Prasanna Gulasekharam - Country Manager, Commvault New Zealand
Commvault has restructured its channel strategy in New Zealand, adopting a single distribution model through an exclusive agreement with NEXTGEN Distribution.
In a move that ends the vendor’s relationship with Ingram Micro, Reseller News understands that the model came into effect on August 1, with the data backup specialists preferring “value, rather than volume” in the Kiwi market.
“Having one primary route enables Commvault to focus its channel programs to enhance its reach to the reseller and service provider community,” Commvault country manager, Prasanna Gulasekharam, told Reseller News.
For Gulasekharam, Commvault made a decision that having one primary route to the partner channel provided the best opportunity to execute on the company’s channel programs.
“Single distribution will not reduce access to the addressable markets, partners or service providers, it will only enhance it by more cohesive and simpler engagement with Commvault,” he explained.
Prompted by NEXTGEN’s increased investment in the Commvault account - through the recent hiring of Jody Walters as Vendor Business Manager - the new model is designed to provide a “more cohesive and simplified experience” to the vendor’s VAR community when selling Commvault.
“This investment allows both organisations to further deepen our relationship with our top VARs, as well as acquire new resellers,” Commvault vice president of indirect business in Asia Pacific and Japan, Mark Velthuis, added.
“On the back of this appointment Commvault launched our Market Builder program in July this year.
"This invitation only designation provides additional benefits for the VARs in return for building a competent, self-sufficient Commvault practice allowing us to grow mutual market share.”
As Commvault changes from a company focused primarily on data protection to offer solutions across the business and enterprise for end to end data management, Velthuis said resellers now have the potential to extend the “breadth and reach” of customers solutions for both existing and new end users.
“As the leader in backup and recovery solutions and helping organisations move to the cloud, NEXTGEN and VARs have a terrific opportunity to increase their revenue opportunities, extend their share of wallet and deliver more value to the market,” he added.
“NEXTGEN will play an crucial role in up skilling the VAR community to take advantage of this opportunity.”
