5 Companies That Came To Win This Week
For the week ending March 11, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their ‘A’ game to the channel.
The Week Ending March 11
Topping this week’s Came to Win list is Google Cloud for making a strategic move in cybersecurity with its multi-billion-dollar deal to acquire Mandiant.
Also making this week’s list are Cisco Systems for doubling down on its sales motions and processes to help partners sell services; Dell Technologies for creating a dedicated cross-functional team with the goal of increasing the role of partners in selling Apex as-a-service; and solution provider Ahead for an acquisition that expands its technology portfolio and geographic reach.
And distributor D&H makes the list for opening a massive new distribution facility that provides more space and automation capabilities for serving both solution provider and vendor needs.
Google To Buy Incident Response Superstar Mandiant For $5.4B
Google Cloud made a big move in the cybersecurity space this week with a deal to purchase Mandiant for $5.4 billion, an acquisition that will allow Google to help enterprise customers stay protected across cloud and on-premises environments.
Buying Mandiant will boost Google Cloud’s security operations and advisory services – especially in the area of real-time threat intelligence. Google plans to offer the Mandiant Advantage software-as-a-service platform as part of the Google Cloud security portfolio.
The acquisition is also a win for Google Cloud’s systems integrator, reseller and managed security service provider partners.
The acquisition is seen as a competitive shot across the bow from Google against cloud platform rivals Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. (Microsoft was reported to have had its own acquisition negotiations with Mandiant before pulling out of the talks.)
The Mandiant deal comes just two months after Google Cloud purchased security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) technology vendor Siemplify, an acquisition that allows Google to help businesses and organizations more effectively hunt, detect and respond to threats.
Cisco Is “Reinventing” The Partner Sales Model To Tackle $113B Managed Services Opportunity
Cisco Systems wins applause this week for taking steps to improve its sales motions, including removing friction in sales systems and processes, in an effort to empower partners to sell more managed service offerings.
The move comes as Cisco’s managed service bookings outpace overall product sales and all signs point to managed services becoming the primary buying model for IT services. Cisco recorded 31 percent growth in partner managed services in 2021 compared to 27 percent growth in overall product bookings. Managed services are particularly boosting Cisco’s small business segment growth.
It’s estimated that 45 percent of the company’s market opportunity by 2025 will be through the managed services route to market, marking a whopping $113 billion addressable market for the company and its partners.
Using its portfolio of platform-based products to build services with partners is a winning strategy for Cisco, which already does 95 to 98 percent of its managed services sale through the channel.
Cisco is shaping its multi-architecture technology to be more “managed-ready,” including making sure offerings are multi-tenant in nature and utilize standard APIs, and that Cisco can export data into partner data lake systems. Cisco’s Meraki Wi-Fi, routing and security solutions are some of the products that have already earned the managed-ready tag.
Cisco has also tripled its investments in service creation resources across all geographies. The company already has more than 11 such service creation projects underway globally.
Ahead Strengthens Networking, Cloud Muscle With vCore Buy
Fast growing solution provider Ahead has acquired vCore Technology Partners in a move that expands its cloud, networking and data protection technology offerings and expertise in managed services. The acquisition also strengthens Ahead’s presence in the U.S. Southwest and brings “top-tier talent” and “high-profile clients”
With the acquisition Ahead, No. 28 on the CRN Solution Provider 500 and No. 3 on the CRN 2021 Fast Growth 150, is a business with more than $2 billion in gross revenue, including more than $200 million in professional and managed services revenue, and more than 1,300 employees – 800 of which are in engineering or client service roles.
While Ahead has been growing organically, the company’s growth has taken quantum jumps in the last three years through mergers and acquisitions including Data Blue in 2019, Kovarus and Round Tower Technologies in 2020, and Vertical Trail in 2021.
Dell Creates New Partner-Focused Apex Cross-Functional Team
Dell Technologies has created a new cross-functional team that’s specifically dedicated to better enabling channel partners to sell its Apex portfolio of as-a-service solutions.
The move provides dedicated resources aimed at accelerating Apex sales through partners, according to Dell global channel chief Rola Dagher. The team will add “the voice of the partner” to Dell’s Apex efforts, including how to optimize the partner opportunity with Apex and empower partners in future Apex offers, said Cheryl Cook, Dell’s senior vice president of global partner marketing.
Dell Partners have told CRN that when Apex launched in 2021 it lacked a channel sales plan. The new dedicated team is seen as a step towards growing the partner role in Apex sales.
This week Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell touted the company’s Apex strategy, saying the as-a-service offering had advantages in product capabilities and overall scale versus competitors like Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s GreenLake.
D&H Is Tripling Warehouse Capacity In “Built For Growth” Blitz
At a time when “supply chain disruption” has become part of everyday news headlines, distributor D&H is gearing up to offer solution providers new supply chain services as it triples its warehouse capacity with a new distribution center in central Pennsylvania.
The new 745,000-quare-foot facility, which became operational in January, provides five times more product configuration space to meet the demand for additional system integration services for both solution providers and vendors, according to D&H co-President Dan Schwab.
Schwab said the facility, part of D&H’s “Built for Growth” strategy, makes D&H a more efficient and cost-effective distributor with its new automation capabilities. It expands the distributor’s ability to configure and drop-ship products directly to end-customers on behalf of solution providers.
The distribution center replaces an older warehouse at D&H’s former Harrisburg headquarters. A formal ribbon cutting ceremony for the new facility is planned for March 24.
The distribution center sets the stage for continued growth for D&H, which last year recorded impressive 19 percent growth in U.S. sales.