Equinix EMEA channel boss on restricting datacentre access amid COVID-19 crisis
European channel boss on how datacentre specialist had to implement stringent measures as there was no 'decrease in footfall' at buildings
Equinix had to restrict access to its datacentres as it was not seeing a decrease in footfall to the buildings, according to its European senior director of channel sales in Oren Yehudai.
The datacentre specialist recently closed its datacentres in Italy, Spain, Germany and France to all but essential workers, and it has implemented appointment-only access to customers and partners in its other facilities around the world.
Speaking with CRN, Yehudai said that the move was in guidance with those respective countries, as well as to put people off from visiting the datacentres in efforts to prevent the spread of the contagion as it wasn't seeing a reduction in visits from customers and partners.
He added that there are caveats around access for certain workloads and that restriction of access to the sites is an issue, as many potential customers value the tour of the buildings, but that it is developing new ways for partners to access the facilities without having to do it in-person.
"A big part of the selling process is the datacentre tour," he explained.
"It might sound silly because you can say it is just a building, but customers are putting critical infrastructure there, and so coming and seeing our datacentre and understanding how it operates and the technologies we've put in to ensure that it's the greenest datacentre possible is a really critical part for them.
"In these situations, we already have a few ways to deliver virtual datacentre tours, we have our [remote management] Smart Hands capability to do things in the datacentre that often partners will utilise, but they will also use their own people.
"We're now finding ways to give them these services in a way that enables them to continue to deliver the same quality to their customers, but also taking into account that we are trying to reduce the financial load on them. We're not looking at this as an upselling opportunity, but rather what can we do to enable our partners to continue delivering on the needs of their customers."
Equinix has also revealed that it has almost reached its three-year goal to have 30 per cent of new business coming indirectly, which Yehudai said is testament to the firm's "DNA shift" towards growing its channel "significantly".
"The business model that is built for the channel - which includes the revenue target and the underlying investment - is based on a five-year plan, and it's already changed twice since I joined [over two years ago] because we continue to exceed expectations," he stated.
"I'm not at liberty to share a formal number on where we want to be, but it is significantly higher than where we are now; so that there's continued investment not only in growing the channel team but also in systems, tools and product to help our partners be more self-sufficient, to be better aligned with the opportunities that they see in the market and to grow their impact on Equinix."