‘The channel is our DNA’: Veeam channel and alliances director UKI
Alex Walsh discusses how the American vendor intends to make a splash in the UK channel
Seattle-based vendor Veeam intends to double down on its focus on the UK in 2025, after being spotlighted by Gartner last year.
To that end, it will strive to boost its activities with partners, as “once you’re on top, it’s even harder to stay there,” Alex Walsh, channel and alliances director UKI, tells CRN.
“Veeam is and has always been a 100 per cent channel company.
“That’s our DNA.”
In 2024, Veeam was ranked number one in market share in the enterprise backup and recovery software market by analyst house Gartner, an achievement it is using to propel it into the next phase of growth.
The data protection vendor plans to increase its attention on partners that invest back into its solutions.
“To do so, as we continue to expand our portfolio – whether that’s adding support for more workloads, launching new services like Coveware or the Veeam Data Cloud - we want to be working with partners that are taking that message and solution to market and doubling down into their customers with us.
“Veeam has been a rocket ship for a number of years, and we were the first to be allowed to call ourselves number one at the end of last year, which was a great testament to the work that's been going on globally.
“Now it’s about defending that position, by continuing to work closely with those strategic partners who want to grow with us.
“Are we trying to be everything to everyone? No. I don’t think anyone does good business that way.
“But if we have strong, respectful partnership, then we’ve got a great business, and that’s why I’ve enjoyed being at Veeam for so long.”
Blue whale tail of UK partners
When it comes to partners, Veeam counts many among its ranks.
In the UK, it has 1,100 transacting partners per quarter, some of which do one-offs or renewal business.
“All of those businesses are important,” says Walsh.
While boasting of a long tail of partners, the channel and alliances director UKI explains that the company aligns with those who share the same strategic goals, such as driving back up as a service (BaaS) and enterprise growth.
“That's a key consideration for me and for the business going into 2025 but also looking out into 2026 and beyond.”
Veeam distributes its solutions in the UK through Arrow and TD SYNNEX.
Some of its partnering resellers include Kyndryl, Wavenet, Node4, Vohkus, NTT UK, and OVHcloud.
The channel and alliances director refuses to name the vendor’s most important UK partner.
“That’d be like picking your favourite child!,” he tells CRN.
“The partners we’ve seen real growth with in 2024 are the ones who don’t look at Veaam as just a point product, but instead use it as a solution sell, as a platform that enables services.
“2024 was a record-breaking year for us in the UK.
“The partners that leaned in and built out those service offering, those are the ones who had exceptional growth with us.”
The company also works with around 700 MSPs across the country, such as Quadris, Next2IT, and Krome Technologies.
These companies are grouped under the Veeam Cloud and Service Provider (VCSP) programme, which comprises eight go-to-market models, including a managed services one.
The VCSP track aims to enable service providers to offer scalable, pay-as-you-go data portection, backup, and disaster recovery services.
“[MSPs] often act as trusted advisors to their end customers, particularly in the SMB and midmarkets segments build on top of the Veeam platform.”
The UK, a ‘key market’
Walsh describes the UK as being a key market for Veeam, where the firm has made a lot of investment.
The vendor has increased the headcount in the country by ten per cent over 2024.
“I like a bit of new blood in the business; it brings fresh thinking,” he says.
“I had four people join my channel team last year, and they’ve brought in some really strong ideas.”
This surge comes from new hires in end-user sales, and in other areas like Veeam Data Cloud Vault.
The vendor now counts around 70 people working in the UK.
A wider team comprising 40 to 50 people scattered across Armenia, Bucharest, and Turkey, bring the total number of people supporting the UK from 110 to 120.
From a channel perspective, about 27 employees work across sales, marketing, pre-sales, and management.
In January, the company onboarded Drew Gardner as regional VP UKI, to prioritise how the firm works with its partners, how it engages with its alliances, and how it supports its customers.
