Acronis seeks to expand in New Zealand

Acronis and Ingram Micro have signed a distribution deal that will see Ingram Micro selling and supporting Acronis’ product suite of disaster recovery and data protection solutions in the ANZ region.

The vendor has ended its deal with Distribution Central in New Zealand but is keeping Mindscape which will be responsible for retail distribution here.

According to Karl Sice, general manager for the Pacific region for Acronis, this deal is an extension of the ties that already exist between Acronis entities and Ingram Micro abroad.

“We’re in expansion mode, growing our business and our partner community in New Zealand,” says Sice. He adds that the company decided to go with a tier 1 distribution arrangement “because we want to increase our business”.

“We will leverage the Ingram Micro team in New Zealand,” says Sice, but he does not dismiss the possibility of setting up a local presence in the country. “We hope to develop a business plan for local investment. We hope and wish for it in the short to medium term.”

Acronis, which has 20,000 partners across the globe, says business in New Zealand is going well and, being a channel-only organisation, it is always looking to add more resellers.

Sice says there is a lot of opportunity for resellers in the data protection and disaster recovery markets. The company recently conducted a survey of 2,000 IT managers worldwide, including Australia and New Zealand, and the results were “shocking” from the disaster recovery point of view. “Thirty-six percent of participants did not have a disaster recovery and data protection solution in place,” says Sice. “We’re keen to activate that.”

He says the number is disappointing but also positive in the sense that it represents growth opportunities for resellers in this space.

Sice adds that Acronis is planning a series of road shows in New Zealand next year to promote Acronis products. “There have been a lot of complex solutions [in the disaster recovery and data protection markets] and people have been scared. For us, simplicity is the key,” says Sice. “It is an exciting time for us, I have never been busier.”