Schneider Electric on empowering partners in tackling new market opportunities with Dicker Data

APC by Schneider Electric has made a few strategic investments this year and is finding creative ways to get the local IT ecosystem involved in capitalising on the latest technology trends. 

Schneider Electric has been investing in ongoing research and development of reference designs with NVIDIA and joint research with Tech Research Asia.  

As a result of the findings, APC by Schneider Electric is offering channel industry insights in the form of a dedicated Edge AI sales playbook, empowering partners to seize early opportunities through strategic engagement and targeted questioning techniques. 

“We believe technology can bridge the gap between progress and sustainability. As customers increasingly rely more on technology within their business, the need for built-in resiliency is growing,” Schneider Electric general manager of alliances, channel and operations, Astrid Groves said. 

“Schneider Electric is committed to enhancing user experiences, simplifying lives, and building resilient IT operations. The power demand to support such resilient environments is growing, and customers are actively prioritising sustainability.  

“We want to empower our partners with the tools and knowledge to support sustainable design practices when deploying highly resilient IT environments.” 

For instance, the EcoStruxure IT platform allows customers to make the most of their IT assets through predictive maintenance minimising downtime and maximising lifecycle. 

Groves said the team has also been working hard to revitalise the mySchneider IT Solution Provider program with elevated rebates, marketing funds, and an enhanced performance bonus structure to expand profitability for partners as well as providing access to lifecycle management programmes like Trade UPS. 

As a Diamond sponsor Dicker Data’s Tech X this year, Groves said its ongoing sponsorship demonstrates its commitment to empowering the Australian and New Zealand IT channels with robust and integrated IT infrastructure solutions. 

Dicker Data and APC have maintained a partnership for more than 35 years.  

“APC delivers reliable Edge solutions that meet the evolving market needs, and we are eager to build upon and form new partnerships that will continue to further elevate the industry,” Groves said. 

“Our recent collaboration with NVIDIA, for instance, saw the creation of cutting-edge data centre reference designs tailored for its accelerated computing clusters, our partnership with Dicker Data will be key in accelerating this message, and TechX is a fantastic platform to discuss these game-changing initiatives.” 

Groves said the demand for AI – whether inference or actual work-loads – was growing and partners want to understand how they can support their customers through this major technological revolution. 

Recent research commissioned by Schneider Electric shows that CIOs prioritise migrating AI workload models to owned data centres and edge facilities for cost, security, and modern infrastructure.  

“Customers are looking beyond cloud platforms, with a need to manage their entire hybrid environments for effective AI implementation, combining data centres and edge resources,” Groves said.  

“Our goal at TechX is to support and equip partners with the confidence and insights needed to engage in meaningful discussions with customers of all sizes, aligning with their AI investment priorities. ” 

Groves pointed to the recent collaboration with NVIDIA that has witnessed the creation of cutting-edge data centre reference designs tailored for accelerated computing clusters. 

“Our partnership with Dicker Data will be key in accelerating this message, and TechX is a fantastic platform to discuss these game-changing initiatives,” she said.  

“As we are adapting to the evolving needs of our partners, we have seen the ecosystem rely on their in-house design capabilities and installation services to deliver turnkey solutions to customers.  

“Our customer-first approach has been pivotal to our joint success in driving innovation and transformative solutions across all industries in the Australian and New Zealand business landscape.” 

Partners play a crucial role in guiding customers to recognise the security and resilience needs of Edge AI, Groves added.  

With regulatory compliance requirements looming, as well as growing energy consumption of new Edge AI deployments and associated IT environments, partners need to foster consultive partnerships to support their customers in this transformation, she said.  

Looking ahead, global research indicates a projected 50 per cent shift of AI workloads to the Edge by 2028 to address latency requirements, managing costs, secure data needs, and modern infrastructure demands.  

“This is why our primary focus revolves around raising awareness and educating our partners on the growing opportunity of Edge Infrastructure in AI workloads along with the responsibility to design energy-efficient and sustainable hybrid environments,” she said.  

“This calls for our channel partners to evolve into strategic advisors, moving beyond transactional relationships, and utilising mechanisms of design thinking, implementation, and sustainable maintenance.” 

APC focuses on sustainable IT infrastructure deployment, covering design, monitoring, maintenance, and end-of-life management.  

Amid rising energy consumption and digital transformation, APC also provides access to trade-off tools allowing partners to calculate energy savings, total cost of ownership, and other crucial elements needed to make more informed decisions.  

“Our EcoStruxure IT Expert also offers visibility and predictive maintenance insights, while the Trade UPS program helps partners modernise infrastructure for end users, disposing of old units ethically and sustainably, “she said. “For 40 years the APC brand has been known in the IT industry for its legendary reliability and Schneider Electric’s commitment to bring solutions that help customers create resilient IT environments stands to this day.”