Exclusive: NewLease targets 100 NZ partners

The software services subscription-licensing firm has told The Channel that it aims to go from 40 partners to 100 by the end of the year. 

NewLease held a seminar in Auckland yesterday to highlight the work it’s doing in the subscription licensing space, which the firm says is a fast-growing alternative to the traditional unit-based approach of selling software.

“The message that we gave is that the cloud is here and if you’re not a part of it, your competitor will be,” CEO Doug Tutus said. “We’ve got 40 partners in New Zealand at the moment. We’re aiming for 100 by the end of the year and I think we’re on target. We’ve had good responses to the marketing that we’ve done.”

High on NewLease’s agenda is getting the NewLease brand known in the local market. “My initial impression, with New Zealand being a relatively small, tight community, was that a new brand would find it tough. But I’m pleasantly surprised with respect to how well people have adopted us.”

Tutus said that even though the NewLease name isn’t as well known as Ingram Micro or Express Data, the firm is known for the space it operates in. “What we do is complementary to what Ingram does, I don’t sell boxes. I don’t sell anything short of licensing models that enable cloud services. Those guys need servers and other applications that I don’t sell, so it’s more complementary than competitive with Ingram Micro.”

Speaking about Express Data, Tutus continued, “They have one business unit that’s in the same service provider licensing space. The more they promote it and the more we promote it the more business there is for both of us. We’re competitors with Express Data when it comes to this licensing model but that’s it.”

Short terms goals will see NewLease hiring new staff. “We’ve just employed a marketing manager for the business unit in ANZ and a large proportion of that role is in New Zealand. We’re looking at putting another head in New Zealand which will be vendor dependent. Next year I would envisage that we’ll need another staff member also,” Tutus said.