NetApp UK defends slow channel growth
UK channel growth lags behind Iberia, Nordics and Germany
NetApp UK has defended its comparatively slow channel growth in comparison with other countries in EMEA and said it is partly because the UK acts as a guinea pig for strategies across the region.
At its Partner Executive Forum in Warsaw, NetApp's senior vice president for EMEA Manfred Reitner gave the 250 partner delegates a rundown of countries' channel performances in local currency over the past year in his keynote speech.
Iberia was up 21 per cent annually, the Nordics grew 15 per cent year on year and Germany was up six per cent over the same period. In the UK, channel growth stood at just three per cent – the slowest growth of the figures divulged by the storage firm at the event.
Dave Allen, NetApp's general manager for northern EMEA, said the UK often has a tougher time than its European counterparts.
"What we see in the UK particular – it is the launching point for any US company wanting to come to Europe, right?" he said. "We see competition in the UK earlier than any other [NetApp divisions] across EMEA, on average. There's so much going on in Silicon Valley and they hit the UK first. So the UK takes the early phase of competing in Europe, learning and making sure we know how to do that. Then we hand some of that experience over [to European colleagues] and say 'we've kind of got this'."
He also put the slower growth down to a six-week period at the start of its financial year last summer in which he recruited a 10-strong team of channel-focused sales staff – a process which took a little longer than expected.
"When you're trying to on-board 10 new bodies to create a new team, it takes a bit of work," he said. "The hiring process went pretty quickly but the expectation from a time perspective was [out]. That team built great success in the year... and they start this year in place and they are performing well. They're off to a good start.
"The business grew well – the service provider business grew well, the enterprise business grew well, we had a good year with the banks."
Last week, NetApp announced former product man George Kurian as its new chief executive. At the time of his appointment, he claimed "regaining traction in the channel" was a key priority for the firm. He did not attend the Warsaw get-together.
Allen suggested Kurian's use of the word "regain" in his statement referred to the US business, and said in the UK and EMEA, the channel business is stronger than ever.
"When you look at the global business... it is well known that Asia-Pacific and EMEA are far more partner centric than the US domestic has been," Allen said.
"That is a market function to some extent. When you look at that, I think his feedback or his view is around... the US business increasing commitment to expanding the channel business there. I think when you come back to Europe and the UK, we continue to be absolutely committed to partners.
"Our partner programme has been – for many years – considered to be leading. I think we are doing a freshen-up [in EMEA] – I wouldn't say we want to regain traction. I'd say we want to enforce and remind and be absolutely crystal clear that partnering is in our DNA and always has been. There is a bit of geographical perspective around that comment [of Kurian's]."