Embotics to axe or demote half its UK resellers

VARs set for demotion or excision as firm looks to bring in more focused partners to double UK channel base

Half of Embotics' existing reseller partner base is set to be shown the door or demoted, according to its newly appointed EMEA channel boss.

The private cloud management specialist's quest to grow in the UK will see inactive or casual partners' status reviewed in the coming months, according to Colin Wright, new vice president of EMEA. The firm plans to replace the VARs with more focused partners, and add more on top.

Embotics is hoping to double its current reseller base of 10 as part of its European expansion plan, which has seen the firm sign a UK distribution deal with Prianto, which joins incumbent Magirus.

Wright said reviewing the partner base will ensure only dedicated, focused partners are on board. In the reviewed reseller model, transacting partners will earn a 12 per cent margin, while Elite partners can receive about 30 per cent.

He said: "We want to keep the model with 20 partners to ensure erosion of margin does not happen. If we had 500 or 1,000 partners, for example, the value [would] diminish."

Resellers that have progressed from providing virtualisation technology to services provision would be most attractive to Embotics, according to Wright, who said the size of the VAR is irrelevant, as its skills and knowledge are more important.

He added that while the Avnet acquisition of Magirus is still "hugely positive" for the company, he warned that Embotics does not want to be overstretched.

"We are still expecting significant progress, effort and margin [from Magirus], and at the moment, [the acquisition] is hugely positive for us," he said. "We only want 10 partners from each distributor, so if [Magirus] wants to go on a huge recruitment drive, we will not want them to do that at all."

Wright added that Prianto was selected because the distributor's knowledge base was more attractive than its size, and said: "We are not looking for the biggest [distributor], but the best return."

Wright, who started working at the vendor in October, joined the firm from 2e2 and previously held virtualisation roles at MTI Technology and Veeam.