As one of the largest global technology distribution companies, with a turnover of $24 billion, Arrow Electronics is in a position to provide its community of channel partners, the benefits of its relationships with over 125,000, technology manufacturing companies. Arrow Electronics, the global distribution entity, covers both electronic components and enterprise computing products.
Within the Middle East region, the Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions division or Arrow ECS is primarily focusing on hyper-converged infrastructure, cyber security, vendor certified training, and professional services. With the increasing convergence of sensors, devices, operational technologies, and IP digital technologies, the fact that Arrow distributes both electronic components and enterprise computing products, is likely to help it gain ground in the IoT distribution business as well.
Globally, Arrow maintains an active cloud marketplace for its vendor partners, focusing on backup and storage, security, business applications, collaboration and communication, computing, operating system, virtualisation, connectivity, amongst others. Its leading cloud vendor partners hosted in its various marketplaces include, Citrix, IBM, McAfee, Microsoft, Oracle, Trend Micro, Veeam, Symantec, VMware, amongst others. Inside the Middle East region, the cloud marketplace and vendor partner relationships are still under consideration.
“What we are doing is creating or transforming the organisation to have that Arrow style in our dealings with partners. Now obviously, as far as the business is concerned with vendors, whatever vendors we had in the past, we are continuing with them. But now we are in a position to give more solutions. That does not mean all the technology vendors will work in the Middle East. But we have access to all those technologies. And because of the world-wide releases from these vendors, as and when we require we can derive the technology that it is focused on,” explains Vimal Kocher is Managing Director Middle East region, Enterprise Computing Solutions Business, Arrow Electronics.
Within the Middle East region, distribution companies have been challenged in the past few years, with their high degree of vendor and product specialisations and sales alignments. Just till a few years ago, leading distribution companies were known by their primary vendor volume business and their product specialisation. All that has now changed.
With increasing challenges in the business and economic environment and the push into the realms of digital transformation, end-users are looking at working with channel partners who can actively work on their pain-points. This requirement has pressured both distributors and channel partners to move towards a solution-based approach rather than a product-based approach.
“Customers are now looking for partners who can really work on their pain-points and suggest the solution, which will help them in increasing their business. This is the change. And in that process, they look for partners or distributors, when you talk about who can provide them the solutions. It is no more distribution of hardware or software or service. It is a solution. And this is what we exactly do,” elaborates Kocher.
However, to meet the expectation of end-users in their technology transformation, channel partners feel challenged and constrained. A key requirement for channel partners to reduce the pain-points of end-users is to have sufficient skilled resources on-board, and this is often not the case. Increasingly, especially within the Middle East region, channel partners are turning to distributors to provide their skilled resources in the form of professional services, that can be used by channel partners to reduce pain-points of their end-customers.
Kocher adds that, it is not just the channel partners who are expecting increased support of professional services from distributors but vendors themselves. Vendors take up a lot of professional services requirements from end-users and they will come back to the distributor for resources. “We are working on increasing our services portfolio with our vendors.”
Kocher stresses that Arrow will not go directly to end-users and compete with the vendor or its channel partners for these professional services. It will only sell back its professional services to the vendor and the channel partners, when they sub-contract that part from their end-users to Arrow. To further build the base of skilled resources in the Middle East, Arrow is also an active certified training partner for IBM Systems and Software, Dell EMC, Forcepoint, and RSA.
Key takeaways
- Customers are now looking for partners who can really work on their pain-points and suggest the solution, which will help them in increasing their business
- It is no more distribution of hardware or software or service, it is a solution, and this is what we exactly do
- Channel partners are turning to distributors to provide their skilled resources in the form of professional services, that can be used by channel partners to reduce pain-points of their end-customers
Arrow Electronics snapshot
Arrow Electronics founded in 1935, is a $24 billion, global provider of electronic components and enterprise computing solutions. Arrow serves as a supply channel partner for more than 125,000 original equipment manufacturers, through a global network of more than 465 locations serving over 90 countries.
Within Arrow Electronics, global sale of components contributed $15.4 billion, and global sales of enterprise computing solutions contributed $8.4 billion. The European, Middle East and Africa region contributed 29% of Arrow Electronics’ global sales. Arrow ECS is a business unit within Arrow Electronics and manages the sales of enterprise computing solutions.
Arrow ECS’ vendor partners and their primary solutions in the Middle East include:
- Dell EMC: Full product portfolio on Datacenters, Servers, Storage, DPS, Networking, Solutions, Services
- Dell Technologies, RSA: Netwitness Suite, SecurID Suite and Archer Suite
- Check Point: Cloud, mobile, threat prevention, others
- McAfee: SIEM, ATD, IPS, Endpoint Security, others
- Forcepoint: NGFW, DLP + SureView, Web Security
- Trendmicro: APT, IPS, Cloud, Datacenter security
- F5 Networks: ASM, LTM, DNS, Cloud base Silver line, Web fraud, APM
- Netscout: Application and Network Performance Management
- Infoblox: Network Control with Secure DNS, DHCP, IPAM DDI
- Symantec MessageLabs: Email Security
- Training and certification: IBM Systems and Software, Dell EMC, Forcepoint, RSA
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