Q4 2019 | Vol. 24 No. 4
THE BEST OF
2019 INNOVATION AWARDS 2019
ARN
Q4 2019
VOL. 24 NO. 4
02 Editorial
CELEBRATING THE BEST OF THE CHANNEL IN 2019
MANAGING DIRECTOR barbara simon barbara_simon@idg.com.au
EDITORIAL editor: leon spencer leon_spencer@idg.com.au
senior journalist: julia talevski
T
his year at the ARN Innovation Awards in Sydney, more than a few of the evening’s guests said that the event felt a little bit like a big family reunion. What a wonderful sentiment. That industry pundits should liken such an event to a family reunion is testament to the collegial nature of the local channel industry. Indeed, Australia’s channel industry represents a tight-knit community of professional acquaintances, technology leaders, commercial competitors and, above all, friends. With this in mind, it cannot be overstated what an absolute honour it is for ARN to be a part of this community and to be in a position to provide the premier platform with which to showcase the best that the local channel industry has to offer. For 13 years, ARN’s annual awards have borne witness to the rising stars of the local ICT industry, recognised the leading figures in the channel, honoured the most innovative partners and awarded the best performing vendors, distributors and individuals across the market. Since launching in 2007, ARN’s annual awards events have celebrated and rewarded excellence across the Australian channel. Our continued efforts to showcase what the channel has to offer comes off the back of nearly three decades tracking, reporting on and championing the Australian ICT channel. And the vitality of the local channel is reflected in the numbers. This year, we received more than 400 award submissions, with more than 60 partners and startups making the final awards shortlist. Additionally, more than 40 vendor Q4 2019 arnnet.com.au
organisations and 14 distributors were also in the running this year. Clearly, 2019 was a competitive year, and the quality of nominations spoke to the depth and breadth of the local ecosystem, spanning value-added resellers, managed service providers and system integrators, alongside independent software vendors, start-ups and born-in-the-cloud players. Across nine categories, nominees were judged on three key points: how partners are adding value to customers; how are vendors are adding value to partners; and how distributors are adding value to the channel. This is an important point. The fact that we measure the success of entrants based on how well they are able to add value and help each other thrive points to the qualities that make the channel community such strong and cohesive entity. With this in mind, perhaps it should come as no surprise that to some, the awards felt a bit like a family reunion, albeit a big one. At this year’s event, that family comprised of over 640 attendees cheering on more than 30 companies and individuals who were recognised for their achievements. What an honour it was to play host to this family reunion. ARN thanks all the supporters of this year’s awards, and extends a special nod of gratitude to the judging panel for its efforts. Most of all, we congratulate all of the winners, finalists and nominees that made this year’s awards such a memorable event.
LEON SPENCER EDITOR – ARN
julia_talevski@idg.com.au
senior journalist: eleanor dickinson eleanor_dickinson@idg.com.au
senior journalist: sasha karen sasha_karen@idg.com.au
graphic designer: ben burton benburtondesign@gmail.com
photographer: christine wong info@christinewongphotography.com
COMMERCIAL group channel director: eduardo silva eduardo_silva@idg.com.au (02) 9902 2769
sales director & associate publisher: cherry yumul cherry_yumul@idg.com.au (02) 9902 2756
account director: blayne reilly-sealy blayne_reilly-sealy@idg.com.au (02) 9902 2753
events manager: amy woodhead amy_woodhead@idg.com.au (02) 9902 2775
data and campaigns manager: nik gorbachev nik_gorbachev@idg.com.au (02) 9902 2784
events coordinator: phoebe dunstan phoebe_dunstan@idg.com.au (02) 9902 2737
idg founder: patrick j mcgovern
Editorial published in ARN may not be reproduced in any form whatsoever without written permission. Copyright 2019, IDG Communications ARN is published by IDG Communications Pty Ltd PO Box 1753, North Sydney, NSW, 2059. Phone: (02) 9902 2700 IDG is the publisher of ARN and its website (www.arnnet.com.au). If you choose to accept offers, enter competitions or complete surveys contained within them you may be required to provide information about yourself to IDG. IDG will use this information to provide you with products or services you have requested, and may supply your information to contractors that help IDG to do this. IDG may also use your information to inform you of other IDG publications, products, services and events, or give your information to organisations that are providing special prizes or offers and that are clearly associated with the offer. Unless you tell us not to, we may give your information to other organisations that may use it to inform you about other products, services or events or to give to other organisations that may use it for this purpose. To gain access to the information IDG holds about you, please contact IDG’s Privacy Officer at IDG Communications Pty Ltd, Level 10, 15 Blue St, North Sydney, NSW, 2060.
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Contents 6
Q4 2019
VOLUME 24_ISSUE 4
Analysis 46
Inspiring a culture of transformation from top to bottom This exclusive ARN Roundtable, in association with Domo, assessed the struggles still plaguing Australian customers as they attempt to instil digital mastery across their organisations and how the channel can guide them on their journeys.
Awards 6
Features
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
Hall of Fame: Rhody Burton
52
ARN honoured the industry’s finest
From being a 20-year-old temp with
Inspiring a culture of transformation from top to bottom
on a memorable evening for the
no ICT skills to speak of, Rhody
Microsoft’s local One Commercial boss
Australian channel, recognising the
Burton has risen to the heights of the
relays her plans for local partners.
achievements of a leading line-up
local enterprise technology industry.
54
Hall of Fame: Vladimir Mitnovetski
Starting out as a team coordinator
Does the dawn of ‘quantum supremacy’ leave room for the channel?
at ASI Solutions in the late 1990s,
As Google announces a major
Balancing the art of traditional
more than six years of user support
quantum leap, does the channel have
hardware with the introduction
experience laid the foundations for a
any part to play in this highly complex
of cloud, software and services,
strong sense of customer centricity.
and vastly different approach to
of partners, start-ups, vendors, distributors and individuals.
40
41
42
Mitnovetski is evolving at pace within
Hall of Fame: Nathan Lowe
technology?
the channel.
52 arnnet.com.au Q4 2019
1989 INTRODUCING THE WORLD’S FIRST NOTEBOOK. Also the first device to feature the Dynabook name.
INTRODUCING THE NEW NAME FOR TOSHIBA LAPTOPS.
2019 INTRODUCING THE NEW DYNABOOK X50. Showcasing the name we’ll be known by from now on.
Although Australians know us as Toshiba, we’ve used the Dynabook brand in Japan since 1989. Now, under new majority ownership, we’ll be known as Dynabook around the world. One thing will not
change. Our commitment to the channel, and to the in-house development of leading edge devices. Get the full story — visit anz.dynabook.com/openbook or call 1300 307 055.
THE NEW NAME FROM THE LAPTOP EXPERTS.
4 ARN Innovation Awards 2019
INNOVATION AWARDS 2019
Q4 2019 arnnet.com.au
INTRODUCING DYNABOOK REWARDS.
EARN $50 FOR EVERY TOSHIBA OR DYNABOOK YOU SELL*.
THE EASY-TO-SELL X20 CONVERTIBLE. THE THINNEST & LIGHTEST DEVICE IN ITS CLASS.
*To celebrate the launch of our new name, we’ll give you $50 for each Dynabook or Toshiba
laptop you sell up to December 31. Register and see the T&Cs here: dynabook-rewards.com.au
THE NEW NAME FROM THE LAPTOP EXPERTS. Product issuer for the Dynabook Rewards Visa Prepaid Card is Heritage Bank Limited ABN 32 087 652 024 AFSL/ACL No. 240984 pursuant to a license from Visa Worldwide Pte Ltd.
06 ARN Innovation Awards 2019
ARN IN NO VAT I O N AWARDS 2 0 1 9
Partner Value AWARDS 2018
Finalists
INNOVATION
THE PARTNER AWARDS RECOGNISE SMALL, MID-SIZED AND ENTERPRISE PROVIDERS FOR DELIVERING INNOVATION AND VALUE TO CUSTOMERS ACROSS AUSTRALIA.
