Didata says it is 'repurposing', not exiting, licensing biz

Microsoft licensing services provider says it is adding staff to services ranks

Dimension Data has poured cold water on claims it is planning to exit the licensing space, insisting a new software services division is in the making.

Rumours reached CRN claiming the reseller and services firm's licensing arm was struggling and that the firm was planning to dissolve it. But its managing director, Calvin Goom, said "quite the opposite" is the case.

"There is no truth [in it] at all," he said. "For FY16 we are setting up a new team called software services in the UK business. We are busy recruiting some of the additional staff at the moment. We made the decision to repurpose the existing software licensing team as the whole industry seems to be shifting in that direction.

"So in summary, Didata UK&I will have a new team that specialises in multi-vendor software services from vendors such as Microsoft, Cisco, Citrix, VMware, RSA [and] Symantec."

Cloud technology has prompted huge change to traditional licensing models in recent years. Microsoft has spoken out and said selling cloud services is no longer enough, and that ensuring customers actually use them is now essential. It has tweaked its partner programme to reward usage.

Speaking to CRN last week, Goom said Didata has taken this into account.

"Everything we are doing now with Microsoft isn't about selling licences but how their clients are consuming [their software]," he said. "The entire compensation plan, the entire dashboard and client scorecard between our two organisations is having to shift as we develop cloud-based consumption models for Microsoft technology without having to sell any licences."