Modeen Malick, Principal Systems Engineer, Commvault.

The IT industry is in a constant state of flux, with new technologies, products, and services emerging at a breakneck pace. As a result, resellers are inundated by vendor solutions making choosing the right vendor to partner with key to their success.

“Staying relevant is very important for resellers, and therefore maintaining a clear vision of the industry and trends is crucial to selecting the right solutions to offer to end users. Resellers and partners must keep their fingers on the pulse to know what’s happening and what the hot topics are,” says Nizar Elfarra, Channel Sales Director, Emerging Markets at Commvault.

Nizar Elfarra, Channel Sales Director, Emerging Markets at Commvault.

Modeen Malick, Principal Systems Engineer at Commvault, adds that along with the landscape, resellers and partners are also evolving. A few years ago, there was a very small base of partners, made up of a handful of backup vendors, backup resellers and partners of the backup vendors.

“This has obviously now changed. There is a significant number of resellers and partners addressing both the enterprise and SME space, and there is a massive catalogue of solutions that can. So, how can resellers keep abreast of the latest and best technologies and solutions and effectively evaluate which products to sell?” asks Malick.

Despite these challenges, choosing the right vendor is crucial for the success of resellers and partners in this dynamic landscape. Most importantly, the choice of vendor must be based on whether a particular vendor is relevant or not.

Compensating the partner ecosystem

“Resellers and partners should factor in how long that vendor has been operating globally, regionally, locally and more importantly, how are they compensating and rewarding their partner ecosystem,” says Elfarra. “At the end of the day, the goal is to turn a profit whilst delivering a robust and effective solution to the end user customer that adds value to their business. So, how attractive is the partner programme? How flexible is it? How much do they rely on partners?” These are all questions that carry weight.

Malick agrees that it is about fostering a channel-friendly ecosystem but adds that market presence is also important when choosing the right vendor. “Ultimately, market share, market presence and reputation are crucial considerations.”

Elfarra notes that Commvault is relevant to the reseller and partner community because it has a very broad offering and caters to all types of workloads.

“We have been in business as a publicly traded company for the past 27 years. So, we understand the landscape and we understand our customers’ needs when it comes to data protection and cyber resilience and recovery,” he says.

“We are a very focused vendor that understands that space as we have always been a channel-first company. Our approach has always focused on having a reseller and a distributor as part of our routes to market, so the channel is the key to our success.”

Partner-centric company

Malick explains that being a partner-centric company, Commvault has programmes in place to focus on the profitability of the partner and the excitement of the partner ecosystem. This partner programme continues to evolve to keep resellers engaged and rewarded.

According to Elfarra, what makes Commvault the ideal partner for resellers and partners in the industry is the long-term leadership that Commvault has demonstrated, along with the industry accolades it received from various industry analysts, such as Gartner, IDC and Forbes.

“We have been in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for the past 12 years. We have been the leader of the critical capabilities’ matrix for the past four years for effectively providing capabilities that are leaps and bounds ahead of our competitors,” he says.

Additionally, he says, it is the fact that Commvault is a stable company that has been in the South African market for a very long time. “We have an established partner ecosystem, and our solution is complete. We have a comprehensive vision and we're adapting, improvising and adding capabilities as and when the market requires it.

“We are very partner-centric in our approach and very much focused on our partners, their wellbeing and their ability to be profitable. We have a very clear direction for developing focused partners and resellers,” Elfarra concludes.