Enterprise Partner
Customer Value
Accenture Contino Data#3 Insight Thomas Duryea Logicalis Versent
ASI Solutions Cevo InfoTrust JCurve Solutions PwC Versent
Mid-Market Partner
Collaboration
ASI Solutions blueAPACHE Kiandra IT Nexon Asia Pacific Oreta Tecala Group The Missing Link
Insentra Solista and Enablis The Cloud Collective
SMB Partner Dynamic Business Technologies eNerds Powernet Retrac Business Solutions Surety IT Techforce Services
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ARN Innovation Awards 2019
07
SP O NSOR ED B Y
Natasha Lambert Channel Director A/NZ Sophos
Sophos’ mission is to be the best in the world at delivering complete IT security to small and mid-market businesses and the channel that serves them. We’re the only technology company that features the channel in its mission statement — this alone tells you how committed we are to the enablement and success of our partners. We have an incredible team in Australia, who work closely with our channel partners to ensure their success. 2019 has been another brilliant year for Sophos Australia, which demonstrates how working hand-in-glove with the channel is key to growth. Our partners are on the ‘frontline’ when it comes to our customers and the cybersecurity industry. It’s because of the partner community’s efforts that we’re able to innovate in ways that meet modern customer challenges and pain points. The partner community makes a significant contribution to the technology industry as a whole and sometimes doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. These Partner Value awards ensure that is not the case and we’re incredibly proud to once again be a sponsor of this category. Thank you to all of our partners and congratulations to all winners of the Partner Value awards.
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08 ARN Innovation Awards 2019
INNOVATION AWARDS 2018
Partner Value
Enterprise Partner
Mid-market
SMB
Winner / Thomas Duryea Logicalis Highly Commended / Data#3
Winner / blueAPACHE Highly Commended / The Missing Link
Winner / eNerds
Why they won
Why they won
Why they won
Thomas Duryea Logicalis won this award for its work supporting its customer’s ICT teams to both implement a large portfolio of new applications as well as to develop repeatable templates and trustworthy DevOps methods via its Production Ready Cloud Platform.
BlueAPACHE won this award for its role in taking its customer on a transformation journey, migrating key applications involving sensitive customer data and into Office 365 while providing a unique managed service and security offering to support ongoing compliance requirements.
eNerds won this award for solving its customer’s remote document access issues by developing a solution using Office365, OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint and Azure AD to replace an existing on-premises Active Directory Server and provide a viable alternative to the File Server.
What they do
What they do
What they do
Thomas Duryea Logicalis provides technology solutions that drive business outcomes and work to enable greater value from organisations’ IT investments.
BlueAPACHE delivers business-critical IT services to some of Australia’s most successful organisations, both onpremises and IT-as-a-Service.
eNerds is a managed services provider (MSP) focusing on SMB businesses between 10 and 250 employees throughout Australia. Established in 2000, eNerds has grown organically, employing a team of over 45 staff.
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ARN Innovation Awards 2019
Customer Value
Collaboration
Winner / ASI Solutions
Winner / The Cloud Collective
Why they won
09
Why they won
ASI Solutions won this award for overhauling the video conference capabilities of its customer through the deployment of Microsoft technologies. Migrating to an all-in-one hosted cloud solution enhanced the customer’s user connectivity and network bandwidth while boosting employee collaboration.
The Cloud Collective won this award for the creation of a strategic alliance comprising three Microsoft Gold partners: Antares, Modality and Quorum. The trio operate under one commercial arrangement to provide enterprise customers with end-to-end capabilities across modern workplace, business applications, data, AI, applications and infrastructure.
What they do
What they do
ASI Solutions has been a leading provider of innovative technology solutions to mid-market Australian private and public sector organisations for over three decades.
The Cloud Collective is a strategic alliance of three Microsoft Gold Partners, the first of its kind in Australia. The trio provide long-term value by delivering end-to-end technology solutions built on the Microsoft platform under a single commercial arrangement.
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Start-up AWARDS 2018
Finalists
INNOVATION
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THE START-UP AWARDS RECOGNISE THE NEW AND EMERGING COMPANIES THAT HAVE IMPACTED THE ICT INDUSTRY AND PRESENTED OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CHANNEL AS A RESULT.
Specialist
Company
DataRock GorillaStack Invarosoft VostroNet
Buttonwood Cloud Exchange Cevo DXN LAB3 Look Who’s Charging NEXION Networks Oreta
Customer Value
Entrepreneur
Arinco Cevo Glüh
Alexander Slade, A Corp Computers Peter Presneill, Elementice Lorenzo Coppa, Glüh Murray Argus, HybridSkys Sachin Verma, Oreta Paul Glass, NEXION Networks
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
11
SP O NSOR ED B Y
Lee Welch Director of Cloud Services A/NZ Ingram Micro
Ingram Micro is proud to continue its long association with the ARN Awards. These Awards represent an opportunity to pause, reflect and recognise our industry and the critical part the channel plays within it. We are particularly pleased to sponsor the Start-up category; the companies recognised in this category not only represent a future tech ecosystem, but they will likely be at the core of Australia’s continued success as a nation, which has a vibrant tech sector. As Australia’s leading distributor of technology solutions, we believe that the success of our local industry is reliant on supporting and encouraging these startups so they can flourish and thrive both locally and on the global stage. Our ability to leverage our global presence means we can offer a unique level of support for our channel partners to assist them to achieve an international presence. Our continued significant global investment in cloud and IoT as well as our traditional distribution model means we can help these start-ups in multiple ways as they embark on their journey. Our passion for the start-up community can be further witnessed through our highly successful global Comet competition for start-ups/scale-ups. This program was created to assist B2B ISVs find commercial success for their technology. Finally, we salute the indispensable role the channel plays in putting the latest technology solutions into the hands of end-user customers who in turn develop new and creative ways to solve the complex problems of their own.
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INNOVATION AWARDS 2018
Start-up
Specialist
Company
Winner / GorillaStack
Winner / Buttonwood Cloud Exchange Highly Commended / Look Who’s Charging
Why they won
Why they won
GorillaStack won this award for the creation of Rules Engine, a product allowing customers to take back control of cloud operations and costs. The company allows businesses to automatically scale, back up, secure and govern cloud environments, processing more than 6.5 billion actions for 390 organisations during the first six months of 2019.
Buttonwood won this award for addressing the complexity of hybrid and multi-cloud management through a channel-only strategy. From government and commercial organisations, through to international service providers, Buttonwood is now being adopted as the cloud management platform of choice in Australia.
What they do
What they do
GorillaStack is an innovative solution for automating cloud, helping organisations to leverage the advantages of the cloud by making it cost efficient through automation of elasticity, backup, security, governance and compliance.
Buttonwood Cloud Exchange is a unified cloud management platform that offers unprecedented financial transparency across multi-cloud environments. The company works with partners to not only enable and support their customers, but to also transform customers’ internal business capabilities to meet the demands of the cloud era.
Q4 2019 arnnet.com.au
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
Customer Value
Entreprenuer
Winner / Arinco
Winner / Sachin Verma, Oreta
Why they won
13
Why they won
Arinco wins this award for overhauling a customer’s traditional IT workplace through the deployment of Microsoft Teams and collaboration technologies. Thanks to a Virtual Assistant Bot, employees can now focus on more high value tasks through a streamlined service desk.
Sachin Verma won this award for demonstrating leadership in two organisations that has driven market growth across enterprise and SMB. Through leveraging the capabilities of both Oreta and Telstra Business Technology Centre in Melbourne, the combined offering now provides end-to-end capabilities on a national scale.
What they do
What they do
Arinco is a Melbourne-based consultancy with a focus on helping organisations make the most of artificial intelligence (AI). The company specialists in leveraging AI productivity tools, services and platforms to build the next generation of smart, intelligent and assistive applications, infrastructure and workplaces.
Sachin Verma is co-founder and managing director of Oreta and director of Telstra Business Technology Centre Melbourne City (TBTC). In these roles, he is responsible for overseeing Oreta’s operations and executing on its strategy, while working in partnership with Telstra to build out the SMB channel via the TBTC business.
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Homegrown Innovators AWARDS 2018
Finalists
INNOVATION
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THE HOMEGROWN INNOVATORS AWARDS RECOGNISE AUSTRALIAN MADE EXCELLENCE IN THE ICT MARKET.
