VMware fleshes out SMB ambitions
Virtualisation giant sharpens focus on lower end of the market
Virtualisation giant VMware has shed some further light on the role the channel will play in its SMB strategy.
Earlier this week at the firm's European channel conference in Copenhagen, VMware told partners it wants them to pay closer attention to the SMB market, as it seeks to shake off its enterprise-only image.
As part of this, the firm has recently promoted John Churchhouse to the position of EMEA director for SMB. He told ChannelWeb that the firm's SMB strategy has been two years in the making.
Strategies have included ramping up its investment in SMB-focused research and development and acquiring companies with products that can be repurposed for small businesses, he explained.
In addition to this, the company now has 100 staff - based in its Ireland offices - working on identifying SMB sales prospects, which are then passed on to partners to fulfil.
"Up until now, we have not had a structured focus on that segment [SMB], although we have been very successful in that space, but it's been the result of our messaging around our whole proposition for the enterprise that has then moved downwards," he added.
To emphasise this point, Churchhouse said the SMB market accounts for a third of VMware's total business worldwide. But, despite this, there are still a lot of small companies out there that have yet to adopt virtualisation.
"The amount of white space opportunity [in the SMB market] is absolutely enormous," said Churchhouse. "The vast majority, even in the 500 to 1,000 employees range [of companies], still have not virtualised and that is a massive opportunity for us and our channel partners to go after."
Churchhouse said that, while the firm has not ruled out recruiting partners to specifically target the SMB market, this is an opportunity VMware will be pushing its existing partners to make the most of.
"We are working with our distribution partners to drive up the number of transactions and new [SMB] customer acquisitions our existing partners get," he said.
The firm is planning to launch a specific sales incentive next year to encourage partners to pursue SMB customers, but the exact details have not yet been finalised.
"In the early part of next year we will bring out a new account incentive, which is something we have done previously, but the plan is to reintroduce it," added Churchhouse.
In a press conference yesterday, Paul Maritz (pictured), chief executive of VMware, said his firm has the monopoly on virtualisation in the enterprise, and is doing okay in the SMB market too.
"We are very strong in enterprise space [and] I think it is fair to say we have become the standard for virtualisation for enterprises today," said Maritz.
"The majority of our revenue comes from deals of less than $50,000, and we have no intention of just rolling over and surrendering that to anybody, [and] we are making investments in areas that are appropriate for the high-end and smaller customers going forward."