Storage vendor HDS has quizzed its UK partners on what they believe is the biggest business challenge for their customers over the next year.

Due to the downturn, 80 per cent of partners cited operational costs as the biggest challenge; and 78 per cent cited capital costs. They were also asked how customer business priorities will affect their own business. Of these, 37 per cent said investing in IT will be challenging for customers, and 27 per cent stated it will be hard to find new customers.

Harvey Smith, HDS channel manager for the UK and Ireland, said: “Give us your customer base and we do a five-day call-out campaign. On average, these partners are seeing 20 appointments per week.”

Partners that have already taken advantage of this offer include Abtech, B2Net, Absnet and Coal IT.

A further 65 per cent cited virtualisation as the technology that would be most profitable to their business within the next 12 months.

David Galton-Fenzi, group sales director at HDS distributor Zycko, said: “We have noticed a surge in interest in virtualisation technologies. The recession has led IT managers to turn to their suppliers for help in implementing solutions that reduce costs and provide a better return on investment.”