VMware woos partners with SMB rewards

Vendor slashes deal size at which GoPro rebates become available as it chases "huge white space" of SMB market

VMware has announced its quest to engage with the "huge white space" of the SMB market by adding additional incentives to its partner programme.

On top of the GoPro updates which it announced at VMworld US in August – which brought in an additional 10 per cent rebate on sales SMB resellers make to new customers – the virtualisation giant has lowered the deal size threshold from $10,000 (£6,250) to $6,000 so that partners will find it easier to enjoy the GoPro rebate reward.

The vendor also claims to have clarified the definition of "new customer" to its partners, which it conceded had been a source of criticism.

John Churchhouse, EMEA director for SMB, said the firm's SMB arm has come a long way in just two years by "repurposing" its direct sales staff into a channel-friendly team focusing on partner engagement.

"Partners and customers perceive VMware as an enterprise software solution, and part of that is down to our own communication, and it is absolutely true, we do have a high penetration into these companies. But the size of our SMB business is comparable to the enterprise business we have," he added.

VMware defines the term SMB as a company with up to 1,000 users, but claims that two thirds of its base have fewer than 100 users.

Jurgen Kuhlewein, senior director of VMware's EMEA channel and SMB, said: "We want to reach more of the SMB market, and we want to be able to honour our partners to go after SMB customers. This deal size is very well aligned with our product line. We want them to pass the threshold and get additional discounts with both new and existing customers."