Hitachi Vantara Replacing Direct Sales with Channel

Hitachi Vantara is making headway in its efforts to switch its EMEA organization over to channel sales.

“We are already at 76% and we are targeting [more than] 90%,” said Dennis Frank, Hitachi Vantara’s VP, EMEA strategic partners and alliances.

The exec was responsible for flipping Hitachi Vantara’s German sales organization from a direct model to more than 80% channel sales. He is now replicating that transition across EMEA.

This has included taking some countries to a fully indirect model. In addition to handing business over to partners, the vendor isn’t accepting any new direct business in the commercial account segment.

Hitachi Vantara is looking to expand its business with existing partners – and deactivating dormant partners – alongside winning new partners. The exec added that 90% of new customers come via partners.

“This is how we intend to increase the market coverage, not by growing our own sales force,” said Frank.

Paired-Back Portfolio For Hitachi Vantara Channel Partners

2023 saw a widescale reorganization for the entire company, when it split into two divisions: Hitachi Digital Services and Hitachi Vantara. The latter now focuses solely on data storage, infrastructure and hybrid cloud.

Frank was candid about the vendor’s previous efforts to integrate data analytics vendor Pentaho into its portfolio.

Related:Hitachi Vantara Expands AI Infrastructure Offerings, Nvidia Partnership

Hitachi Vantara's Dennis Frank

“We asked our partners to sell the whole portfolio," he said. "That was not very successful, to be honest. It was not well received by the partner, by the customer community, because these are different kind of solutions you are selling. Since we have this limited portfolio – not our own servers, not our own network equipment – we’re really keen to work with partners. Because partners are solving the bigger picture.

“I try always to keep it easy for the partners to understand what they can expect from us," he added. "Our addressable market can be extended by adding new solutions, or by adding technology alliances like Cisco or Commvault. Then it’s about the market coverage.”

Former NetApp Leadership Getting Company 'Back On Track'

Hitachi Vantara has also seen a change in senior leadership, with an influx of former NetApp execs joining the company. These include chief revenue officer Neil McGowan, chief product officer Octavian Tanase, and SVP of global sales Mike Bush. The company’s CEO, Sheila Rohra, also spent 10 years at NetApp.

“For us as a channel organization, that gave [us] an additional push, so that they really clearly communicate to the whole field that they want to scale via the channel,” said Frank. “They understood that we lost focus a little bit with all the different acquisitions we did, and now they are bringing us back on track, in terms of saying storage is core to what we are doing."

Related:Hitachi Vantara: Businesses Don't Know How to Use Generative AI

Taking On Storage Rivals

The Germany native is adamant that Hitachi Vantara can take on and win against other, larger storage vendors.

This summer it announced the general availability of its initial offerings under the Hitachi iQ portfolio of AI solutions and services. These include a partnership to offer Nvidia DGX BasePOD certification, which will ensure a product’s compliance with performance and reliability standards.

“It doesn’t matter what happens in the market, for us, an opportunity, because we can replace Dell, Pure [Storage]. We are small in terms of the partner landscape because we hand pick the partners. We are looking for partners who give us a commitment to work with us, then we also invest in [them]. If you compare the partner ecosystems. I think Dell talks about globally, 60,000. We have 5,000. But we have a different kind of quality and engagement," said Frank.