En Pointe Technologies Launches Specialized Data Management Team
En Pointe Technologies has boosted its push into data management with the addition of a dedicated data management team, the company said Tuesday.
The solution provider, No. 42 on CRN's SP500 list, said the move will help meet the growing market for data management solutions and services. En Pointe works with a variety of vendors to help meet that market demand, including Dell, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Symantec and Veeam.
While the Gardena, Calif.-based company was already offering data management services, the latest move demonstrates a strategic investment behind the technology and a deepening commitment by the company to services and becoming more relevant in the backup space, Herb Hogue, En Pointe senior vice president of Professional Services & Engineering, said.
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Hogue said that he doesn't know exactly how many employees will be added to form the team, but that the data management team will constitute a "significant investment."
"We're already doing that business today. What we're really trying to do is put emphasis on it to do more and to build on that," Hogue said.
Hogue said the new team will help En Pointe distinguish itself in the data management space and bring together its wide variety of vendors, solutions and services into a holistic solution for clients.
Data management has been a huge growth area for En Pointe in recent months, with some areas seeing business doubling. For the business as a whole, Hogue said that data management is already a "good size revenue-driver." That growth makes it a natural fit for investment, he said.
"We're trying to focus on what we're good at in those spaces, and this is an area we're excelling at," Hogue said.
En Pointe's focus on data management will be a differentiator for the company going forward, Hogue said. In particular, Hogue pointed to how En Pointe is vendor-agnostic with a large portfolio of vendor options to choose from, something that he said most other VARs lack.
"I think, for us, we're an agnostic company, and that's what is unusual about us. If you look at traditional VARs, they're generally a Symantec, EMC partner and they try to make every solution fit that technology. Our approach is a little different," he said. "Let's understand the use case, let's understand the requirements, let's understand what the existing investment has been, and then let's propose a solution."
The data management team will be key in En Pointe's push into services, both today and down the road, Hogue said. As technology continues to transition around the cloud, Hogue said that En Pointe is placing more emphasis on services, in addition to hardware and software offerings.
"That's where I see us going, as we start transitioning over the next five years, and we're already starting down that path. This [announcement] importantly is on the current today, with an eye to the future as this space continues to change," Hogue said.
PUBLISHED JULY 23, 2014