HDS boss promises to shed humble image

New channel boss Neill Burton calls for stronger marketing presence

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) needs to be "less humble" in order to compete, according to its vice president of channels and alliances, who has today set out his vision for the company.

Neill Burton, former datacentre solutions director at reseller Computacenter, has been in the role for four months. He claims to have a clear idea on the future of the Hitachi subsidiary, which works with a range of resellers, including Computacenter, BT, Kelway and SCC.

HDS held less than 10 per cent share of the worldwide external disc storage system market at the end of 2011's Q4, a figure that Burton is keen to help increase with a more robust marketing strategy.

Speaking to ChannelWeb, he said: "HDS are the quietest in the channel. The other big companies, the EMCs and IBMs, throw a lot of money at marketing, and we just don't do it.

"We are traditionally a very humble company; very proud, but humble. We would not go shouting from the rooftops, and that is quite frustrating; I am not a quiet person.

"I would be standing on the roof of this building with a megaphone. I need to make HDS more of a known entity."

Channel partnership management was another top priority for the vendor, and he believes his 11 years at Computacenter stand him in good stead for his endeavours.

He said: "I am a channel guy who just happens to work for a vendor now. I think like a channel guy, I talk like a channel guy – I have a greater empathy for channel people.

"I have to create plans and strategies that I would be proud to be part of as part of the channel.

HDS deals with Avnet and Zycko as its two main distributor partners. Impersonal relationships between vendors and channel partners are an area that needs to be improved across the industry, according to Burton.

He said: "Too often manufacturers put people in charge of the channel who have never worked there before. They say ‘this is our channel strategy, do you want to be a part of it?', and as a channel partner, I would think, well, actually, no.

"I have to hand-craft plans for specific people, and that is the only way that we will be relevant and unique as an organisation. I really want to step away from the ‘one channel programme fits all' idea," he added.