Leveraging observability to deliver more value: The Eviden case study

CRN speaks to French reseller and American vendor about how they are driving innovation and value in the channel

Having worked with observability vendor Dynatrace for decades, Atos-owned cloud computing, big data and cyber specialist Eviden is now looking to use the partnership as a cornerstone of its AI services.

What began as a tool for reducing incidents and minimising downtime has evolved into a comprehensive platform for cloud adoption and transformation.

"We've expanded into more horizontal use cases," Fleck tells CRN.

"We've embedded an enterprise-wide observability platform into our cloud business, giving us multi-cloud observability across all three hyperscalers."

This evolution has allowed Eviden to deliver more value with less friction.

The company is now looking to integrate Dynatrace's AI automation technology into its application management business, promising higher service levels at reduced costs.

Jay Snyder, Dynatrace's SVP of partners and alliances, highlights the synergy between the two companies.

"Eviden brings fantastic skills at the intersection of technology and industry," he notes.

"It can extend our platform into an overall environment and to other third-party ISVs, delivering enhanced business value."

One of the key strengths of this partnership is the ability to contextualise solutions for different industries and personas, the two say.

By combining Dynatrace's powerful observability platform with Eviden's industry expertise, they can create tailored solutions that address specific customer needs across various sectors.

The partnership has also yielded innovative integrations, particularly with ServiceNow. This integration allows for automatic cause analysis in real-time and even preventive analysis using AI.

As Fleck points out: "We can provide an agnostic, untainted view of best practices, which is valuable to customers."

Taking challenges head-on

Both companies are aware of the volatile market conditions currently dragging down customer engagement.

Fleck says: "The main challenges we are facing are around investment in technology, with many tech companies reducing resources. Dynatrace hasn't reduced resources to meet profitability, which bodes well for the future.

"There's also some confusion among customers about newer technologies like AI. Our platform has AI use cases built-in, helping customers experience the value of AI in practical applications."

Snyder also adds: "There's a lot of confusion in the market about what's real and what isn't, particularly with AI and security solutions. This leads to longer sales cycles as customers need more time to evaluate solutions and get all stakeholders on board with the value of an integrated platform.

He says the Dynatrace-Eviden partnership addresses this by offering practical, built-in AI use cases.

The collaboration is set to deepen further, with plans to involve hyperscalers like AWS in tri-party go-to-market strategies.

This approach aims to de-risk and accelerate on-premise to public cloud transformations.

Changes to Dynatrace's partner programme

Dynatrace is also evolving its partner programme to focus more on service delivery capabilities rather than just target origination.

"We're building a robust enablement engine to keep our partners one step ahead of our customers," Snyder explains.

This shift in focus aims to create a virtuous circle where partners can build sustainable practices around Dynatrace's technology.

Fleck adds: "We look for a balanced partnership that's valuable to both sides. We offer access to a large set of customers across various verticals.

"In return, we expect: Continued R&D investment in the platform to allow us to adopt additional functionality and differentiate ourselves, trust between the vendor and partner when approaching customers and opportunities that the technology partner can bring to the GSI."

For Eviden, the decision to standardise on Dynatrace across their group has been transformative.

"It gives us the breadth to really differentiate ourselves in the services we sell to customers," Fleck says.

He also praises the cultural alignment between the two companies, describing Dynatrace as feeling like "an extended part of our family."

Looking to the future, both companies are optimistic about the potential of their partnership. Dynatrace is aiming for a partner-first culture, recognising that its next stages of growth will come through its ecosystem.

Eviden, meanwhile, continues to leverage Dynatrace's technology leadership to stay competitive in the market.