Tech Data launches joint go-to-market initiative with IBM

Tech Data has launched its Digital Transformation Series in collaboration with IBM, with the aim of fast tracking digital transformation for partners in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

The joint go-to-market initiative is designed to meet the growing demand for big data and business analytics (BDA) solutions in the region, which is expected to reach more than US$43.4 million by 2024, according to IDC.

The initiative will expand and grow the region's ecosystem of partners in the area of data and artificial intelligence (AI), supported by subject matter expertise via Tech Data's Center of Excellence (COE).

It will provide partners with enablement and marketing tools, as well as technical knowledge to grow data warehousing capabilities. Over time, the Series will be further expanded to include other solutions portfolios, such as business intelligence and data governance.

According to Tech Data, the joint initiative will allow small and medium businesses (SMBs) to scale, simplify, and accelerate deployment of pre-designed data warehousing and advanced analytics capabilities that were previously mainly available to large enterprises.

Beyond SMBs, the initiative is also suited to mid-market enterprises (MMEs) with the agility and convenience to scale data capabilities, especially for enterprises with IT teams that lack the expertise and resources needed to deliver on advanced data management and analytics, the company states.

The solutions provided in the Digital Transformation Series will be delivered through flexible consumption models with options to tailor deployments for cloud, on-premises, or hybrid cloud environments.

To further drive the joint initiative, Tech Data will leverage its regional ecosystem of partners with a specialised focus on data and AI competencies.

Channel partners will also be supported by Tech Data's subject matter experts through its COE, which provides technical training and best practices to improve cost efficiencies and implementation time for solutions from the Digital Transformation Series.

Tech Data vice president Advanced Solutions - Modern Data Center and Analytics, Bennett Wong, says, "Prioritising customers' ease of adoption in our solutions design objective, the Digital Transformation Series aims to help our channel partners accelerate customer digital transformation journeys with data and AI in a simplified and cost-effective manner.

"Channel partners can co-innovate with Tech Data and showcase IBM Cloud Pak for Data solutions to expand data capabilities at scale.

IBM Asia Pacific vice president of Ecosystem Sales and Distribution, Mukul Mathur, says, "In today's era of exponentially increasing data and information, connectedness and ubiquitous digitisation, we are committed to creating market disrupting solutions and providing value to our customers.

"Leveraging Tech Data's expansive network of channel and ecosystem partners as well as proven expertise in empowering go-to-market synergies, this collaboration will provide SMBs easy access robust analytics platforms, with prescriptive information architecture and cloud agility to provide data insights for organisations.