D&H is looking to get partners selling these devices in bundles with services and Microsoft software, rather than as separate low margin hardware products, which is how many have been sold in the past.
Chris Ralston, Executive Director of Vendor Management at D&H
Distributor D&H Canada has announced that they are now authorized to offer the Microsoft Surface for Business portfolio of devices to channel partners. D&H encourages their partners to sell these as part of bundles which include both software and services, bundles which can be designed by D&H or put together by the partners themselves.
“We see Microsoft Surface as part of our modern solutions strategy,” said Chris Ralston, Executive Director of Vendor Management at D&H. “They are very focused on selling solutions, which includes services and their software, particularly Microsoft 365, all bundled with their devices. This is a key strategy for us in our modern solutions sales motion. In our cloud marketplace, we have the ability to create hardware bundles with software and services added in.” These will be delivered through a monthly subscription format and utilize the XaaS model.
The Surface portfolio will be incorporated into D&H’s Success Path for Cloud training program, which offers resources to help partners create successful managed services practices based on lucrative cloud solutions.
“Success Path for Cloud is all about training partners to sell those solutions,” Ralston said. “Many partners are still doing business there the traditional way – still selling these separately as low margin devices. We want our partners to bundle them with services, sell them on lease, and refresh the devices after the term has expired. Resellers who want to survive today have to transform their business model and we see Surface as an integrated device in that value proposition. Cloud Marketplace allows them to create bundles that we provide, or to create their own solutions and market them to their end clients.”
D&H Canada will provide the Microsoft Surface for Business portfolio of devices including Laptop 4, Laptop Studio, Laptop Go 2, Pro 8, Pro 7+, Pro X, Go 3, Duo2, Studio 2, and Hub 2S.
“The Microsoft line card is quite wide, and is focused on mobile workers, from the entry level mobile worker all the way up to high-end content creators with Surface Laptop Studio for Business,” Ralston said. “We see Microsoft Surface as having a unique value proposition in the marketplace. We don’t see them as a direct competitor to the notebooks sold by the other OEMs that we carry. They are very focused on the mobile workers. For instance, the Surface models are all touch screens, and the pens are front and centre. HP and Lenovo sell a variety of more traditional laptops.”
Ralston also said that Surface is fairly distinct from the Apple market as well.
“Some of their newer products like Studio are designed for the same creative types Apple goes after, but they are different from Apple, which makes its own processors, has its own OS and focuses on the complete customer experience,” Ralston stated. “Surface is certainly nibbling on their heels, but the Apple brand is strong.”
“Partners need to understand Surface really can service large variety of use cases, including education and health care,” Ralston concluded. “They also need to see how important it is to our modern solutions strategy, where clients can pay as they go.”
D&H Canada solution providers can visit the distributor’s mini-site about this offering at https://www.dandh.ca/microsoftsurface/
