The Suppor tNet division of Arrow Electronics has created an IBM-focused Storage Enablement Team (ArrowSET) in an effort to wrap more IBM storage sales around solutions, executives said.
"It's designed to pair up our partners directly with a technical advocate to assist and work with them. This all about assisting our smaller partners," said Eric Williams, executive vice president of Support Net, based here. "Our larger partners are more likely to have in-house storage expertise. I'd say that's true for the top 30. Outside that, they don't have the same expertise."
Solution providers will be assigned an ArrowSET technical advocate who will work with them at the proposal stage, Williams said. "Before, they might call our tech hotline. This is a more proactive call to say, 'Let's explore opportunities,' " he said.
Support Net hopes the new group will shorten the time it takes for solution providers to build successful storage practices, Williams said.
"We're trying to replicate the success of larger partners," he said. "A $30 million partner today was $10 million three or four years ago. What did they do to go from $10 million to $30 million? We're saying, 'Why wait'? Let's take our expertise and expedite that revenue growth. You don't want to rely on a handful of partners to deliver [storage solutions]. You want everyone to do it."
