VMware focuses on untapped India market with help from Channel

 Manish Alshi
Partner Sales Head - India & SAARC
VMware

Manish Alshi, Partner Sales Head - India & SAARC, VMware shares with VARINDIA the company’s Channel strategy for 2015 and how it looks forward to revitalizing its partners through its innovative approach   

The Indian market is still vastly untapped for VMware and it remains a big opportunity for it. While it continues to see growth across all segments and sectors, the SMB segment will continue to be a key area of focus as well as emerging sectors such as the government & defence segments. It has recently announced an additional 5 percent incentive for solution sales in the commercial, mid-market and SME accounts to help drive its business in this area. “We are putting all our energies behind increasing the awareness and demand for our solutions,” says Manish Alshi - Partner Sales Head - India & SAARC.

He further continues, “We are also aggressively pursuing the virtualization opportunity in the SMB segment and earlier this year created a SMB unit in India to drive our channel-led go-to-market strategy and have added several new features to our partner rebate program. Today, we work with a great set of partners at each level.  We evaluate our partners based on their interest and commitment to the brand as well as their enthusiasm towards working with us.”

However, VMware holds its partners vital for its success – especially since 100% of its business is driven through them in India. Helping its partners grow their business is a priority for VMware and it creates and run many programs to support this.
 For helping them grow, VMware does elaborate on the partner enablement program that helps equip the partners with the necessary technical expertise to help to build their competencies. “We also conduct many business planning meets along with sales and technical training programs. Premier events like Partner Exchange on Tour and the Partner Leadership Summit among others help enable our partners and their teams to build their business with us. As partners deepen their VMware expertise, they benefit more, and so do their customers,” asserts Manish.

VMware specializations enable partners to make better profits by recognizing a partner’s level of expertise in selling VMware solutions into a vertical market segment. These specializations reward partners for the unique value they bring to customers in that market. Specializations are earned through experience in a specific marketplace plus successful completion of VMware training. Specializations give partners access to market-specific pricing, education and market information and help them drive cross-sell and up-sell revenue opportunities in their area of expertise.

A partner’s membership level is determined by their investment in VMware training and sales. Increasing their level of expertise and engagement in the program through VMware training and sales moves a partner into advanced levels of membership. To better support the partner and maximize their business opportunities, VMware offers three Solution Provider Program levels: Professional, Enterprise, and Premier. In addition, VMware offers an entry point, Registered, where a partner can learn more about VMware virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions.

The recently introduced Sales Reward program has been designed to reward accredited sales Professionals within the VMware Solution Provider community. The program offers rewards for sales of eligible VMware products and for taking part in various earning activities. As a member of Sales Rewards participants will accrue points, which can then be redeemed for rewards. VMware has also restructured its incentive model recently that will help its partners drive profits even further. It has also made the entire deal registration process for its partners more transparent and efficient.

“I feel that the advantages partners have are the relationships that have been built and nurtured over years with customers. Technology will continue to evolve, but as long as partners remain focused on cultivating strong customer relationships, they will continue to see success even with any changes in the technology landscape,” shares Manish.

Going forward…
VMware is optimistic and excited about what’s ahead in 2014 as it continues to help its partners and customers benefit from its technologies. Partners in India will continue to play a key role and as they deepen their expertise, they benefit more, and so do customers. “We’re encouraging the partner community to focus on building competencies to differentiate themselves in the market and to remain focused on cultivating strong customer relationships. We will continue to strengthen our relationships with our partners ensure that VMware is one amongst the top five portfolios for every partner we engage with,” sums up Manish.

samrita@varindia.com