Service Provider
Distributor
Araza Best Technology Services Green Light Worldwide LOOKUP Macquarie Cloud Services TeleApps
DNA Connect Dicker Data Nextgen Distribution NetOpt rhipe
ISV Buttonwood Cloud Exchange GorillaStack iasset.com Kiandra IT Pactflow, part of the DiUS Group Sentral
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
15
SP O NSOR ED B Y
Nevash Pillay Director Global Indirect Channels Telstra
It has been a great privilege to present the ARN Innovation Award in the Homegrown awards category, which pays tribute to Australian made excellence in the ICT market. This award category recognises a service provider, distributor and an independent software vendor that have delivered significant value to their customers. It’s about supporting homegrown talent and recognising the organisations that have a passion for discovering new ways to further innovation in this country. From the first telegraph post in 1854 to today’s 5G network, servicing customers from all around Australia has always been a part of Telstra’s DNA and our heritage. We believe it’s people who give purpose to our technology, and that’s why our purpose is to build a connected future so everyone can thrive. Together with our technology partners and alliances, we could all recognise the important impact we collectively have on the community every day. Telstra is proud to work alongside our partners to improve the ways customers transform their businesses for their employees and their customers. A core tenet of our channel strategy is investing in a digitisation program to enable partners to access many of the same tools as our direct sales team, making it easier to work with us. Equivalence means sharing visibility of CRM, pipeline opportunities, and collaborating across our teams to drive customer outcomes in real-time. Telstra is committed to nurturing and growing our partner ecosystem, and we’re incredibly grateful to our partner community for their significant contribution to our vibrant ICT industry.
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INNOVATION AWARDS 2018
Homegrown Innovators
Service Provider
ISV
Winner / Araza Highly Commended / Macquarie Cloud Services
Winner / Kiandra IT
Why they won
Why they won:
Araza won this award for the solution it developed and rolled out to 10,000 of its customer’s users and 14,000 shared mailboxes, resulting in better communications and sharing for internal teams, along with easier handling of legal and regulatory processes.
Kiandra IT won this award for developing and rolling out a market-leading application for its customer in the property management space, streamlining internal processes and creating a user-friendly system that places control into the hands of landlords and other stakeholders.
What they do
What they do:
Araza is a technology consulting organisation that specialises in cloud and digital transformation systems integration. The integrator covers a wide range of services, including understanding emerging technologies to assist clients with updating legacy systems.
Kiandra is a full-service Australian IT company which, for over 24 years, has been delivering smart, business-critical software, technology and security solutions for organisations of every size.
Q4 2019 arnnet.com.au
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
17
Distributor Winner / Dicker Data
Why they won Dicker Data won this award for the work it does with its channel partners to scope, design and deliver complex solutions for their end-customers, offering a complimentary value-added service to help channel partners create solutions that solve customer issues utilising best practice and world-class technology.
What they do As Australia’s largest locally owned and operated IT distributor, Dicker Data distributes a wide portfolio of products from the world’s leading technology vendors, including Cisco, Citrix, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and other Tier 1 global brands.
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Emerging Technologies AWARDS 2018
Finalists
INNOVATION
Q4 2019 arnnet.com.au
THE EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AWARDS RECOGNISE PARTNERS PROVIDING CUSTOMER VALUE THROUGH NEW AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES.
Cloud
Digital Transformation
CMD Solutions DXC Technology DiUS PwC Tecala Group Vibrato
Contino Data#3 Insight Nexon Rubicon Red Solista The Cloud Collective
Smart Technology
Internet of Things
Fujitsu Kablamo Nukon Readify The Cloud Collective Vibrato
Data#3 DiUS Kloud Solutions (A Telstra Company) Insight National Narrowband Network Co (NNNCo) Reekoh
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
19
SP O NSOR ED B Y
Shant Soghomonian General Manager of Channel Sales A/NZ Dell Technologies
Emerging technologies are enabling new approaches to decisionmaking and collaboration throughout organisations, according to the Institute for the Future (IFTF) and Dell Technologies’ The Future of Work report. In fact, 83 per cent of business leaders agree that these technologies will transform the way they collaborate and work for the better. However, businesses across Australia are still up against a nation-wide technology skill shortage. As leaders in the industry, vendors and the channel need to upskill experienced workers to learn new ways of working, while simultaneously empowering the next generation of workers to drive an inclusive workplace equipped with the skills needed to meet digital transformation goals. Gradually, emerging technology will be integrated into the wider business, driving more exciting and innovative projects and outcomes. The ARN Innovation Awards are the perfect platform to celebrate the achievements of the channel community and reflect on the great projects that we’ve seen over the past year. Dell Technologies is the proud sponsor of these Emerging Technologies awards. By recognising how partners are using these technologies to achieve great outcomes for their customers, we can continue to learn from each other and constantly search out new ways to innovate. As trusted business advisors to customers, the channel plays a critical role in using technology to overcome its customers’ challenges and realise their strategic goals. The Dell Technologies Partner Program enables our channel partners to have complex conversations with their customers and address their needs with our technologies. We look forward to seeing what can be achieved over the next year.
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INNOVATION AWARDS 2018
Emerging Technologies
Cloud
Smart Technology
Winner / DXC Technology
Winner / Fujitsu
Why they won
Why they won
DXC Technology won this award for the deployment of a modern cloud solution for its customer, leveraging Oracle technologies through specialist division Red Rock. Key business benefits include enhanced scalability, resilience and reliability, alongside improved performance, security and accuracy.
Fujitsu won this award for the development of a smart police car prototype designed to integrate disparate technologies in police vehicles into a common interconnected ecosystem. The project removed seven different login systems with biometrics identification through Fujitsu’s PalmSecure technology.
What they do
What they do
As the leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, DXC Technology leads digital transformations for clients by modernising and integrating mainstream IT, and deploying digital solutions at scale.
Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand is a leading service provider of business, information technology and communications solutions. One of the largest ICT companies operating in A/NZ, Fujitsu partners with customers to design, build, operate and support business solutions.
Q4 2019 arnnet.com.au
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
Digital Transformation
Internet of Things
Winner / Solista
Winner / Data#3 Highly Commended / Insight
Why they won
21
Why they won
Solista won this award in recognition of transformation work with its customer through the roll-out of a proactive operational cloud platform model using advanced analytics, dashboarding and machine learning. Key business benefits include boosting customer response times by 70 per cent through the deployment of New Relic technologies.
Data#3 won this award for the creation of an IoT solution designed to help its customer overcome the temperature challenges in its production factories. Leveraging Microsoft Azure IoT Central, the offering enhances the customer’s monitoring capabilities and improves data collection and decision-making.
What they do
What they do
Solista is an award-winning cloud transformation and security consultancy, specialising in delivering market-leading hybrid cloud and cyber security solutions to enterprise customers across Australia.
Data#3 is a publicly-listed cloud computing and ICT solutions provider, recognised as one of the leading enterprise resellers in Australia. The company is focused on helping customers solve complex business challenges using innovative technology solutions.
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Vendor Value AWARDS 2018
Finalists
INNOVATION
THE VENDOR VALUE AWARDS RECOGNISE VENDORS HELPING PARTNERS DELIVER INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TO CUSTOMERS, THROUGH LEADING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY AND CHANNEL-CENTRIC PROGRAMS.
Hardware
Networking
Cisco Dell Technologies Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) HP Lenovo NetApp
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company Cisco Extreme Networks Huawei VMware
Specialist
Software
3CX APC by Schneider Electric ConnectWise F5 Networks NBN Co Pure Storage Thycotic
Citrix Datto M-Files Veritas Veeam VMware
Security BlackBerry Cylance CrowdStrike Kaspersky Lab LogRhythm Malwarebytes Symantec Sophos Tenable Trend Micro WatchGuard
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Cloud ConnectWise Cloud Plus Hewlett Packard Enterprise Microsoft VMware Zoom Video Communications
Telecommunications Cisco NBN Co RingCentral Telstra
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
23
SP O NSOR ED B Y
Andrew Assad General Manager A/NZ, Arrow ECS A/NZ
Arrow ECS ANZ is proud to sponsor the Vendor Value category at the 2019 ARN ICT Innovation Awards. This is an important category that rightly recognises high-achieving technology organisations who invest in the channel for business excellence and channel growth. At Arrow, we believe that vendors who succeed and enhance our industry, professionally and ethically should be celebrated and recognised. Arrow wouldn’t exist without the channel ecosystem including the vendors who embrace and recognise the value of it. The nature of our industry demands an innovative model to deliver advanced and emerging technologies to the Australian and New Zealand markets, which is precisely what the channel provides; each contributor plays a crucial role in delivering and maintaining the exceptionally high standards that customers demand. Supporting the channel with our Five Years Out strategy allows partners and vendors to confidently invest in the future of this industry which forms the heart and soul of everything we do. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists of the Vendor Value awards this year.
