HDS to cut number of reseller relationships

Vendor looking to shed partners in an attempt to create more intimate business environments

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) is planning to scrap up to 10 reseller relationships in an effort to increase sales and focus on the medium-size business sector.

The vendor currently works with about 30 resellers, but said it was looking to trim numbers in order to work more intimately with VARs.

Jonathan Grantham, UK sales director at HDS, said: “Some 80 per cent of sales are currently made directly, but growing through the channel is the only way for us. We have to position the company and our products to ensure that they can support our increased channel focus.”

The vendor will decide which resellers are cut by means of a mixture of customer satisfaction surveys, investment in HDS and an assessment of lead creation.

Grantham claimed that HDS was the dominant vendor in the enterprise space, but said it would also create an internal “hit squad” to focus on channel relationships.

“Resellers want three things: qualified leads, services leads and to partner with an organisation they can trust,” he said.

Within the next six months HDS also plans to introduce a loyalty-based pricing model for its resellers, entitling them to product discounts for meeting certain criteria.

Annie Rickard, marketing manager at storage VAR TriSys, said: “This approach is different, but I can see the practicalities of it. It will be interesting to see how it pans out.

“Loyalty-based pricing works both ways and the vast majority of vendors already offer it. The more a reseller buys the better the discount it gets.”