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If there’s one thing that vendors, distributors and resellers can all agree on – spoiler: there are obviously more things they can agree on – it’s that “people buy from people”. Clearly, if they didn’t, there wouldn’t be a channel model. “It’s an adage that ‘people buy from people’, and this translates simply to ‘trust’ being the deciding factor,” says Kevin Bland, head of partners and alliances at Red Hat. “Trust is born of doing what you say you are going to do and being consistent. It’s a simple formula, but a vital one.” Johan Pellicaan, vice-president and managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Scale Computing, makes a similar point. “People buy from people, and the Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t changed that. Of course, the product or solution plays an important part, but in the end, the personal relationships with sales and pre-sales departments, and any other people in the organisation, are what build the platform for success.” Why is there such a strong emphasis on the personal? Perhaps because it ...