Hitachi Vantara’s UK channel sales have shot back up to 80% of the total under its “partner first” strategy, its local leader said as he characterised the storage vendor as an “awakening giant”.
The Japanese outfit two years ago committed to generating all new business via the channel, following a period selling primarily direct.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, UK&I GM Lee Nolan said Hitachi Vantara’s UK revenues are on course to double year on year in its Q2 ending 30 September 2026.
Partners are set to generate 80% of the total, up from 60% year on year and “near zero” at the start of the decade, he added.
“Five or six years ago, I understand there was a view that said, ‘right, we’re going to do everything directly’, and that really didn’t help our channel relationship’,” said Lee, who joined the business last October from Everpure.
“We want 90-95% of our business to go through the channel.
“This is a call to action for our partners to be part of that growth trajectory that we’re enjoying, and will continue to enjoy.”
Hitachi Vantara is becoming a “viable alternative”, Nolan said as he claimed its reputation for manufacturing “bullet-proof” hardware is now matched with a new focus on simplification of management.
“We’re historically a pretty quiet business,” Nolan said.
“We don’t make a lot of noise, and really, it’s ensuring that people understand what Hitachi Vantara can bring.
“It’s about awakening the giant, because Hitachi Group is a $70bn organisation with 290,000 employees. Hitachi Vantara is part of that, and we just are not clear enough about what we’re offering.”
Hitachi was recently named by storcomp as the lowest priced of seven popular enterprise storage systems, besting Dell, Everpure, HPE, Huawei, IBM and NetApp.
“We’re seeing people really look with interest at Hitachi and say, ‘you can perform the best in the industry’, Nolan said as he flagged banks, telcos, healthcare, media and research among its key verticals.
“It really isn’t great for the partner”
Not all vendors’ storage guarantees are as robust as Hitachi Vantara’s, Nolan claimed as he urged partners and customers to compare the small print.
“We provide a guarantee that says it will store five petabytes of data… it will have this efficiency rate [for example],” he said.
“In a situation where it doesn’t provide that, you have to lean on your guarantee.
“But does the customer have to flag this up within a certain period of time? Does it have to be within 30 days of getting the kit, 90 days, a year, two years? What does that look like? And that can fundamentally change what a guarantee looks like.
“It really isn’t great for the partner when the vendor is left going, ‘well, I’m sorry, you need to buy more’.
“We have a number of guarantees. We’re a Japanese organisation. We believe in transparency and clarity and saying, ‘we’ve got your back; you’re covered’.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
