Are You Ready To Sell Managed Storage Services?

This VAR expects to grow sales 72% this year by combining managed storage services with traditional storage products.

Change. Few embrace it. Many resist it. Even the best and brightest VARs find stress in trying to constantly mold business models to adapt to the ever-changing technology landscape, but that is the nature of the technology business. The time for change has come again, so get ready for the next round: managed storage services. Customers are being forced to make do with smaller IT staffs and smaller IT budgets. It's no longer enough for VARs to sell infrastructure products such as storage arrays and storage switches — they must sell solutions that provide greater overall business value to customers. One way to provide that value is to offer a combination of storage products and managed services. Some VARs just stopped reading. Others, such as Incentra Solutions, Inc., have embraced change and are ready for the opportunity — an opportunity to grow sales by combining traditional storage products with managed storage services.

Incentra provides managed storage services in conjunction with traditional information management hardware and software products such as storage appliances and arrays, data backup and recovery systems, and file servers. Matt Wight, senior VP of business development for Incentra, says, "Management of storage infrastructure is a key growth area for us. As data storage environments become more complex, the administration and operation of those infrastructures becomes equally as complex."