“We’ve already been successful in SMB, mid-market, upper commercial, and public sector, but our biggest growth opportunity lies in the enterprise space.
“Drew brings a new lens to how we prioritise our alliances, partners, and, most importantly, our customers.
“In just three months, he’s already had a strong positive impact. Always a good sign when you feel aligned with your new boss.”
To acquire or to be acquired
While Walsh couldn’t discuss any future buyouts, he explains that the vendor has, in the past, been complementary to Veeam, not just to its portfolio but to how they are positioned in the market.
He mentions the acquisition of Cirrus Backup in 2023, which later became Veeam Data Cloud, one of its “fastest-growing products.”
In April 2024, Veeam purchased cyber-extortion incident response provider Coveware to improve ITS existing ransomware protection and recovery capabilities.
“Coveware is one of the most exciting things we’ve done,” he tells CRN.
“They specialise in ransomware incident response, but it’s not just the software, it’s the people behind it that make it really powerful.
“They assess the extent of attacks, help guide recovery, and even negotiate with threat actors.
“They’ve worked with these threat actors for years and so they know who’s who, which actors return the data when paid, which ones say they have it when they don’t, and who might actually delete the data afterwards.
“Of course, they’re criminals, so you never know, but the Coveware team has enough historical knowledge to make informed recommendations.
“Given that 75 per cent of organisations experienced a cyberattack in the past year, 25 per cent were hit four times or more, and that 96 per cent of those attacks target data, having the right backup technology isn’t enough anymore.
“You need the right incident response plan.
“After recovery, Coveware also helps organisations prepare for the next time, through training, post-incident analysis, and improving security posture.
“It’s probably one of the most relevant, useful, and genuinely interesting things I’ve seen added to our offering in the last few years.”
Veeam itself was bought out for $5bn ($6.2bn, adjusted for inflation) in 2020 by Insight Partners.
In December 2024, Insight sold a $2bn stake in Veeam to TPG, Temasek, and Neuberger Berman Capital Solutions, valuing it at $15bn (£11.3bn).
A unified partner programme
Walsh adds that Veeam has made some “pretty significant” changes to its partner track in the UK at the start of 2024, to align with its programme globally.
“At one point, we had 15 different programmes. It was getting a bit crazy.”
With the unification, the company has introduced a minimum threshold for margin attainment through deal registration, even on non-standard quotes.
“We doubled down on profitability in 2024, and that’s continuing in 2025.
“2024 was a very strong year for the UK business, and a big part of that was the fact that partners could make more money with Veeam.
“We’ve also continued with some very successful incentives, like double deal registration, which meant partners were getting up to 20 per cent discount just from deal reg alone.
“That ran for several quarters last year, and it’s still in place for this one.
“Veeam has made a conscious decision to ensure partner profitability stays high, because the channel is how we got here.”
What’s coming: Profit, priorities, and AI
Looking ahead, Walsh explains that Veeam is always ambitious, and that he is feeling bullish about where the company is right now.
He identifies the expansion of the platform over the last 12 months, as well as the new products releases it has got lined up for this year, as giving the company a real edge.
“We’re already number one in the UK, but we want to create more distance between us and the next player in the market.
“With new offerings like Veeam Data Cloud and the additional workloads we’ll be supporting soon, not to mention new services like Data Cloud Vault, we’re coming into the year with a whole new set of solutions to take to market.”
He also points out that leading with a BaaS-first, growing into the number one spot in the enterprise space, and leveraging new tools, including AI ones, are the main priorities for the company globally over 2025.
Walsh explains that the vendor is already working with many Fortune 500 companies across the world.
“As customers move toward hybrid cloud strategies, and as the Broadcom VMware situation plays out, people are reassessing what their infrastructure and data strategies should look like.
“The IT landscape is getting more complex, but with that comes a huge amount of opportunity.
“Our role is to make sure we’re providing the right layer of data resiliency.”