Power play: Can going back to basics help partners profit?

Customers' IT demands are increasingly complex, with the internet of things and cloud technology having opened up a whole new world for many. While many channel partners have invested heavily in these advanced products and solutions, many may be missing a trick by overlooking the most basic requirement which underpins almost all technology - power.

"If any reseller is selling any IT equipment or electronic devices to a retail customer, there is always an opportunity to add on a UPS [uninterruptable power supply] to back it up," said Simon Blake, EMEA marketing director of Emerson Network Power. "The only reason they have an electronic device is to do something when they're trading."

While a UPS product can help prevent obvious problems in a small shop environment - such as keeping the till and EPOS system running and ensuring the fire doors work - having a back-up power supply can help keep more complex technology running on a bigger scale, Blake said.

For larger retailers which have got a number of bigger stores, having an on-site server room which processes data locally, rather than spending time and effort sending it to a larger, more remote datacentre, can be the norm, he said.

"Edge computing isn't new, however, what we see happening more and more, is data is being collected and even processed away from main datacentres, this is due to the cost of transmitting it back to a datacentre costing money," he said.

"The longer the system is down, the longer it is not doing what it is meant to be doing."

"You're using bandwidth unnecessarrily. Look at the extreme example of Netflix: what Netflix does is they build large datacentres close to large cities in the US. The reason is they want to provide the data as close to the people consuming it, without having to pay massive bandwidth charges and more important have latency issues

"Then, bring that down to a local business. Maybe they've got a load of devices connected to the internet of things - fridges to make sure they are the right temperature, or devices tracking customers' movements. The amount of data being collected locally is growing. They want to process it locally so they need a more sophisticated IT setup."

But with more data comes more risk, Blake said, adding that this strengthens the case for resellers providing UPS and intelligent remote IT management technology.

"But now customers have added in a risk," he said. "You're not going to pay for a dedicated IT person in every store. So what you want is have the ability to access the IT devices of that that store or premises and be able to diagnose if there's a problem and fix it fast...remotely. You reduce the number of staff you need, plus you are able to remotely manage, diagnose and fix problems. It stops you from losing money, basically. The longer the system is down, the longer it is not doing what it is meant to be doing."

Channel opportunity

The retail industry in the UK is massive. According to RetailEconomics, £339bn was spent among the UK's near-200,000 retailers last year. The sector employs 2.8 million people and generates five per cent of the country's GDP.

Blake said that, the opportunity is vast for all VARs, the technology is as applicable for a 'mom and pop' store as it is for a supermarket chain, the only difference is the level of sophistication, which is where resellers can help.

"The ideal scenario is you have resellers who have a lot of retail clients," he said.

"There are about a quarter of a million retail businesses in the UK, so a lot of resellers will be doing business with some or many of them. But what we're also doing is saying to resellers if you're not already talking to resellers about the opportunity, you should be. There are loads of opportunities."