IT Distributors, What Are They, Where Are They?

IT distributors, the first and only complete map. Who they are, where they are, the constant strategic updates (here also the map of the cloud marketplaces of IT distributors ), Vendor, reseller, system integrator and, above all, IT distributors, in the new chain of cloud computing and information technology that becomes a service, is there and will always be room for everyone? But above all: for IT distributors, who have always been the logistic soul of the chain, what will the future be?

For many, it is a journalistic game, a topic of discussion to be unleashed when there is a lack of ideas and inspiration at the good tables of IT. But the reality of the facts is quite clear, and the evolution is taking place in unpredictable ways and speed changes. In a market that has historically seen the planets of vendors, IT distributors, and resellers/system integrators line up on coordinates and schemes that seemed set in stone, now, in fact, servers, software, storage, backup and security become services on consumption.

But Who Are The IT Distributors?

But let’s go in order and, as we will do shortly with another fundamental link in the indirect chain (the system integrator), it is worth starting from the beginning and, above all, from the basics. TechTarget vocabulary in hand a distributor has defined as: ‘An intermediary entity between a manufacturer of a product and another entity in the distribution channel or supply chain, for example, a reseller, a value-added reseller (VAR) or a system integrator (SI).

IT distributors perform some of the same functions that a wholesaler does but generally take a more active role. More specifically, IT distributors manage payments and purchases, logistics but, unlike wholesalers, their roles can be much more complex. E.g., vendors who lack the means to build a channel program often entrust them with this task. Distributors also frequently take a more proactive approach to educate resellers on new products, services, solutions through training courses, roadshows and demos on behalf of vendors.

Finally, ICT distributors and IT distributors can provide even broader services such as support and financial guarantees (an increasingly expensive topic in a country like Italy), marketing for vendors and resellers. Finally, IT distributors can provide even broader services such as support and financial guarantees (an increasingly expensive topic in a country like Italy), marketing for vendors and resellers. Finally, IT distributors can provide even broader services such as support and financial guarantees (an increasingly expensive topic in a country like Italy), marketing for vendors and resellers.

Types Of Distributors

One-Tier Distribution:

A vendor sells to channel partners. Product vendor->VAR, SI,MSP->End Customer

Two-Tier Distribution:

A vendor sells to a distributor, which sells to a channel partner.

Product vendor->Distributor->VAR,SI,MSP->End Customer

Therefore, a middle ground between the Vendor and frontman of the market is a platform born with a purely “logistic” vocation, hence the name of distributors. It is now experiencing, perhaps, its deepest and most decisive evolution.

IT Distribution, From Product To Service, Passes Through The “Crisis” Of Logistics

Everything, as mentioned, originates with the cloud and the as a service revolution of sales models. First abroad than in Italy in recent years, after a long incubation phase made up of many, too many marketing announcements, the transformation of IT from a product into service has now spread importantly and profoundly on the wave of phenomena also larger that fall under the umbrella of what is called the sharing economy.

This transformation leads us to forget the charm of purchasing in favor of increasingly engaging and performing user experiences. A transformation that, as mentioned, after a phase of, perhaps, an inevitable binge of proclamations and announcements, has invested the IT world in an increasingly broad, profound and decisive way. To give a tremendously concrete example, raise your hand to those who, among you who read, know exactly what type of processor is mounted on the PC or smartphone you are enjoying this content.

Are you sure that today’s evasiveness (don’t be smart!) The answer would have been the same even eight years ago, in full anxiety about performance and a run-up to the latest and most powerful Intel Pentium processor? Who cares today about the Pentium 1,2,3 or 20 medals… today? What we are interested in is the use. Once the PC is turned on, it must work for what we need, to the best of its ability.

A small but illustrative example that, projected towards the sales dynamics, makes us understand why the market and the sales ecosystem, with mega-vendors, is passing from the logic of the product to that of the service, from the transaction to the recurring relationship. , from one-shot sales to the experience of use (in fact) recurring with everything that lies behind it in terms of billing, financial management… Today, the Web, the Net, and broadband allow it. A Copernican revolution also and above all for IT distributors.

IT Distributors, The Office 365 Phenomenon

The culmination of such a progression and the strongest turning point and thrust of the cloud phenomenon on the Italian ICT channel was the launch of a solution such as Microsoft Office 365, which has progressively transformed the most popular application package into a service. Widespread and used by individuals and especially companies. A real revolution was also followed by the spread of the now famous Microsoft CSP program, Cloud Solution Provider.

A program allows you to access the best resources to offer Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Office 365, Enterprise Mobility Suite and Windows… through the #cloud, of course. Today, a program to which IT distributors and system integrators have had access… giving life to new and unexpected business forms on the channel. All trends, ways of using technology that, over time, have inevitably increasingly questioned one of the very pillars on which the business of IT distributors has always been based: logistics.

The famous ability to ship servers, notebooks, desktops, workstations, storage at sidereal speeds to every corner of the continent and Italy, including islands. A vital capacity when having one product, and not another, before the others, made a difference for system integrators, resellers and their customers. A capacity which, however, over time, practically all the operators in the field have developed and which, inevitably, has begun to be recognized and therefore “paid” less and less for IT distributors.