NEXTGEN - Finding success through military strategy

John Walters - Group CEO, NEXTGEN

With an oversized map of Australia, key markers in place and a coherent plan of attack outlined — John Walters drew up his blueprint for success.

The time was six years ago, echoing a scene played out in many a war movie, with scores of military chiefs crowding around a table to talk tactics.

But while the world of the channel remains a far cry from the world’s front lines and battlefields, value can be found through adopting a military approach to business.

“It’s easier to build something off a clean sheet of paper,” said Walters, speaking as group CEO of NEXTGEN. “But you still require a strong strategy because even though a blank canvas is preferable, at some point you need to start scribbling on it.”

Regarded as the master principle of war, and in drawing on his military background, Walters works off one core objective — the selection and maintenance of the aim.

“You must have a strategy but when the first shot is fired in anger, that plan can crumble around you,” he said. “There is a case for making it up as you go along but if you select the aim and maintain your focus, then you will be successful.

“You see businesses that dodge and weave depending on what is being thrown at them, without maintaining focus on the aim. They will fall for anything that comes along and become distracted by the next best thing.”

In deploying a military approach to operations, Walters is aligning with business 101, establishing a pioneering IT facilitator through a core base of key principles.

Founded in 2011, the business has blossomed into a leading specialist distributor, bringing together established and emerging technologies to provide new levels of value for the channel.

During the past 12 months, NEXTGEN has recruited top personnel to its board of directors, including Frontline Systems Australia founder, Steve Murphy and former Oracle and SAP leader, Tim Ebbeck.

Both offer a wealth of experience and add weight to the theory that NEXTGEN is longer a start-up, rather a company rapidly advancing towards its next phase of growth.

And perhaps, it can no longer be branded a specialist play, in housing two IT powerhouses such as Oracle and SAP.

Signing on SAP

Having forged a reputation as a leading Oracle distributor, the business recently struck a world-first distribution deal with SAP in Australia, designed to fuel the channel’s capacity to grow in the cloud.

Terms of the deal will see the software vendor offer a two-tier channel model whereby NEXTGEN will establish a dedicated cloud channel for the SAP Cloud portfolio in Australia, including SAP Business ByDesign, SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP SuccessFactors.

In addition, the distributor will support existing SAP partners undergoing a transition to the cloud, focusing specifically on the small and mid-size business segments in the first two-tier channel model for the SAP Cloud portfolio globally.

“Bringing on SAP is part of a long-term plan for us and I’m very impressed with how the relationship is progressing,” Walters said.

Having first approached NEXTGEN a few years prior at a regional level, Walters initially rebuffed the approaches of the tech giant, citing immaturity on both sides as the key reasoning for delay.

“We had a very robust conversation and SAP outlined their vision for the channel,” he recalled. “We provided a list of key things that they needed to do to become a successful channel player and SAP went away and worked on them.

“SAP was quite immature in a channel sense at that stage, but so were we in terms of bringing on board another major vendor. We had a lot more work to do on our Oracle relationship at the time and both parties respected that it was a two- way street.”

Fast forward to mid-2016 and the conversation resurfaced, triggered by a matured vendor approach, and a distributor looking to expand further through the cloud.

“We’ve spent a lot of time on our messaging and ensuring we articulate the benefits of the deal to the channel, and it’s started well for us,” Walters added.

Under the model, NEXTGEN will build a dedicated practice for SAP partners, with a responsibility for driving the recruitment of new partners, managing existing relationships, defining and executing partner enablement for the cloud, nurturing leads, providing licence enablement services, and owning demand generation planning and campaigns.

“The market demand for cloud solutions is clear,” Walters added. “But with this transition comes inherent challenges for partners. The opportunity to collaborate with SAP represents a significant opportunity for NEXTGEN to support our channel partners further in their migration to cloud strategies.

“The combination of market demand and the exceptional cloud portfolio SAP brings to the table will enable us to help SAP partners develop new, thriving businesses and provide their customers with outstanding solutions.”

