According to a new 415 Research report “Hitachi Vantara’s Investment in Partner Channel Pays Off, Drives Growth,” Hitachi Vantara has elevated its partner strategy over the past five years, placing a fresh emphasis on the value that partners are creating, and viewing partners as a key piece of its overall go-to-market framework.
This involves a deeper understanding of each partner and a framework for working collaboratively to grow sales. It means identifying partners based on what they do, primarily in categories such as resell, deliver, create, and manage. The new approach helps Hitachi Vantara connect opportunities with the right partners, as well as identify the best opportunities for partners to collaborate on building, delivering, and managing services. The company has trained the large distributors that manage the long tail of its partner program to do the same.
Results Exceed Expectations
The impact of Hitachi Vantara’s partner strategy has been building over the past five years, with the company growing its partner count by roughly 20% in 2022. An impressive 100% of its commercial business is currently transacted via partners, and that share is increasing rapidly, seeing 22% growth in the past quarter.
Hitachi Vantara estimates that its enterprise business is just over 50% partner-based in North America—and growing. Transforming its partner strategy has taken the company from generating less than half its revenue through partners five years ago to expecting to reach 95% in the next 24 months.
Program Details
Partners can sell any of Hitachi Vantara’s products or services across the three major technology areas of its business (data centers, data integration, and analytics), including prepackaged services such as its EverFlex as-a-service offerings.
For complex managed services, Hitachi Vantara can deliver services sold by partners, while its managed services division can also collaborate on a service developed with a partner’s own team. Hitachi Vantara’s approach to alliances is intentionally complementary to its channel strategy, emphasizing co-creation of technology services that its partners can bring to market.
The company has strong engagements of this type with AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, as well as VMware, Cisco Systems, Broadcom, Veritas, and Commvault.
Future Focus
Hitachi Vantara wants to expand its roster of midmarket and locally focused regional partners, which should expand its market from enterprise customers to smaller enterprises and midmarket firms.
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Image Credit: 451 Research: Hitachi Vantara's Investment in Partner Channel Pays Off, Drives Growth