Jan 31, 2023

Reseller News HPE honours exceptional Kiwi ecosystem 18 awards handed out over three celebration evenings. Credit: Reseller News Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has honoured the top-performing partners and distributors in New Zealand in a series of partner celebration evenings across Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Spanning both HPE and Aruba product portfolios, the ecosystem was acknowledged in recognition of market excellence across the country, including an Aruba Technical MVP and HPE Technical MVP award being given out in each location. “Collaboration and community are key components of success in the ever-evolving IT landscape. Our partners play a crucial role in driving innovation and growth, and we extend our sincerest gratitude for their tireless efforts,” said Craig Murphy, general manager of channels at HPE. “Congratulations to the winners for their outstanding achievements and we look forward to continued collaboration in the years to come.” At SO/ Auckland, Datacom took home the Overall Partner of the Year honours in addition to the Hybrid Partner award, while Hybrid IT Sales MVP went to Datacom’s Chris Chester. Lexel scooped Aruba partner of the Year and ASI Solutions was acknowledged as top Growth Partner. Dicker Data was handed Distribution Partner of the Year alongside the GreenLake Partner award, while Dicker Data’s Milan Mataic was awarded HPE Technical MVP - Auckland. Further individual awards were handed to Lexel’s Justine Randall, who took home the Marketing MVP award, and Chris Denham of Finao as Aruba Technical MVP – Auckland. At Christchurch’s Mr Brightside Rooftop Bar, Cello scooped the Aruba MSP award, while Jeff Maslen of Ingram Micro was honoured as HPE Technical MVP - Christchurch and Mike Lee of Cello won the Aruba Technical MVP – Christchurch award. Finally, at Wellington’s Saint John Bar and Eatery, Spark scooped three individual awards with Aruba Sales MVP handed to Chris Henderson, Steve Platt honoured as HPE Technical MVP - Wellington, and John Caston awarded the Aruba Technical MVP – Wellington title. These awards mark a significant jump in the number of honourees, with 16 awards handed out up from 11 in 2022. Such strong recognition of HPE’s channel reflects continued growth in the local IT sector, despite the effects of challenging economic environments being felt elsewhere in the world, and sets HPE up to capitalise on continued market growth. Gartner forecasts IT spending in New Zealand to grow 6 per cent in 2023 to reach $17.6 billion, up slightly on the global growth forecast of 5.1 per cent. Of note for the channel, Gartner also forecasts a 10.4 per cent growth in IT services as organisations increase spending on digital projects. “Enterprise IT spending is recession-proof as CEOs and CFOs, rather than cutting IT budgets, are increasing spending on digital business initiatives,” Gartner research vice president John-David Lovelock said. In a downward economy, a traditional solution would be to cut costs, including IT costs. However, a July 2022 Gartner survey of more than 200 CFOs found that 69 per cent plan to increase their spend on digital technologies. Companies will use digital technologies to “reshape” their revenue streams, Lovelock said. “This trend has fed the shift from buying technology to building, composing and assembling technology to meet specific business drivers. This shift is foundational to the growth of cloud over on-premises for new IT spending,” he continued. HPE New Zealand award winners: Aruba Partner of the Year: Lexel Hybrid Partner of the Year: Datacom Overall Partner of the Year: Datacom Distribution Partner of the Year: Dicker Data Growth Partner of the Year: ASI Solutions Aruba MSP of the Year: Cello GreenLake Partner of the Year: Dicker Data Hybrid IT Sales MVP: Chris Chester, Datacom Aruba Sales MVP: Chris Henderson, Spark Marketing MVP: Justine Randall, Lexel HPE Technical MVP - Auckland: Milan Mataic, Dicker Data HPE Technical MVP - Wellington: Steve Platt, Spark HPE Technical MVP - Christchurch: Jeff Maslen, Ingram Micro Aruba Technical MVP - Auckland: Chris Denham, Finao Aruba Technical MVP - Wellington: John Caston, Spark Aruba Technical MVP - Christchurch: Mike Lee, Cello