Tech Data Lays Out Hybrid Cloud Strategy

(Pictured above: Tech Data’s Stacy Nethercoat on stage at the distributor’s Partner Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, Nov. 6.)

TECH DATA PARTNER SUMMIT — Tech Data this week unveiled a hybrid-cloud strategy for partners to use in discussions with customers about cloud sales.

It’s at the heart of the distributor’s digital-transformation plans for itself, its partners and customers.

“Partners are going through their own [digital] transformations, so they are looking to us to help them get the outcomes they want,” Stacy Nethercoat, vice president, cloud solutions, Americas at Tech Data, told Tech Data Partner Summit attendees in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The key, as the graphic to the right shows, is capturing end-to-end value across the digital organization. That means enabling transformation on devices, at the network edge, and in public and private clouds.

“These four points of value represent the digitization of the entire organization, which provides a huge opportunity for all of us in the room,” Nethercoat said.

It will take a shift in thinking for some partners — and their customers.

“No longer can we think of public cloud and private cloud as separate. We need to be thinking about these as an integrated solution,” Nethercoat said. “A couple years ago we were operating in separate silos.”

Three areas of focus in this strategy will be key for partners to maximize their potential. The first is security. Nethercoat noted that a multicloud solution can’t be built without thinking of security as “the core.”

Second is vertical-industry expertise, whether it be health care, retail, public sector or something else. Tech Data can offer successful use cases in almost every vertical and can help its partners set up a practice focused on a particular segment.

Third is consulting and managed services. All of these parts coming together represent the expertise that the distributor brings to the table. It’s a holistic approach to the hybrid cloud.

“This is really bringing together all of the elements of Tech Data, the end-to-end of Tech Data, and that’s what I love about this strategy,” said Nethercoat.

In an attempt to help partners go to market with this new road map, Tech Data announced plans for a Center of Excellence, resources from across the distributor’s organization that are designed to help partners leverage all capabilities and deliver hybrid-cloud opportunities to customers. Look for more info about the launch next month.