Expert Speak

New Alliances + Solutions = Advantage Partners

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We finally have a new government, and how convincing its victory is!! That reflects the change in the mood of the Indian electorate, does it not? And that includes you and me as well…

These are exciting days for India Inc. You can read news articles done by our team for the sister site www.cxotoday.com. The IT industry in particular is buoyed by the outcome, and is reflecting in the sentiment of the head honchos. The channel not to be left behind; partners have already voiced their opinion and eagerness to work with the new government.

Truly, these are good times for the Indian channel as well. Not only is the new government giving people hope to dream big, but multinational companies are announcing alliances and projects for the community to co-op and compete.

Let us take the alliance between Microsoft and HP for example. Not only will this alliance provide the channel opportunities to enter the UC and collaboration space, but it will gave them ample scope to broaden their horizon and escalate their status to VARs. Cisco’s recent comment to Manu Sharma, our senior special correspondent, that the alliance lacks in third party applications is a large window for the application providers to tap.

Microsoft and HP recently announced a four-year $180 million initiative for end-to-end UC and collaboration solutions.

The solution will span software, hardware, networking and services that would enable customers to improve business output and reduce travel, telecom and IT operating costs. The companies will streamline communications across messaging, video and voice with connected applications and devices.

Cisco has tied up with ArcSight, NetScout Systems and RSA (security division of EMC), and each are announcing new capabilities using Cisco Mobility Engine to deliver these network assurance solutions to their customers.

The vendor too is planning to offer its newly-launched ‘Collaboration in Motion’ through its System Integrators (SIs) and fleet of distributors across India. The company will also conduct training for its partners on the new product.

In India, Cisco has a different set of partners for its mobility solutions, and its SI partners include IBM, Datacraft, Wipro and HP to handle tier-1 cities.

There are many more vendors such as Cyberoam, 3Com among others who announced new strategies. The mood is certainly upbeat. Even partners are eager to reach out, explore more opportunities, and are getting more innovative with ideas.

And our recently concluded survey on Channel Budgets (http://www.channeltimes.com/India/News/Partners_Experimenting_with_Ideas_CT_Survey/551-102018-741.html) reflects this trend.

So till next weekend…

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