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24 ARN Innovation Awards 2019
INNOVATION AWARDS 2018
Vendor Value
Hardware
Software
Security
Winner / Dell Technologies Highly Commended /
Winner / Veeam Highly Commended / VMware
Winner / Sophos Highly Commended / CrowdStrike
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Why they won
Why they won
Why they won
Dell Technologies won this award for a range of initiatives in its Dell Technologies Partner Program that make it easier for partners to do business across the vendor’s full portfolio of brands and offer customers transformational end-to-end solutions.
Veeam won this award for the work it does enabling local partners to service over 10,000 customers in Australia and New Zealand, helping them deliver value by offering agility, availability and business acceleration through leading cloud providers.
Sophos won this award for its efforts to drive partners to be successful through the utilisation of its sales development representatives, who qualify every lead. In the past year, Sophos passed almost 7,000 fully-qualified sales leads to partners, resulting in a healthy close rate.
What they do
What they do
What they do
Dell Technologies, comprised of Dell, Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, SecureWorks, Virtustream and VMware, is a collective force of innovative capabilities trusted all over the world to provide technology solutions and services, from infrastructure and software to devices.
Veeam is a leading provider of backup solutions that deliver cloud mata management. The company’s Availability Platform is the most complete backup solution for helping customers on the journey to achieving success.
Sophos is on a mission is to be the best in the world at delivering complete IT cybersecurity to small and mid-market enterprises, as well as the channel that serves them.
Q4 2019 arnnet.com.au
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
Specialist
Cloud
Winner / ConnectWise Highly Commended / APC by Schneider Electric
Winner / Microsoft
Why they won
25
Why they won
ConnectWise won this award for IT Nation Evolve, the ConnectWise peer group, which helps members access world class consulting and coaching materials and offers them a forum to share learnings and experiences in a confidential peer to peer environment, driving business growth and profitability.
Microsoft Australia won this award for its Microsoft Traineeship Program initiative, which aims to create a new, diverse pipeline of exceptional IT talent in Australia. The first program received over 2500 applications, with a second program launched in an effort to bring even more talent into the industry.
What they do
What they do
ConnectWise is a market leading platform that transforms how technology teams build, manage and grow their business. It enables MSPs and technology solution providers to sell more efficiently, manage critical business processes and automate technical service delivery.
Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more.
Networking
Telecommunications
Winner / Cisco
Winner / Telstra
Why they won
Why they won
Cisco won this award for its investment in supporting local partners to develop the skills and capability required for them to be successful through the delivered a partner enablement campaign with training courses, workshops and labs.
Telstra won this award for Telstra Partner Central, a single interface in which Telstra and Partners work together using a Salesforce platform. More than 800 users across 100 partners have been onboarded, generating numerous partner-led opportunities.
What they do
What they do
Cisco’s networking solutions help organisations improve business agility and operational efficiencies, achieve better compliance and security, and reduce risk.
Telstra is Australia’s leading telecommunications and technology company, offering a full range of communications services. Telstra Enterprise provides services to thousands of enterprise, government and international wholesale customers. ASHLEY MAR arnnet.com.au Q4 2019
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Distributor Value AWARDS 2018
Finalists
INNOVATION
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THE DISTRIBUTOR AWARDS RECOGNISE DISTRIBUTORS INNOVATING THROUGH THE SUPPLY CHAIN, PROVIDING VALUE TO VENDORS AND PARTNERS ACROSS THE CHANNEL.
Specialist
Hardware
DNA Connect Exclusive Networks emt Distribution Tradewinds Technology Brokerage Wavelink
Arrow ECS ANZ Dicker Data LEADER Systems Tech Data Westcon-Comstor
Software Arrow ECS ANZ Dicker Data Ingram Micro Nextgen Distribution rhipe Tech Data
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
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SP O NSOR ED B Y
Stephen Bovis Managing Director Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is proud to once again sponsor the Distributor Value category at the ARN Innovation Awards in 2019. HPE is committed to driving the best results for the reseller channel by focusing on innovation, partnership, and growth for our partners. Our success has always centred around our strong commitment to mutually beneficial relationships with our partners, and together we create solutions and services that continue to transform industries, markets and lives. Partners are at the heart of HPE: We have a proven track record of trusted partnerships and consistent partner investment. We have adopted a best-in-class alliances approach, promoting greater simplicity and acceleration of success. The channel plays an extremely important role in the HPE go-to-market strategy in Australia. HPE leverage the developed partner ecosystem to deliver solutions and services to create new value opportunities and reduce time to market. As a result, together, we have helped many Australian businesses from small and medium, to large enterprise companies, by leveraging market expertise and being highly flexible to help customers realise their visions. The future is promising, and together with the channel, we will continue to create new value opportunities to help businesses move further, faster.
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INNOVATION AWARDS 2018
Distributor Value
Specialist
Hardware
Winner / Exclusive Networks Highly Commended / DNA Connect
Winner / Dicker Data
Why they won
Why they won
Exclusive Networks won this award for the work of its professional services offering, which is available countrywide to assist partners at every level of their sales and deployment cycle, along with its efforts to continually build and execute programs that cover every area of a partner’s business structure to provide support.
Dicker Data won this award for the work its dedicated services division puts into delivering value to channel partners, along with its dedicated facility at which any product procured from Dicker Data or other distributors can be configured and tested prior to deployment.
What they do
What they do
Exclusive Networks is a global value-added distributor that specialises cybersecurity, cloud solutions and data centre transformation.
As Australia’s largest locally owned and operated IT distributor, Dicker Data distributes a wide portfolio of products from the world’s leading technology vendors, including Cisco, Citrix, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and other Tier 1 global brands.
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ARN Innovation Awards 2019
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Software Winner / Nextgen Distribution Highly Commended / Rhipe Why they won NEXTGEN won this award for its efforts to increase its cloud software offerings and capabilities during the year, including the launch its ‘Cloud Centre of Excellence’, an environment where partners and ISVs can test applications in the cloud before purchasing.
What they do NEXTGEN is an Australian owned and operated enterprise software-focused distribution and services business, working to make a difference to the enterprise software market by building unique business models to support both our vendors and partners.
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Personal Innovation AWARDS 2018
Finalists
INNOVATION
THE PERSONAL INNOVATION AWARDS RECOGNISE INDIVIDUALS WHO CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR COMPANY’S SUCCESS.
Channel Excellence
Marketing Excellence
Samuel Chandra Arrow ECS ANZ Jacinta Ormonde Citrix Shant Soghomonian Dell Technologies Darrin Iatrou Juniper Networks Chris Nixon NetApp James Walters Nextgen Distribution Tony Heywood Tradewinds Neels du Plooy VMware Astrid Groves Vocus
Kylie Buckley APC by Schneider Electric Tristan Yeatman Dicker Data Louise van der Kraan DXC Anna Christensen Exclusive Networks Joanne Schofield Rackspace
Technical Excellence Jason Yang Antares Solutions Yusuf Mustafa Arrow ECS ANZ David Milne Araza Jay Isikli Datto Murray Argus HybridSkys Richard Lee Insight Alison O’Hare Mimecast Jason Trampevski Solista Abey George Westcon-Comstor
Management Excellence Jules Rumsey Cloud Plus Michael Reid Cisco Frederique Dennison Dimension Data Niall Connell Dicker Data Marco Delgado Outcomex Salma Datenis Sourced Group Damian Zammit Thomas Duryea Logicalis Jo Masters Tquila ANZ
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Sales Excellence Frankie Phu Araza Daniel Bayfield blueAPACHE Brendan Jansen Insight Ashley Steadman The Missing Link
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
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SP O NSOR ED B Y
David Dicker CEO Dicker Data
The people are what make the Australian IT industry such an outstanding place to work. As an Australian company that’s 100 per cent built on Australian talent, Dicker Data understands the importance of celebrating the contributions our people make by providing a platform for industry-wide recognition. We’re proud to be sponsoring the Personal Innovation category at the ARN Innovation Awards in 2018 which will recognise the outstanding individuals from our channel ecosystem who go above and beyond for their customers each and every day. On behalf of the team at Dicker Data, I’d like to congratulate all the companies and individuals who have been recognised as finalists and winners.
