GEC NEWS WIREA pioneer in introducing emerging technologies into the Middle East Channel, StorIT Distribution – the specialist in data management believes in constantly and consistently creating opportunities for the growth of its vendors and partners. Our exclusive interview with Suren Vedantham, Group Managing Director, StorIT Distribution
“The entire area of data management is what we specialize is today with great partnerships with the best-in-breed vendors who actually help us to put together turnkey solutions. “
The current IT market is a hard-task master; though the best of technologies have made it one of the best times to be in IT, the competition constantly questions your worth. It’s not just about entering or even winning a race out here; what matters is are you prepared for the marathon? StorIT Distribution has proved itself time and again and continues to be on the top of the distribution channel in the area of data management.
The journey of StorIT begun way back in 2002 when the magic of the internet was just starting to overwhelm one and all. Right vision, appropriate strategy, clarity of business basics, combined with proper understanding of the market gave birth to a concept that had the strength not only to succeed, but also stand the test of time and technology. The digital era was dawning and brought with it a big void in the technology market space in the area of data management. Moreover, as with every emerging technology, the cost of entry into the space was no joke especially for the mid-market segment. This is where StorIT distribution fitted in perfectly as a data management specialist; they used their experience and expertise to create avenues in the Middle East market for the leading technology vendors in the data management space and made the best-in-breed technologies readily available to the resellers. As Suren Vedantham, Group MD, StorIT says, “We have been there at the right place at the right time with some valuable experience; all that came together. We have evolved with time but nevertheless continue to be the data management specialists with a value centric business model.”
Solution centric right from day one-
Apart from the experience and expertise they were bringing to the table, Suren believes what differentiated them further was the model of business wherein they have really carved a niche for themselves. “Right from day, we realized that the box-moving kind of a business or volume distribution didn’t really excite us. So, we chose to be an enterprise IT solutions specialist distributor and continue to do so.” He goes on to add, “Once we got started, we had the good fortune of actually tying up with the very best of breed technology providers. If you see our portfolio since we started, we have always had the top notch- the best in the world –as good as it can get. As a matter of fact, it was great to see that we were the preferred distributor of choice really for all of them because we literally introduced them into the ME distribution channel”.
The idea was to always be up-to-date with the latest technologies without losing focus. “That focus also helped us to continue to be right on top as a pioneer in data management as well as emerging technologies. So we moved onto high performance computing – we were the first company to literally introduce HPC solutions into the distribution channel. We were the first company to introduce managed services into the reseller channel. We were the first one to introduce turnkey analytic solutions”, comments Suren.
Carving a unique place in the ME Channel
In a market that sees new technologies and new distributors entering the bandwagon at light pace, it definitely takes more than technical expertise to sustain in the business. So, what new fervor StorIT brought onto the table? Suren comments, “We love what we do. We want to continue to be right there at the cutting edge of the technology all the time and introduce the emerging technology to the entire reseller channel rather than keep it as a privilege of the only top ten enterprises. What we are trying to do is cut down the hype of everything that comes new or which is very cutting edge and introduce the same into the wider channel. With the kind of services we provide, we make it easier for the resellers to actually quickly adopt and resell. So we are literally creating areas of opportunities where it comes to cutting edge technologies with the least kind of cost of entry into that business.”
Staying Ahead
So, with all the competition in the distribution market, how have they managed to hold ground? Instead of competing with others, they prefer to compete with themselves. “We’d love to get inspired by the strengths of our competitors, but don’t want to be bogged down with that” remarks Suren. “At the end of the day, the market needs the best of technology at the most optimum cost and they want this to be sustainable and relationships have to be long-term. The vendor wants an extended arm, who can share their vision and who would do what they would love to do if they were on ground with the channel. That’s where we literally fill in- we act as a true vendor representative. It’s not just about logistics or distribution. Rather it’s about carrying their vision forward for the region.”
Rock solid Partnerships
Suren tells us that StorIT has been recognized time and again as their vendor partners’ best incremental distributor in the region. “For all our vendors, we literally create the market which might not be otherwise easy or may come at a high cost to the vendors”.
StorIT believes in forging long sustained relationships with its partners rather than engaging in it just for short term business gain. “In spite of being in the business for 13 years, we still have a very conservative portfolio. We always ensure that we do justice to any partner we onboard and we are successful in the longer term. With the domain knowledge, expertise and experience we carry, in all humility, I doubt that any other distributor can deliver like us in the domain we operate in”, says Suren. “Our data management portfolio is as good as it gets in the world; even a multi-million dollar distribution company may not have a portfolio which is better than what we carry today.”
Growing rapidly
StorIT have been growing rapidly in the niche area they deal with. Suren tells us that the excitement around the technology is just getting better with time; there’s so much innovation happening all the time in the area of data management.
They cover around 10-12 countries in the Middle East, starting from the Levant all the way till Pakistan. The headquarters is at Dubai; they have a branch office in the KSA, which happens to be one of their key markets, in addition to the UAE and Qatar. “Across the region, we try to forge partnerships that are meaningful and are long lasting and create opportunity for growth. We work very closely with our partners”, says Suren. “The beauty of new emerging technologies is that they keep you on the toes all the time; constantly creating opportunities to grow. We have been doing great and will make sure to keep that up.” All the good work and laurels make us wonder what’s the secret fuelling the success of StorIT Distribution?
The Human-side Of Technology (THOT) is a unique social initiative by StorIT which aims to bring together the regional IT fraternity a common social goal. This year, StorIT along with a few of its local partners have teamed up to adopt a Primary School in Western Nepal.
Passion of StorIT
Suren reiterates that at StorIT, the people love what they do and that definitely makes a big difference. The core strengths that make them a winner include focus in the area of data management, excellent skill sets, useful experience, fantastic channel network across the region and of course, a group of passionate people sharing the vision of the organization.
What lays next?
For a specialist VAD which has been credited with introducing emerging technologies to the Middle East channel, excitement is obvious to know the upcoming offerings from them. Suren tells us they have been doing a great job with converged infrastructure- a trend which is here to stay for quite a long time. Apart from that, they are also working on open stack, SDS, data analytics, data protection, etc.
Finally…
Needless to say, with the digital revolution, data has become the most crucial component. The current era is all about information, which has become the core and crux of everything we do. So, it’s all about managing the data smartly and analyzing it rightly to make the most out of it; and that’s where StorIT stands as a strong trustworthy partner. As Suren nicely puts it across, “Be it any business, at the end of the day, what matters is the kind of service you provide and the consistency with which you do that”. In the midst of the technology hype, many-a-times, the real tenets of partnership tend to get undermined. “It’s essential to act as a true consultant to the partners by showing them the way ahead and enabling them to walk on it to achieve their objectives. And the key lies in constantly evolving without losing focus. Progress is finally an output of persistence, patience and passion”.
