Events
GTDC CEO Vitagliano: Distributors Are Evolving To Be ‘Ecosystem Orchestrators’
Joseph F. Kovar
‘The ability to do the compatibility testing, the ability to have the interaction with the vendor community, the ability to help you all navigate all of the providers that are out there, particularly in the security space, somebody’s got to be able to help with that. And distributors can and will have the capability to do that,’ says Frank Vitagliano, CEO of the Global Technology Distribution Council, at XChange March 2023.
Distribution Is Continually Evolving
Distribution continues to evolve, and is now doing so in three major ways, Vitagliano said.
First, distributors have transitioned to become an ecosystem orchestrator, he said.
“That doesn’t quite roll off your tongue,” he said. “So you have to kind of think about that a little bit. And the term ‘ecosystem’ is overused by a lot of people.”
Second, distributors are making major investments in digital platforms and marketplaces for obvious reasons, Vitagliano said.
“Every distributor, that’s the No. 1 area of investment that they’re making,” he said. “And we’re talking about significant amounts of dollars because these folks are generating big revenues. The largest distributor globally is $60 billion or so [in revenue], closely followed by $50 billion. So they’re, we’re talking about major, major investment dollars. We’re talking about billions of dollars being invested.”
Third, distribution is now all about using data to drive insight and business outcomes, Vitagliano said.
“[They have] to be able to help provide you all with more capability, more enablement for you to transact business with your customers,” he said.