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INNOVATION AWARDS 2018
Personal Innovation
Channel Excellence
Technical Excellence
Management Excellence
Winner / Neels du Plooy (VMware) Highly Commended / James Walters (Nextgen Distribution)
Winner / Jay Isikli (Datto) Highly Commended / Yusuf Mustafa (Arrow ECS A/NZ)
Winner / Damian Zammit (Thomas Duryea Logicalis) Highly Commended / Jo Masters (Tquila A/NZ)
Why they won
Why they won
Why they won
Neels won this award for spearheading the roll-out of VMware’s new partner operating model in Australia and New Zealand, in a global first for the vendor. The move upended more than 10 years of traditional operating procedures and resulted in partner business growth of 36 per cent year-on-year.
Jay won this award for his technical work with Datto channel partners, and reconfiguring and rebuilding the vendor’s data centre in Sydney. Jay is tasked with upskilling MSPs and through his technical expertise has helped expand the base of MSPs from three to 1300 in four years.
Damian won this award for his expertise in leading the merged businesses of Thomas Duryea Consulting, Logicalis and CNI, through the creation of a unified internal team. The leadership structure implemented by Damian has supported 23 per cent year-on-year growth across the transformation business unit.
What they do
What they do
What they do
Neels du Plooy is Head of Channels and Alliances for VMware Australia and New Zealand. He looks after distribution of VMware’s cloud solutions, including fresh services like VMware Cloud for AWS; as well as steering partner business development in emerging technologies like network virtualisation and automation.
Jay Isliki is Sales Engineer Team Lead, APAC, at Datto. As a team lead, Jay devotes his time to mentoring and sharing his knowledge and past experiences with his team of five. Jay spearheads all the technical presentations at Datto’s partner recruitment events (Beer & Backups) and partner roadshows in APAC.
Damian Zammit is General Manager for Transformation Services at Thomas Duryea Logicalis. In this role, Damian is responsible for establishing and developing the four key practices that encompass digital transformation architecture: Modern Workspace, Hybrid Infrastructure, Data & Analytics and Security.
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ARN Innovation Awards 2019
Marketing Excellence
Sales Excellence
Winner / Tristan Yeatman (Dicker Data)
Winner / Ashley Steadman (The Missing Link)
Why they won Tristan won this award for architecting and implementing an incentive reward campaign for Cisco that delivered an incremental $10 million in revenue for the distributor’s Cisco business. Through this initiative, Tristan also increased the number of active Cisco partners transacting with Dicker Data by 14 per cent during the promotional period to a record high amount.
What they do Tristan Yeatman is Vendor and Marketing Operations Manager at Dicker Data. His core responsibilities including leading and executing all marketing for flagship vendor Cisco and managing the internal Dicker Data marketing operations team that services the needs of over 70 vendors.
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Why they won Ashley won this award for achieving yearon-year sales growth of 164 per cent during FY19. According to one customer, Ashley is valued for his ”technical advice, transparency and honesty”, performing the role of trusted advisor for new and long-standing accounts.
What they do As Senior Account Executive at The Missing Link, Ashley Steadman is responsible for growing the company’s business through facilitating IT hardware, software, consulting and managed services sales. Additionally, as part of The Missing Link’s leadership team, Ashley provides valuable input company strategy.
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Channel Choice AWARDS 2018
Winners
INNOVATION
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CHANNEL CHOICE, ARN’S ONLINE-ONLY PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS, ALLOWS READERS THE CHANCE TO CHOOSE THEIR FAVOURITE VENDOR, DISTRIBUTOR OR PARTNER OVER THE PAST 12 MONTHS.
Hardware Vendor
Partner
HP
The Missing Link
Software Vendor
Channel Enabler
Cisco Meraki
Michael Brogan, Sophos
Distributor Leader Systems
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
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SP O NSOR ED B Y
Michelle Marlan Channel & Alliances, A/NZ 8x8
8x8 is the world’s first Communications Cloud, combining unified communications, team collaboration interoperability, contact centre and analytics in a single, open and real-time platform. 8x8 eliminates information silos to expose vital, real-time intelligence across all clouds, applications and devices to improve individual and team productivity, business performance and customer experience. Our partners include top solutions providers, IT consultants, resellers, systems integrators and agents. Our programs offer a wealth of opportunities for participating partners to capitalise on the surging demand for our cloudbased services.
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INNOVATION AWARDS 2018
Channel Choice
Channel Choice is ARN’s online-only people’s choice awards, allowing readers the chance to choose their favourite vendor, distributor or partner over the past 12 months.
ASHLEY MAR
Hardware Vendor Winner / HP
HP wins Channel Choice Hardware Vendor of the Year
Software Vendor Winner / Cisco Meraki
Cisco Meraki wins Channel Choice Software Vendor of the Year
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ARN Innovation Awards 2019
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Distributor Winner / Leader Systems
Leader Systems wins Channel Choice Distributor of the Year
Partner Winner / The Missing Link
The Missing Link wins Channel Choice Partner of the Year
Channel Enabler Winner / Michael Brogan, Sophos
Michael Brogan of Sophos wins Channel Choice Channel Enabler of the Year
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Hall of Fame AWARDS 2018
INNOVATION
DURING THE PAST 12 YEARS, A HOST OF THE ICT INDUSTRY’S FINEST HAS BEEN INDUCTED INTO THE ARN HALL OF FAME, RECOGNISING THE OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUALS THAT HAVE DEMONSTRATED A LONG-TERM COMMITMENT TO THE AUSTRALIAN CHANNEL.
Inductees
THE HALL OF FAME IS DETERMINED BY THE 140 APPOINTED INDUSTRY JUDGES PLUS PREVIOUS HOF INDUCTEES.
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Hall of Fame Inductees Alex Gambotto (2018) Allan King (2014) Andrea Della Mattea (2015) Andrew Thomas (2012) Angela Fox (2016) Craig Scroggie (2015) Craig Somerville (2011) Dave Stevens (2015) David Dicker (2010) David Gage (2014) David Henderson (2007) Dominic Whitehand (2016) Doug Tutus (2014) Felix Wong (2018) Ian Poole (2015) John Donovan (2013) John Grant (2008) John Walters (2008) Jon Shein (2007) Kate Burleigh (2014) Karl Sice (2017) Ken Boal (2018) Ken Lowe (2009) Laurence Baynham (2016) Laurie Sellers (2010) Maree Lowe (2009)
Moheb Moses (2011) Nick Verykios (2012) Peter Kazacos (2007) Phil Cameron (2008) Philip Cronin (2009) Pip Marlow (2012) Ross Cochrane (2009) Ronnie Altit (2017) Scott Frew (2013) Steve Murphy (2013) Steve Nola (2010) Susan Searle (2016) Warren Nolan (2017) Wendy O’Keeffe (2011)
ARN Innovation Awards 2018 2019
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SP O NSOR ED B Y
Rachel Bondi Chief Partner Officer Microsoft Australia
Microsoft is delighted to support ARN’s 2019 Innovation Awards and pay tribute to all partners and start-ups who are finalists. Partners are the lifeblood of the Australian technology sector and the key to customer success and innovation. Additionally, it is a privilege to support the ARN Hall of Fame award, which recognises talented individuals for their service and excellence across the industry. Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. To do this, Microsoft invests billions of dollars each year on Resource and Development (R&D), and in Australia we work with more than 10,000 partners and their 300,000 employees who go to work every day to help their customers achieve more. It’s the combination of innovation and impact, which all the nominated partners embody, that’s so important to businesses and the Australian economy. These range from partners dedicated to security to cloud adoption to digital transformation, all of which are vital in helping businesses stay competitive and successful in 2019. These partners are doing work that isn’t just being recognised in Australia, but also at a global level. One such example is Antares (The Cloud Collective), finalist in the Smart Technology category, which recently received praise from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at a global conference for their work in education. Antares created a solution to help engineering students at UNSW improve collaboration, share information faster and scale the learning experience, all through artificial intelligence (AI) and Microsoft Teams. It is innovation like this, and those of all the nominated partners, that is empowering every person and every organisation to achieve more. Congratulations to all the finalists!