Servicing the channel

Members of the new model will also have access to NEXTGEN Create — NEXTGEN’s specialist digital and marketing agency set up exclusively for the Australian channel ecosystem.

And it’s such services that for Walters, provides a key point of difference for the business, which aims to provide value across the entire lifecycle of an opportunity.

According to Walters, this end- to-end service offering shapes the foundation of the NEXTGEN’s go- to-market methodology — Create, Consult, Connect, Craft and Complete.

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“We must look at the unique services that we bring to the market and assess how that differentiates us from the competition,” Walters said. “Our aim is to create new fishponds to help our vendors and partners go fish in.

“Will that always be in traditional distribution? Not necessarily. At the moment, we are providing digital audits for some of our resellers to help assess their digital footprint.

“We then provide a full assessment on strategy around how they can improve their digital profile, which is another example of how we are differentiating.”

For Walters, such unconventional approaches, coupled with a deep understanding of the changing landscape of the channel, has helped NEXTGEN forge a strong reputation across the industry.

“We are reaching the stage of an outsourced channel model,” he explained. “We’re talking to a few of our key vendors about this and it’s playing out with SAP to a large extent.

“We’re building the model as we go and we’re currently engaging with the partner community to talk about what we can bring to the table. But more importantly, what do our partners require? We want to build this new channel model together and ensure it is driven by partner feedback.”

All in on Oracle

For Walters, listening and acting on feedback remains a crucial part of the channel equation for distributors, forming a critical part of future decision making.

“The key for NEXTGEN right now, and this is something we are really driving hard, is our focus on Oracle,” he said. “It’s really easy to have a shiny new toy in the sandpit that everyone fights over, but we realise that we have to maintain our concentration with key vendors.

“We have doubled down on Oracle and recruited over half a million worth of dollars on talent to specifically service this area of the market.

“Our Oracle business is up 50 per cent year-on-year.”

For Walters, the ability to adapt quickly — while maintaining focus — has helped the business lay the building blocks for future growth.

“Everyone needs to hang onto coat-tails when they start a business,” he acknowledged. “We were lucky enough to have that opportunity with Oracle and in looking back on our six years, it’s clear that there was always going to be a seat at the table for a vendor capable of providing services and values around applications.

“Oracle has helped build the business we have today.”

But while Oracle remains an integral part of NEXTGEN’s strategy, Walters accepted that to succeed in the channel, expansion plans must be drawn up.

Credit: Oracle

Oracle and SAP aside, NEXTGEN’s vendor portfolio spans the best of breed disruptive technologies.

Specifically, the distributor’s marketplace also includes Actifio, Arista, Commvault, Nimble Storage and SolarWinds.

“We can’t be tied to just one vendor,” he said. “While we continue to invest heavily into Oracle, we
have to move outside of the square and expand our reach. We must offer more so our relationship with partners can become more relevant.”

In short, distribution is defined by its ability to be relevant, heightening further as demand for cloud computing increases.

“I’m not comfortable with the word distribution,” Walters said. “We are all judged by the company we keep and I think that the word distribution is still tainted with a certain view.

“A view of traditional deals, big warehouses and a ‘stack em up’ type approach. That was an era of limited services and clipping the ticket on everything. We’ve even dropped distribution from our name.”

In examining the IT horizon, new channels are emerging, triggered by new technologies, partners and product lines built around revamped business models.

“There will always be a role for a distributor in the channel because the vendor cannot service all parts of the market,” Walters said. “Likewise, partners can never build out all of the services and support mechanisms required to fulfil a whole deal.

“But we need to look at creating more revenue streams because if we don’t, we will fall off a cliff.”

Drawing on the words of his former leader and mentor, Walters said NEXTGEN will be defined by its ability to create and maintain momentum in a market forever fluctuating and always volatile.

“If you have the wind in your sails and you have momentum, then if you’re heading towards the rocks you can change course and get back on track,” he explained. “But if you haven’t got momentum, then you will hit the rocks head on.

“The biggest aspect of leadership is creating momentum, because from that, you can manoeuvre yourself towards success.”