Dodds: Partners should avoid being agnostic

Ultima Business Solutions' new CEO believes the term is becoming redundant and channel partners should nail their technology colours to the mast

Three months after joining Ultima Business Solutions as chief executive, Scott Dodds (pictured) is in a bullish mood as he steers the company on its aggressive growth path.

He said the reason he moved back to the VAR world after a 20-year stint at vendors such as Acer, Microsoft and most recently VMware was simply because it presented an opportunity that could not be turned down.

"I was genuinely enjoying the developments at VMware, but when Max (McNeill, chairman and founder of Ultima) approached me, it was too good an opportunity to miss and it took me about 10 seconds to decide," Dodds told CRN.

"When you are at one vendor you get focused on your market and your products, but there is so much change happening in this industry, and what struck me about Ultima is that there is the ability to be reactive to customer demands and get closer to the customers' world rather than just a single vendor view. It is bringing the ecosystem of the technology to customers."

He explained that over two thirds of Ultima's business is centred around services, ranging from implementation services, to advisory services, and a wide range of managed services. And the majority of that is mid-market focused.

"A managed services capability is the platform to delivering cloud services," he said. "It is putting together all the different strands of the technology in the market and making sense of it all for customers."

And Dodds is very strong in his belief that channel partners need to be committed to certain technologies.

"Customers don't want partners to be agnostic. The term is becoming redundant. They want serious advice and demonstrations of where and why a particular technology is important to their business. They want to know what the right technology is and how it collaborates with their existing infrastructure. They want partners to have a view. That is a very important thing to state."

Looking ahead, he said the future was bright for Ultima.

"We have just finished a record third quarter for growth, and the fourth quarter is looking very promising. And for our new financial year which starts in April, we have exciting plans to build and grow the business. I am not going to state any huge numbers; for me it is about profitability and relevance," he said.

For the full interview, see CRN 25 January issue.