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INNOVATION AWARDS 2018
Hall of Fame Rhody Burton
Head of Cloud Partnerships and Alliances A/NZ, Google
From being a 20-year-old temp with no ICT skills to speak of, Rhody Burton has risen to the heights of the local enterprise technology industry, in 2018 becoming Head of Cloud Partnerships and Alliances at Google in Australia and New Zealand. While she has made it to the top of her field, Burton’s career in technology arrived accidentally through a valueadded reseller (VAR) Partner Manager role in the late 1990s. Fast forward 20 years, and Burton has gone on to shape the partner strategies of established tier-1 vendors, before taking control of the local channel operations of Google’s cloud business. In her current role, Burton oversees a varied and deep Google Cloud ecosystem, spanning independent software vendors (ISVs); system integrators (SIs); born-in-the-cloud players; developers; managed service providers (MSPs) and more.
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ARN Innovation Awards 2019
INNOVATION AWARDS 2018
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Hall of Fame Vladimir Mitnovetski
Chief Operating Officer, Dicker Data
As Chief Operating Officer at Dicker Data, and with more than 20 years of service to distribution, Vladimir Mitnovetski operates at the beating heart of the channel. Representing both global and local giants of the supply chain, Mitnovetski has played the role of market leader and market challenger in equal measure. Today, Mitnovetski spearheads Dicker Data, a homegrown distributor nudging $1.5 billion in revenue, driven by the relentless acquisition of new vendors and partners. Balancing the art of traditional hardware with the introduction of cloud, software and services, Mitnovetski is evolving at pace within the channel.
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INNOVATION AWARDS 2018
Hall of Fame Nathan Lowe
Managing Director, ASI Solutions
In taking the reins of one of the most iconic technology providers in Australia, Nathan Lowe has balanced tradition with innovation to scale new heights. Starting out as a team coordinator at ASI Solutions in the late 1990s, more than six years of user support experience laid the foundations for a strong sense of customer centricity. Nine years of management roles in services, sales, marketing and daily operations followed, allowing Lowe time to plot the next phase of growth for the privately-owned family business. As Managing Director of ASI Solutions, Lowe is part of the second generation that is driving the company with a core focus on delivering outcomes for ASI Solutions’ clients. With Lowe at the helm, ASI Solutions has transformed itself into a true Systems Integrator. Driven by a host of new customer wins and record venues, Lowe is taking the family baton and running full steam ahead.
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BLU E C H I P U CC S OLU T I O N S
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Champagne Reception opens ARN Innovation Awards MORE THAN 640 CHANNEL LEADERS CAME TOGETHER TO TOAST THE TOP PERFORMERS OF THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY DURING THE OPENING CHAMPAGNE RECEPTION AT THE ARN INNOVATION AWARDS 2019 - IN ASSOCIATION WITH WESTCON-COMSTOR AND NETAPP. PHOTOS BY ASHLEY MAR.
SPONSORED BY WESTCON-COMSTOR AND NETAPP
ARN Innovation Awards 2019
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46 Roundtable Culture of Transformation
INSPIRING A
CULTURE OF TRANSFORMATION
FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
THIS EXCLUSIVE ARN ROUNDTABLE, IN ASSOCIATION WITH DOMO, ASSESSED THE STRUGGLES STILL PLAGUING AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMERS AS THEY ATTEMPT TO INSTIL DIGITAL MASTERY ACROSS THEIR ORGANISATIONS AND HOW THE CHANNEL CAN GUIDE THEM ON THEIR JOURNEYS — ELEANOR DICKINSON REPORTS Digital transformation has become one of the most widely-heard buzzwords of the IT and business community in the past decade, yet remains something many are still failing to understand and execute on. As the business world continues to exponentially generate more data, transforming legacy systems into modern, digitally capable environments has become critical for Australian organisations. Yet, according to a recent study by McKinsey,
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organisations globally pumped US$1.3 trillion into transformation initiatives — 70 per cent of which was wasted on failed programs. To give that a number, it’s around US$900 billion. Despite the gusto and frequency with which organisations and leaders tout their digital strategies, it has become evident that even some of the world’s most innovative companies are either flailing or failing in their transformation efforts.
It is easy to pin these failings onto the technological challenges at stake: changing old legacy systems to a technology environment that changes gear every season isn’t something every business is either ready for. However, these are symptomatic of more than just technological grapplings: at the heart of this is a cultural disconnect within organisations and no clear drive or vision for change from the top-down. And this change-led culture can no longer come from the chief information officer anymore, but right from the very top, as outlined by Sachin Kulkarni, assistant vice president at Cognizant Australia and New Zealand.
ASHLEY MAR
Culture of Transformation Roundtable
“You can’t transform a business if the chief executive officer doesn’t want to transform the business.” “You can’t transform a business if the chief executive officer doesn’t want to transform the business,” he said. “You can be pushing from IT or the business, but the CEO needs to say: ‘Let’s do this’. And then you’ve got the flip side, where the business tries to go in one direction at the leadership level but the people below just don’t want to go on that journey. There is a clear disconnect.” Yet even the concept of change is a barrier in itself. If businesses are under daily operational pressure and largely working towards making it through the next quarter, it leaves little room for radical, long-term strategies. “If you look at it in the chief executive officer’s mind, what’s the most important thing? It’s not really the profits or the general efficiency, it’s the worker’s safety,” said Coenraad Bekker, general manager of Wipro Asia Pacific and Japan. “If there is a directorial relation and the new platform aligns with their own KPIs, that’s how that level matches and then it just flows down from there. Was there actually a need for it? Is their world going to change? Or is it really just a passing phase that they can survive in?” For Kevin McIsaac, business value consultant at Domo, a key starting point is imagining the kind of culture you as a leader want to bring, and an acknowledgement that not all change is a guaranteed headache. “Most of us don’t like change; we’re uncomfortable with it,” he admits. “But once we change everything, so as everything’s changing, we enjoy it and embrace it so it’s got to be led by the actual leaders of this.”
the words ‘digital transformation’ across the IT industry. And, as with any overused terminology, the more you hear it, the less the message gets home. As Angus Mansfield, managing director of XCentral argued, the language around digital transformation is lacking clear definition. In light of this, even though customers may be investing in digitisation efforts, education is still a big component for them from the outset. “Not only do [the leaders] want the transformation piece around lifeforms, but the people that work for them want to too. So, that transformation is kind of useless without training.” According to JDS GM for AppDynamics David Steed nobody has “a really good definition” of digital transformation despite its prevalence in the market. If partners are able to grapple with that themselves, then comes the
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conversation about what’s its value for customers. “For me, what your transformation is largely about is using digital technologies to change the way you deliver value to your customers. The first part of digital transformation is to ask the leadership: ‘What is your vision? What’s your vision about how digital technology will transform how you deliver customer value?’ The value is really the value that the client gets from the transformation.” As he reiterates, there are “thousands of initiatives” that can be undertaken by organisations and it doesn’t necessarily “have to be one big thing” — which can be a daunting task for customers. Domo Asia Pacific senior vice president and general manager Paul Harapin likens the “one big thing approach” to approaching climate change by cleaning the entire ocean. “It’s an overwhelming task. You wouldn’t have a clue where to start and so people will go: ‘Forget it, I’m going to move on’. “But you can make a start by cleaning a beach. What I see, consistently, across the region, it’s rapid time-to-value projects that deliver value quickly and then do the next one and the next one, learning each time
Reimagination
Often, one of the biggest hurdles in convincing customers to invest in their digital capabilities is the proliferation of
The ARN Roundtable crew (from left): Peter Kantarelis, Gerardo D’Angelo, Chuong Mai-Viet, Kevin McIsaac, David Steen, Nadia Cameron, Coenraad Bekker, Paul Harapin, Sachin Kulkarni, Angus Mansfield, Eleanor Dickinson, Noel Allnutt, Tristan Warner, Vivek Trivedi
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48 Roundtable Culture of Transformation
“A lot of the customers that we’re talking to are struggling even with the basic concepts of data privacy and data security needs.”
