'We are behind the curve on cloud' - Exertis UK MD

Paul Bryan tells CRN about the broadliner's cloud tactics and why he is betting big on DaaS

Exertis needs to "beef up" its cloud proposition in order to take on its competitors in that market, according to UK MD Paul Bryan.

Competitors such as Westcoast and Ingram Micro have spun out their cloud arms into separate businesses, and Exertis is currently planning on strengthening its own position in the cloud market.

"We are a little bit behind the curve on that at the moment, but it is definitely an area where we are lively in terms of our discussions and conversations," he told CRN at the distributor's Plug In event recently.

"There will be some announcements in the near future about the cloud marketplace and how Exertis is going to play in it.

"It's just behind the curve in terms of our competition and we need to beef that up because it's definitely not going away.

"I would say [the reason Exertis is behind the curve is] that some of our historical relationships didn't lend themselves to that cloud thinking."

In other efforts to move away from pure hardware, Exertis has been putting a lot of emphasis on its services wing which now makes up 15 per cent of its business, a figure which Bryan (pictured) hopes will hit 20 per cent in the next couple of years.

He fingers device-as-a-service (DaaS) as the next big thing for services but pointed out that an easy, manageable model has yet to be devised.

"I think the theory is really good and it hasn't been heavily adopted," he explained.

"If you look at the software industry, it's bringing licensing to a consumption model - why isn't that happening with device? Probably because someone hasn't come up with a super simple way to do that.

We think we've got a model that works but I'd say there will be a bit of trial and error before we get to where we want to get to.

"But we think we're on the right track in building that momentum and there could be a wholesale shift in the way that people buy devices."

The distributor is also betting big on the audiovisual (AV) space, acquiring US company Stampede last year, and German Pro AV VAD Comm-Tec this month.

This is another space that is becoming increasingly solutions-led, according to Bryan.

"Resellers really need a service where they are talking to techies and experts about how they put those solutions together and help with going up on a tender," he said.

"People are leaning on us to do those and helping them in that business because they might not have the scale in their own firms to do that. The same would work for our security and communications offerings."

However, Bryan does not see the end in sight for its product offerings. Far from it, he said, explaining that the demand for hardware has heightened rather than declined and that products and software combined can bring big opportunities for the channel.

"We have to make sure that we are focused on our services and that it becomes endemic to the sale because then people rely on us more and we are stickier with the customer," he stated.