Commvault Boosts Channel Services for Large Enterprise Customers

Data management vendor Commvault is expanding its channel efforts to the largest enterprises around the world by creating a new channel initiative that provides deeper and more specialized services and support for existing and potential new enterprise customers.

The company is creating an all-new global enterprise program that is part of its existing channel partner program, but it will be a more focused, dedicated team that serves the largest enterprise customers through a specialized sales force, Riccardo Di Blasio, chief revenue officer of Commvault, told Channel Futures.

Commvault’s Riccardo Di Blasio

“It’s completely new,” he said. “It’s an investment. We are doing this investment to put the company into even more of an attack mode” in the marketplace.

The global enterprise efforts will open a new and higher level of partnership with the world’s largest global system integrators, such as Wipro, Accenture, Deloitte and DXC Technology, said Di Blasio.

“We are going to help existing enterprise customers by providing more services,” he added, through master global agreements and master service agreements that will better serve data center needs around the world.

“It is an elite type of diamond segment, with additional benefits and more support and attention,” said Di Blasio. “What our partners want from us is sales leads. How can I provide more leads? By having more feet on the street.”

Historically, about 76% of Commvault’s revenue already comes from Fortune 500 larger enterprises.

“We are able to solve a lot of complexities that companies have,” he said. “We want to double down on that and ride the wave of the momentum to become even more strategic.”

The new enterprise program won’t be offered directly to large enterprises, but will continue to be offered, like all its services, through its network of channel partners, said Di Blasio.

“This is involving a GSI in between, maybe a distributor or it could also be a VAR, but it won’t be direct,” he said.

To head the new program, the company also named Anthony Faustini as its new vice president of global accounts for the program. Faustini joined the company as vice president of sales for the Americas in February from Cisco, where he worked as a global sales leader responsible for data center networking and more. He previously ran several early-stage incubation sales teams within Cisco as well.

Di Blasio said he asked Faustini to take the new role to step in and work with customers and prospects to help the company bringing additional value to its large enterprise accounts.

“Anthony will drive this,” said Di Blasio. “We are expecting a huge contribution over the next three years from this initiative to better serve our big clients around the world.”

A new hire, David Boyle, will now take Faustini’s former role as Commvault’s vice president of sales for the Americas. Boyle previously worked for Dell EMC where he has 31 years of experience in helping to grow Dell EMC’s commercial business.

Enderle Group’s Rob Enderle

Rob Enderle, principal analyst with Enderle Group, told Channel Futures that Commvault’s plan to bolster its services for its largest customers looks solid, but that it’s difficult to assess the program completely without many more details of the effort.

“However, this is something Commvault needed to do, and it does showcase that the executive staff is resourcing fixing critical problems the company appears to have,” said Enderle.

In September, Commvault acquired software defined storage (SDS) provider Hedvig in a move Commvault said will position it to drive improved and more innovative data management products for customers and channel partners. The $225 million acquisition aims to give Commvault, which sells software to manage data across cloud and on-premises environments, more insights and capabilities in the marketplace.