along the way. They’re the organisations that, at the end of those three years, have added value consistently and deliver change and transformation that does change the course of the business.” Taking charge of this value though presents its own challenges, as Bekker highlighted. For one thing, measuring any kind of “value” is a grey area in itself and will naturally mean different things to different organisations. Smaller projects can be measured in terms of business productivity or customer satisfaction around eight months down the line. However, when the change spans across an entire organisation, for example, the likes of Woolworths that measurement becomes much harder, he said. “These are the customers that are doing enterprise-wide transforming and it’s going to be incredibly hard for them to actually measure what impact it’s going to have
Coenraad Bekker (Wipro)
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because you are developing this problem in a thousand little squads,” he said. “You would get to this point where ninety-nine per cent of the squad is doing what they want to do but what did they achieve?” There is also a sense of caution around data protection and security, especially amid heightened regulation both in Australia and globally. On 25 May 2018, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force, the same year that Australia updated its own data privacy regulations, which forced organisations to tighten up their compliance strategies significantly. This is causing a headache for customers, according to Gerardo D’Angelo, chief operating officer at Mind Tattoo. “A lot of the customers that we’re talking to are struggling even with the basic concepts of data privacy and data security needs. All these things people say
Paul Harapin (Domo)
that in the old days, they signed up on a system and the data was in the system and that was pretty much it. “From a digital and data concept point-of-view, if you look at the [Royal Commission] banking inquiry as a lot of breaches, misconceptions and irregularities, you can trace back, in many instances, to specific systems and people that didn’t do their jobs right.” “There is a lot of misunderstanding out there,” he added. “And unfortunately, the rate and the pace of change doesn’t give [businesses] time to pause and reflect upon it.” However, as Chuong Mai-Viet, the managing director of Bluesource, argued, there is a role for the channel and the IT industry as a whole to be more vocal about the issues of data security and privacy. Indeed, he would even go so far as to say partners should take a firmer stance against clients who think “they know best”. “I do it to my customers all the time,” he told the table. “[I tell them] you’re wrong. ‘You do need two-factor authentication and you do need to change our password for these reasons,’ and if the customer keeps saying no to you, you almost have to say: ‘you know what, you can be someone else’s problem’.”
Culture of Transformation Roundtable
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Tristan Warner (eNerds), Angus Mansfield (XCentral)
“There still hasn’t been that shift of organisations from IT keeping the lights on to technology teams doing transformation projects.”
Telling a different story
Naturally, no channel partner wants to be behind the curve and be, as Mansfield puts it, a “catalyst for change”. But in the face of these challenges, the channel may need to shift its selling and customer interaction mindsets, especially those coming from a legacy software background. But first of all, that requires some soul-searching for partners and, in all likelihood, some significant internal transformation. Vivek Trivedi, MD at Exigo Tech, relayed how his company has also had to go on the same journey as its customers. “It has been quite an interesting last couple of
years for us, going from experiencing the transformation journey with our clients, which has taught us a lot. So, we also have changed through this transformation process and then recognising our experience in the industry so we can be of value to them.” Recognising the need to change also requires a deeper sense of accountability and responsibility for many of the client challenges today, believes Noel Allnutt, director of Solista. “As sales people and business owners, we get told to tell a story and we can go and tell that story all day long and naturally we
get good at telling that story. “But there’s just not enough where the word ‘dilemma’ comes from: that the dilemma is, who are we selling to? And who’s buying this? And then post-that, whose actually delivering that within the business?” “We’re accountable for the mess of the IT and failed projects and the future... and the sales people motivated by selling bodies and people, and not an outcome,” he added. “How much do we own the resolved purses?” “There still hasn’t been that shift of organisations from IT keeping the lights on
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50 Roundtable Culture of Transformation
“I think we’re almost at a stage where we’ve got two tiers of customers. We’ve got the customers in the new world - the disruptors of the world and also old school IT.”
to technology teams doing transformation projects. That can serve as an opportunity for partners like ourselves to plug that gap and help them articulate the value.” Outcome-based selling has been a regular buzzword of channel literature for the past number of years, but for Chuong, the shifting demographics within the enduser base means this is more critical than ever. For Chuong, that represents a major change within the historic relationship of value-added resellers and their customers. “[Businesses] are hiring twenty and thirty-year-olds who are very techsavvy...most of the issue they’ll sort out themselves,” he said. “When they need you, they really need you and they don’t want someone to say ‘Log a ticket, I’ll see you in
two days’. They just want it fixed and when they are getting charged out at $300 an hour?” “I think we’re almost at a stage where we’ve got two tiers of customers. We’ve got the customers in the new world — the disruptors of the world — and also old school IT. “Supporting a vendor like Atlassian is very different from someone like HP. The guys at Atlassian, they’re all developers and they want you to do the boring stuff that they don’t want to do. But the complex stuff? They’ll do it themselves, whereas the HPs of the world, fixing my complex stuff. “So, I think as a reseller, if you’re in that old school model, you almost have to go: ‘I’m just going to keep my old business
Kevin McIssac (Domo)
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doing what it does,’ managing the clients that it used to manage and you almost have to speed up the new business doing something totally different and that’s where the world is going.” Some of that mindset also needs to come from the vendors themselves. Partners can be catalysts for their customers’ change, but the vendors also need to take ownership of that, stressed Harapin. “We changed our MSP tool and one of the key criteria was: ‘How quickly have you changed over the last five years compared to who you’re competing with?” said Chuong. “Is that something that you’re seeing customers ask? How quickly are you moving? Is this product that I buy today still going to be the same product two years or where are you going? “And then it’s about saying to customers: ‘We’re here to help you manage your business fundamentally differently’. And then all of a sudden, they totally shift when they get it. Being ready for that and prepared for it as an organisation is really the key. “It’s about being set-up as a really customer-centric sales and support team where end-user success starts from the moment before you even sign the contract. Then it’s about being open so you both can enhance the value that they get out of existing investments and protected and ready for the future,” he said.
This ARN Roundtable was in association with Domo.
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52 Feature Microsoft
100 PARTNERS IN 100 DAYS: HOW RACHEL BONDI RETURNED TO
MICROSOFT AUSTRALIA’S CHANNEL MICROSOFT’S LOCAL ONE COMMERCIAL BOSS RELAYS HER PLANS FOR LOCAL PARTNERS — ELEANOR DICKINSON REPORTS. First days into a new role are always daunting, and Rachel Bondi’s inauguration as Microsoft’s channel boss couldn’t have come at a worse time. That week saw the eruption of an internal-use rights row, which saw partners rallying — via a petition no less — against Microsoft, accusing the vendor of “declaring war on the channel”. Although something of a baptism of fire, the 20-year Microsoft veteran was nevertheless able to take away the positives of from the uproar. “I think it was great; Australian partners were talking about their concerns, though I do think it was felt globally as well,” she told ARN. “I was quite proud of how the company responded as well.” That response was to immediately reverse the proposed changes, which would have meant partners having to purchase their own internal licenses and the end of on-premises product support incidents, which for Bondi was a “good example of listening to feedback and making them change”. “We are about a learner mindset and a growth mindset, and knowing it all,” she said. “I do believe if we want to continue to invest, we will have to look at different ways of partnering, but will have to do it in a more consultative way. It’s about building trust and listening to feedback, and I was pleased with the company’s decision and it was the right thing to do.”
