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.
Transition To Services
Vitagliano said IT distribution’s transition toward a services focus is ongoing.
“One of the things that’s very significant is every vendor has introduced some sort of an as-a-service consumption model that is being driven by customer demand,” he said. “It hasn’t become really mainstream yet. I mean the volumes are probably in the single digits in terms of where we’re at, but it is becoming more significant.
“Eventually, they’ll figure out the best processes to be able to put in place and operate at scale,” he said. “And they’re not doing it today because every vendor has a slightly different implementation, and the major ones are driving the agenda almost on a one-on-one basis with industry. And there isn’t any sort of single platform or single process to put in place.
For managed services, it depends on their requirements, Vitagliano said.
“If it’s strictly a pure-play MSP, then in some cases the role that a traditional distributor provides could be limited for MSPs trying to take advantage of it. But there’s still a ton of experience, a ton of educational information available, and certainly the credit and financing still in place [from the distributors].”
