Distributor DataSolutions Wants to Double UK Partner Base

Written by Christine Horton
April 6, 2020

The Dublin-based distributor looks to grow its footprint in the U.K. with a VAR recruitment campaign.

Ireland-based distributor DataSolutions, has revealed plans to “double down” on growing its U.K. operations.

The Dublin-based firm has been making inroads into the U.K. in recent years. Its vendor portfolio includes the likes of Nutanix, Citrix, HPE Aruba and Check Point.

DataSolutions wants to double its U.K. partner numbers from 100 to 200. This comes after a 57% increase in revenue for its 2019-2020 fiscal year. The company closed out the year with €74 million (USD 80 million) in turnover.

DataSolutions’ Michael O’Hara

Speaking to Channel Futures, DataSolutions managing director Michael O’Hara said the company isn’t looking to recruit partners wholesale.

“We are being more focused in selecting the right partners that we can provide the appropriate levels of support to. We are looking for ones that have good customer reach, strong service delivery capabilities and a focus in our core areas of expertise — namely IT security, networking, intelligent workspace and hybrid multicloud.”

O’Hara said there will be direct contact with partners which the firm identifies as good targets.

“Referrals from other partners – but in particular referrals from our vendors – really help and [are] a great introduction. On top of that, we are constantly carrying out both enablement and education activities which we make available to all partners including potential new ones,” he said.

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DataSolutions is holding four enablement webinars that will help partners meet the requirements to move up partner tiers within Nutanix. There’s also a webinar on best practices to move Citrix environments to Nutanix.

“In the last six weeks we have seen business continuity move from being a solution that allows a corporate’s workforce to work at home for three or four days due to bad weather to move to a solution that allows a corporate workforce to work from home for months. Citrix has played a big part in providing business continuity solutions, and the next step will be stabilizing [or] hardening these environments with Nutanix.”

DataSolutions said it will work closely with partners to ensure they get support during the COVID-19 crisis.

“We take a commercial approach with our partners in terms of extended credit facilities,” said O’Hara. “We don’t just look at their latest published financial statements – we look at who are the principals in the reseller’s business, who is the end user in the order [or the] opportunity the partner is working with, when will the partner get paid – and taking all this into consideration we do offer partners extended credit where appropriate.”