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“I do believe if we want to continue to invest, we will have to look at different ways of partnering.” Bondi was first announced as general manager of its channel organisation, One Commercial, in May 2019. In the time since she formally took over the reins, she has made building bridges between herself and Microsoft’s 10,000-strong Australian channel a priority, meeting a new partner every day for the first 100 days. “It was about seeing where they see the opportunity and really understanding them,” she said. “They talk to us often about how they want to innovate and how they can build skills within their own teams. So how can you support their business model for growth in the future?” Although having been with the company since 1997, Bondi last held a channel role 20 years ago, when, in her early career she served as a partner accountant manager. Having worked at Microsoft’s Redmond
HQ for more than a decade, she returned to Australia as chief operation officer in January 2016. And in the time lapse between channel roles, her remit has significantly changed since then, to say the least. “My first entrance into Microsoft was as a partner accountant role, managing a set of seven partners,” she said. “Now to come to 10,000 and be across all the cloud technology is a big step. “There are some things that have stayed the same and some things have changed, but one thing that has definitely remained is that partnering remains the core of Microsoft. It’s how we think in Redmond and how we act in Australia. I just see so much opportunity for the next 12 months.” Bondi has already implemented one major program in Australia -- the ‘Microsoft Partner Academy’ —, which will see the vendor provide four weeks of skills training
Microsoft Feature
to certify non-technical professionals in Dynamics 365 and then offer them as consultants to partners. Coming as part of a wider push to inject new blood into the Australian IT industry, Bondi is also helping to spearhead Microsoft’s traineeship program for young talent. Launched in partnership with RMIT University and NSW Tafe, the program will certify participants and match them with employers. Two of these have been taken by Victoriabased Advanced Computing, but Bondi hopes to encourage more partners to get involved. Also top of her agenda is addressing the elephant in the conference room: the channel’s chronic gender imbalance, especially among those with technical expertise. “The stats show that here in Australia, we have 27 per cent women in ICT, but when I walk into rooms and into conferences, there’s more work to be done,” she said. “We are looking at working across our channel partners on how we can change the conversation around bringing more women
into IT leadership roles, address female diversity within the organisation. “Even at 27-28 per cent, when you take out operations, marketing and finance, and then look at technical independently, it’s much lower than where it should be. It will absolutely be part of what I’m considering delivering — not just within Microsoft but how we engage our channel partners and how they can support it.” In practice, this will see Microsoft run a female-only certification day, run by a woman trainer, likely flown in from the United States. “One of my learnings from this role is going to these conferences and seeing this [ratio],” she added. “It’s providing those types of forums and raising that level of awareness.” On top of these goals is, of course, balancing Microsoft’s global tussle with Amazon Web Services (AWS) for cloud computing dominance. Recent moves signed in the US include a deal with Oracle to make their two cloud computing services work together with high-speed links between their data centres, targeting big business users,
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“Where we are asking our partners to help us is on driving consumption.” On a partner level, the vendor is tailoring the experience the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program, adding new features such as a universal Azure services catalogue and a partner earned credit model. “A lot of our programs have centred on transactional licence sales and those have served both us and our partners really well,” Bondi said. “Where we are asking our partners to help us is on driving consumption. Partners are asking how they can be recognised for their customer’s consumption.” “I really want to do more to bring the power of One Microsoft to our partners, and in doing so our customers in Asia Pacific,” she said.
“There are some things that have stayed the same and some things that have changed, but the one thing that has definitely remaind is that partnering remains the core of Microsoft.”
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54 Feature Quantum
DOES THE DAWN OF ‘QUANTUM SUPREMACY’ LEAVE ROOM FOR THE CHANNEL? AS GOOGLE ANNOUNCES A MAJOR QUANTUM LEAP, DOES THE CHANNEL HAVE ANY PART TO PLAY IN THIS HIGHLY COMPLEX AND VASTLY DIFFERENT APPROACH TO TECHNOLOGY? — ELEANOR DICKINSON REPORTS.
A quantum computing arms race has taken hold of the IT industry, with Google earlier this year claiming “quantum supremacy” in its efforts to take another step closer to the finish line. In a peer-reviewed study, the technology giant recently claimed it had used a quantum computer to solve in minutes a complex problem that would take today’s most powerful supercomputer thousands of years to crack. Although quantum computing rival IBM unsurprisingly was quick to pour cold water on Google’s announcement, the breakthrough has been hailed as a milestone in what ultimately will transform not just the IT industry, but organisations and governments across the world.
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But like any new frontier, the impending dawn of quantum computing, begs the question: will there be any role for the channel to play in quantum computing? And how much should channel players be readying themselves for the impending quantum revolution?
Beyond human imagination
Before assessing any kind of opportunity, it’s important to consider how far-flung a quantum computer is from the ones we know of today. Rather than a question of chips and connections, a quantum computer at its core is a case of physics and chemistry. Essentially, the idea is to harness quantum physics, laws governing the
behaviour of subatomic particles that can simultaneously exist in different states. While traditional computing relies on bits, or ones and zeros, quantum computing uses quantum bits, or qubits, that can be
“For a conventional computer, it would take until the end of time to figure out. But for a quantum computer, seconds.”
Quantum Feature
both one and zero at the same time. As Gartner ‘distinguished vice president’ and analyst Martin Reynolds explains, it’s a process looking at the spectrum across 150 dimensions. “It’s something we as humans can’t imagine even possibly doing,” he said. “For a conventional computer, it would take until the end of time to figure out. But for a quantum computer, seconds.” This ability to harness physics in the quantum scale can, in theory, allow calculations to be done in tandem with each other on a huge scale, which in practical terms means crunching a lot of data very rapidly. The practical implications of this have been envisioned from everything including long-term weather forecasting and financial modelling, development of new drugs, to even space exploration. “The power it would provide is going to be exponentially greater than a traditional and there is a lot more than what we can do now,” according to Ashwin Pal, director of cyber security at global systems integrator Unisys. “When it does become mainstream, the opportunities are going to be massive.” However, he warned, it does bring some serious implications for cyber security, saying: “Encryption today takes a lot of power to break through. But with quantum, it can get broken in five seconds flat and encryption goes out the window. However, then you can build better security at the same time. The opportunities are twofold.”
Where the channel can play
Currently in the race for quantum supremacy alongside Google and IBM are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Honeywell and Microsoft, to name a few. “The vendors are spending a lot of R&D dollars on quantum computing and it’s a case of who will be first to market,” elaborates Pal. “If you look at mainframes, IBM paved the way there and [has] the lion’s share of the market today.” Meanwhile, quantum activity has been heating up for some time in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere in the local
region, with institutions such as the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T), based at the University of NSW, and Microsoft’s Station Q program at the University of Sydney leading the way. In New Zealand, the University of Auckland was among several institutions
“Businesses may very well turn to service providers to provide them with quantum expertise to help them with, say, their drug research or logistical program.” in the broader region to benefit from an investment of more than NZ$215 million over 10 years to find and develop companies involved in “disruptive innovation”, including quantum computing. Two years ago in Australia, the NSW government pledged $26 million to fund the commercialisation of quantum computing. Efforts escalated earlier this year when the state government-backed the creation of the Sydney Quantum Academy (SQA), which brings four institutions, University of Sydney, UNSW, Macquarie University, the University of Technology together backed by more than $35 million. And, as an illustration of its importance to the country, quantum physicist Michelle Simmons was crowned Australian of the Year in 2018. However, all researchers and vendors face some serious hurdles ahead in harnessing quantum computing. As Reynolds explained, finding qubits that work effectively, can be stabilised and then harnessed is a deeply difficult task, one that even the best minds in science and technology are still grappling with. “There’s a lot of research going on in the
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basic physics and everyone is doing it in their own way but knows who are going to go out and win this,” he said. As such, different analysts and organisations have given varying timeframes ranging from five to 10 years before practical applications emerge, and even 30 before the full power of quantum computing is realised. But there will be (some) opportunities on the horizon for Australian channel partners, especially considering Sydney’s push to becoming a quantum capital. But as Reynolds warns, it’s largely the big resellers and systems integrators who will have the time and mammoth resources to even consider investing in the technology. “If you’re a big-sized agricultural player and you want to use quantum computing to create new fertiliser, you won’t have the expertise to make this happen,” explains Reynolds. “But someone like DXC could set up a Quantum Computing practice that can work with your chemists and come up with these new solutions. “Businesses may very well turn to service providers to provide them with quantum expertise to help them with, say, their drug research or logistical program. For a big service provider, these skills are very leverageable across a whole range of industries.” In addition, according to a recent report by Technology Business Research, opportunities for professional services vendors such as Accenture and Atos will be available to “invest in the education of future generations”. Although Reynolds adds that quantum computing “won’t be a mainstream IT thing”, for the big players in a position to create practical applications will need to invest in “new processor technology, new systems and ever-increasing analytics”. While no major investment has been made yet, for Unisys, quantum computing remains a strong priority, but at this stage the best it can hope to do is simply stay in-the-know. “For now it’s about staying ahead of the developments and applications, so we can be among the first to take it to market embedded in our products,” said Pal.
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