Avnet's SolutionsPath Adds Assessment Services

The SolutionsPath services include assessment, design, implementation and managed services, mostly delivered by Avnet-badged employees, but will also include some third-party partners, according to Tony Vottima, vice president of solutions marketing and development, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas.

"This is the next extension for SolutionsPath. We've seen success for four years with SolutionsPath, now we're ready to take advantage of the evolving market. We've been very hardware-, software-, then services-based. Our goal is to change our [services] mix and increase margins for Avnet and its partners," Vottima said.

The services were developed in concert with SolutionsPath's various practice areas, including NetworkPath, SecurePath, StoragePath, VirtualPath, GovPath and HealthPath.

The assessment services allow solution providers to utilize Avnet resources to help assess a customer's compliance, security, network and more, Vottima said. Design services will leverage new Avnet solutions architects to help build a solution specifically for a customer, he added.

"They will go in on an engagement basis and help architect solutions in those vertical market areas," he said.

The managed services will focus around disaster recovery and remote management and security, said Vottima. "We're looking to expand in those areas. We see the opportunity to be in that managed [environment] with people. Today we have a hosted center and we have hosted customers on site," he said.

Avnet has been building the practice for the past nine months and is rolling it out to partners this week, Vottima added. Assessment services have been the No. 1 request from partners, he said.

"They've always been popular in the server space. Our partners are looking for growth markets and to expand their presence of virtualization. Providing assessment services creates follow-through," he said.

As a multibillion-dollar distributor, Avnet has the resources to scale services at a rate that can make them affordable to solution providers, Vottima said.

"When I invest in resources, I invest for a plethora of partners. My ability is to do it a lot cheaper than partners investing on their own. Having the ability to use our resources until they make investments to manage utilization of a bench proves very important. It's proven that there's margin in the [services] model doing it in a two-tier model," he said.