CRN head to head

RESELLER: Oriel Technologies

Rodney Haywood,
virtualisation practice manager

There are a number of advantages to selling virtualisation alongside our other offerings. As virtualisation is arguably the hottest topic in IT at the moment, it is a great conversation starter and can open up new opportunities within an account where we might not already have a presence. The benefits and the savings to the customer are clear and significant, and it will absolutely delight the customer when done right.

Virtualisation is a “solution sell” which results in the pull through of services and additional systems infrastructure. It utilises the existing skill sets and competencies that our staff already have in adjacent technologies.

The keys to selling virtualisation and ensuring successful implementations lies predominantly in the positioning and planning of the solutions. Customers need to see the benefits of virtualisation in the context of their own environment. This means that part of the sales process inevitably involves a high degree of planning and design of how it will work for them. Resellers must understand what the customers’ real requirements and drivers are.

Vendors must continue to work with resellers to provide education on virtualisation technologies and provide reference implementation guidelines, especially ones which are realistic and sized to the Australian marketplace. Vendors must also have simple and clear licensing models which are affordable and suitable for the virtualised world.