VMware to end channel conflict with services plan

VMware launches new Professional Services Programme for the channel

VMware has unveiled a new professional services partner programme which it insists will end channel conflict with its own services unit.

At its Partner Exchange (PEX) event in San Francisco, the virtualisation firm said the new Professional Services Programme pilot - which will kick off in the first half of 2015 - was something partners had been desperate for over recent quarters. The news prompted whooping and applause from many of the 4,000 partners gathered at the event when the announcement was made.

At VMworld in 2013, VMware insisted the launch of its vCloud Hybrid Service would not tread on partners' toes, despite admitting it had raised a few eyebrows among partners initially.

As part of the new scheme, accredited services partners will access benefits such as free services training which is "extremely intensive" and otherwise very expensive, as well as "deep discounts" on services tech as well as access to more services IP.

Last year, VMware introduced three per cent rebates on ELAs after partners campaigned for a better deal around the licences. On the PEX stage, VMware's chief operating officer Carl Eschenbach said this had gone down a storm in the channel, but that the services issues remained a problem.

"There is still another area of conflict we see in the partner community," he said. "[We have] solved the ELA one and we are on the right path, but there is always the question of ‘are we going to compete with our partners on services?'"

Colleen Kapase, VMware's vice president for partner go-to-market experience, said the company has worked closely with its own Professional Services Organisation (PSO) to ensure the new programme pleased everyone.

"[The new programme] has mostly come from partner feedback," she said. "There was a bit of confusion from partners just not having a way to programmatically engage with VMware - we didn't have a single brand out to our customers to say which partner is capable of providing services around a solution. This programme - at Professional, Enterprise and Premier level - gives us the ability to brand and say ‘this partner can do services and we endorse them'.

"It is to get more clarity on when do we lead with our VMware PSO and when do we lead with partners. PSO has been on the team creating this - having them endorse and agree to the brand was step one. Getting the PSO to participate in the creation was huge. It will help us create more trust between the PSO and partner organisations."