Some distributors are aggressively repositioning themselves as platform companies. Does this speak to a meaningful change in what distributors do, or is it just marketing?
We need to make sure we are meeting the expectations of customers. The reality is that the co-workers at our customers – especially the Z generation – are expecting more and more to interact with us in a low-touch and self-service manner. That’s the reason platform is important.
We are investing millions in our platform. We have a complete roadmap and will make some nice announcements pretty soon [TD Synnex just yesterday announced it has acquired cloud commerce platform Apptium to bolster its StreamOne platform).
But we invest as much, if not more, in our enablement capabilities so that our customers can build their practices and grow by winning at the end users.
For me, platform is a tool. It’s an important tool – if you have the right platform you create the right customer experience. But I don’t think it’s enough.
Just like logistics has over time became table stakes, platform will become table stakes. Every large distributor today is investing millions in platform, so at a given point in time, I’m not sure it will be differentiating. What will be differentiating is what you do to help your customer grow.
Platform is a must have, especially for software, but in general today to interact with customers it’s not enough. The second dimension which is critical is the enablement. That dimension of the job is as critical as automating and simplifying the interactions and the transactions with our customers.
AWS Marketplace recently launched its Designated Seller of Record (DSOR) scheme for distributors. How big a route to market do you see AWS Marketplace and hyperscaler marketplaces becoming for distribution?
You said it – it’s a new go to market, and that’s how we recognise hyperscaler marketplaces.
Many [distributors] see it as a disintermediation threat. We see it as a go-to-market. The reality is you have end users who end up with significant amounts of credits on those platforms. It’s forecast in the next two years that $80bn of transactions will go through those platforms, so ignoring it is a mistake.
It’s an opportunity for us to grow and even win business which we may have not won in the past. What I appreciate about DSOR is that AWS is providing an environment where, when an end user decides at the end to buy from the platform, the channel – the partner and the distributor – is still rewarded. So for me, it’s a great opportunity.
Secondly, when you think about the role of distribution, we usually simplify all those processes. We’re working on making sure that leveraging the DSOR process is easy for our partners. We will take some of the workload to make it easy for them, and that’s our traditional role.
Interview continues on the following page….
