Collaboration is the act of working together. It is the coming together of ideas and strategies to create a better final product, and ensure the advancement of a group, a business or an industry. In the ICT sector, collaboration is seen as the driving force behind success, ensuring the multiplication of innovation, delivery and efficiency.
Brad Fraser, CEO at Infoprotect, highlights collaboration as "an essential pillar in the strengthening and developing of the IT industry". Mercia Stiglingh, Veritas Brand Manager at First Distribution, agrees with him. "In this industry, the more brains there are collaborating on an idea, the better the final result and outcomes will be. This is key."
Both parties believe teamwork is essential, working together with business partners drives greater value to the end-customer. Fraser advises: "Finding the right business partner becomes a relatively easy and effective task once you have outlined who your target market is and what that market's needs are. You are then able to collaborate with partners with whom you can work together to better reach those customers and service their needs."
In the field of enterprise technologies, First Distribution takes Gartner listed products, such as Veritas, to market, partnering with like-minded resellers on behalf of vendors, and serving as an extension of the partner sales force. Despite the fact that the industry is often seen as cold, building a successful business in a tough environment is made that much more appealing by value-adding relationships.
As a result, Infoprotect has paired up with the First Distribution team. The team is passionate about growth, and is already excelling in the Veritas, Back-up Exec and data insights space. With constant value being driven into the partner's business through lead generation, gaps are filled and opportunities identified. The Veritas solutions offer cloud migration and adoption, risk mitigation and compliances, secondary storage and optimisation, modernising data protection and platform independence.
To be effective, the partner must identify the end-customer space and understand where the technology could add value, in order to target the right customers with the right solutions. "To achieve this, we've ensured complete innovation within our business model while helping customers to do the same," confirms Fraser. "It is crucial that partners work together to the benefit of the customer, filling skills gaps where they arise and delivering solutions to the outcomes of white space analyses. With greater resources, so much more can be achieved faster, more efficiently, and according to real needs."
This partnership is committed to benefiting the customer, driven by the quality of relationships. The best end product is achieved when all parts collaborate effectively, to fulfil the customer's needs. A good partnership results in faster turnaround times, satisfied customers and pricing that is fair.
In any business, customer satisfaction is an overarching goal externally, but internally, financial success is critical in ensuring the business is financially stable. Partnerships enable companies to grow and compete in the market, giving them that cutting edge. Of course, the distributor also benefits from an effective partner network that drives sales and supports vendor growth.
"Developing profitable partner distribution channels is essential to local growth, the furtherance of innovation, and the enlargement of valuable networks within the industry," concludes Fraser. "With these scalable, reliable relationships in place, success is inevitable - and everyone benefits."
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