Microsoft has named VIP as its OEM distributor after taking away the role in an RFP process around seven years ago.
Managing director Rich Marsden said his outfit had spent four years rebuilding its direct relationship with Microsoft and had now regained its official status.
He said that Microsoft spent a lot of time evaluating what we can do for them.
“They don’t need us to sell copies of software – they’ll do that with or without us – but they wanted a partner that could focus on the OEM space, which is where we are. We cranked up the pressure from a transactional perspective and would buy from an authorised distie, but it was quite difficult to grow that without being fully authorised, so it became clear that we could have success but if we weren’t growing towards a full contract, that success would be limited”, said Marsden
VIP has been added to Vole’s four incumbent OEM distributors: Ingram Micro, Westcoast, Tech Data and Exertis.
Microsoft sales director Anjana Srinivasan said: “We’re very pleased to welcome VIP UK to our network of Microsoft Authorised Distribution partners here in the UK. The team at VIP UK has a wealth of expertise and experience in serving the system builder channel, and we believe the addition of Windows will complement their existing portfolio and enable mutual growth for both parties.
