Adobe drops Dicker Data

Adobe Systems will end its Australian distribution deal with Express Data as it switches to Ingram Micro on 1 July.

"Express Data has been an important partner of Adobe over many years. We thank them for their support and wish the team every success in the future," a spokesperson for Adobe ANZ told CRN.

David Dicker, chairman and CEO of Dicker Data, told CRN: "Adobe decided that a single distributor model was their best strategy."

The software vendor announced Ingram Micro as the new "non-exclusive single" distributor in Australia for the "foreseeable future".

"Adobe made the decision to move to a non-exclusive single distribution model last year," said the Adobe spokesperson. "We went ahead with an RFP in New Zealand in 2013 and then in Australia this year."

Adobe's channel lead, Muralee Kanagaratnam, said: "Ingram Micro has demonstrated a true partnership through Adobe's transition to Creative Cloud and is committed to investing in our business."

Ingram Micro's managing director ANZ, Matthew Sanderson, said Adobe is "a very important brand to have in our portfolio".

"Acceptance of Creative Cloud for teams in the Australian market is very exciting and has been embraced by our reseller channel," Sanderson said. "My team and I are looking forward to working with Adobe and our reseller partners to deliver ongoing value with focus on lead generation, renewals management and with end user events and enablement."

The global creative software maker is in the midst of changing its sales model from traditional perpetual licensing to cloud-based subscription services.

"The past 12 months have been significant for Adobe’s channel business as we transitioned to Creative Cloud and continued to drive our Acrobat and education businesses," Kanagaratnam said.

"Australia and New Zealand continue to lead the world in the adoption of Creative Cloud for teams," said Kanagaratnam, adding that in the first quarter of this year the Australian market saw 63 percent take-up of subscriptions over perpetual licensing, compared to the worldwide average of 52 percent.

The distribution shake-up comes as Adobe revealed that Asia-Pacific president Craig Tegel will also step down on 1 July to be replaced by Paul Robson.