“In the Middle East, these technologies are permitting businesses to develop a more efficient, productive working environment that not only offers flexible working for employees, but also enables IT departments to manage IT infrastructure more efficiently and securely.”

In such an environment, organisations have to consider a number of key elements to ensure the success of these technologies such as enabling collaboration seamlessly, planning server infrastructure well, understanding the importance of network intelligence and embedding security across technology, processes and people. Security being an extremely critical element.

Implementing a desktop virtualisation solution requires expertise that regional organisations may be deficient in. This is where channel partners play a significant role to enable businesses to optimise the advantages of desktop virtualisation, which includes savings on cost and enhanced security.

“Workplace and digital transformation projects are now front of mind for many businesses in the region, as digital technologies are increasingly used to enrich experiences. Previously, IT was primarily focused on improving operational efficiency and managing infrastructure,” says Dell.

Today IT is required to align with the demands of an evolving workforce at the same time as helping the business focus on its key services.

“Resellers need to appreciate this shift in priorities, and help businesses on their digital transformation journey. Desktop and application virtualisation technologies are often a key component of a broader IT transformation project – for example, knowledge workers now expect to use multiple devices, laptops, smartphones and tablets in the office and on the road.

“They expect to be able to access their work data and applications wherever they are required to work. This is vital in the working environment found in the Middle East, with the workforce often travelling and working remotely,” he adds.

Organisations are looking for channel partners not only to provide the technology but to put forward skills related to total cost of ownership, return on investment and managing the journey, says Bertram MJ Collins, Head of ICT Portfolio, CNS.

“A channel partner and reseller need to understand that when engaging customers, they need to understand that one size will not fit all,” says Collins. “The desktop virtualisation topic will be well researched by the customer and the channel partner will need to demonstrated capability to deliver as well as clear referencibility.”

The biggest opportunities in desktop virtualisation for Middle East resellers lie in high-performance flash storage and servers.

“Resellers should not think in terms of solely deploying desktop virtualisation, but take a solutions-based approach that guides organisations in the entire infrastructure needed to make organisational-wide desktop virtualisation a success – including software, hardware, and services,” explains Savitha Bhaskar, COO, Condo Protego.

Shams Hasan, Enterprise Storage Manager, Dell Middle East, adds, “Resellers who are looking to scale up their operations need to take a serious look into cloud client-computing. There are numerous benefits that firms can leverage into a more profitable, competitive business. Upon implementing a cloud-based design into a company’s technology infrastructure, management will certainly see better performance across the board and other benefits such as less time wasted, more money saved, order processing simpler, smoother transactions and productivity rise.”

Understanding the opportunities present is one thing and ensuring there is skill and talent to deliver is another. While both are important, skill development is one of the most vital aspects.

“It is important that partners acquire the technical knowledge and skills to be able to articulate, design, implement and deploy solutions that specifically address a customer’s individual workplace needs – there is no such thing as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach,” says Dell.

According to Hasan, beyond staying up to date with the knowledge, resellers and systems integrators will benefit from joining forces with vendors who are leaders in desktop virtualisation and those who look for strategic synergies and opportunities with their partners.

“The right collaboration model for partners should involve a vendor that can provide the flexibility to explore a breadth of solutions and make available resources to enable partners to deep-dive and get hands-on with customers,” he adds.

The challenges for partners with desktop virtualisation often include the large timelines involved with VDI initiatives, the rapidly evolving developments in VDI solutions, compounded by the diversity of offerings, providing proof-of-concepts at customer sites, and the multiple hierarchies of conversations and engagements that are often involved at the customer.

Lack of knowledge on both customers’ and partners’ end is also a challenge, says Mohammad Mobasseri, CEO, emt Distribution.

“Another customer pain point is the existing investment. Therefore, a proper evaluation is required to ensure customers have best possible and affordable solutions while also allowing partners to make enough profits,” he says.

Partners need to go that extra mile to be a trusted advisor for customers. This can be done only through in-depth conversations to understand the technology better, attending relevant conferences, reading and constantly updating themselves and by attending vendor or distributor led training workshops.

“We encourage resellers to invest time to go through webinars and other hands-on training that are offered in the region. We expect some of the resellers to build a centre of excellence for our hybrid cloud storage and virtualisation solutions, so they can drive a very positive business impact while addressing their organisation’s critical IT needs,” says Nilesh Patel, Vice President, Marketing, Sphere 3D.

Channel partners should take the initiative to create the demand for desktop virtualisation and also ensure they have all the right tools in order to not only deploy it but also play the role of a consultant successfully.

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