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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.
Distributors Becoming Ecosystem Orchestrators
IT distribution is at the center of an ecosystem that is really a network of vendors and solution providers all looking to work together to sell and support products and services for end users, Vitagliano said. This, he said, is far removed from the traditional linear model where distribution was just in the line between vendors and solution providers or customers, he said.
“Somebody’s got to be in the middle there to orchestrate all of that,” he said. “Because there’s a ton of work that needs to get done that many of you don’t want to make the investments in your business to do. Having run a solution provider for a couple of years, I know the cost associated with going to market with multiple vendors and making the investments in the new technologies. So you’ve got to find ways to defer some of that.”
IT distributors play that orchestration role, Vitagliano said.
“And honestly, who else could do that?” he said. “There’s nobody else in the industry that could play that role, that’s equipped to play it.”
