New VMware channel boss calls on partners to see past compute virtualisation
Alanzo Blackstock urges partners to push harder with VMware's newer technology and not settle for traditional business
VMware's new UK channel boss has called on partners to move more quickly into VMware's new product set and offer a range of the portfolio beyond its traditional compute virtualisation heritage.
Alanzo Blackstock joined VMware at the start of the year from Cisco and has set the target of speeding up partner transition from VMware's old business and into what it dubs phase two.
"As a business we need to scale and we need to scale faster. In the market we're still known as the leader in compute virtualisation but we need to do much, much more to get the new strategy and the new portfolio out to our customers. We can only do that through our partners," he said.
"What we see in our partner landscape is a bit of legacy in terms of partners that have been used to selling our legacy products and we're trying to get them to start to adapt their business.
"We are starting to see the change, but I think from a channel perspective we probably need to be a bit more aggressive in terms of getting the right mix of partners to align to our strategy."
To usher partners along in this process, VMware is introducing more attractive incentives to partners selling newer products, as it looks to increase awareness of its other virtualisation solutions in areas such as networking and storage.
Alongside this, VMware is seeking partners with proven cloud capabilities, as its partnership with Amazon Web Services moves closer to launching. A UK launch is pencilled in for early next year, Blackstock said.
To do this, Blackstock wants VMware to improve the contact it has with partners further down its pecking order, in the hope of uncovering hidden talent that can rapidly build business in these new areas.
He is also seeking AWS partners that are not yet working with VMware, ahead of the collaboration, and is looking to tap into the Dell Technologies partner base.
"We need to do more to get the new strategy and portfolio and we can only do that with our partners," he said.
"The biggest challenge for me is reaching and touching more partners.
"Currently our model is two tier with distribution and partners, but we need to find a better way of working with distribution and our own resources to touch more partners than we currently do.
"That's the biggest challenge that I have at the moment because my business isn't saying 'here's another 10 people'. I have to find a way of doing that with the resources I have."