7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at VMware, Juniper Networks, Google Cloud, More
A new survey shows 50% of responding businesses are planning layoffs in the coming months.
August 26, 2022
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Juniper Networks has upgraded its AIOps platform with network-as-a-service enhancements that executives say represent a growing investment in channel partners as part of a “service-based channel.”
Gordon Mackintosh, group vice president of global channels and virtual sales, made waves for his synopsis of the movement the partner community is making, away from focusing on pre-sale and break-fix services to automated managed services.
“We’re seeing partners starting to invest in DevOps teams to really tinker and optimize that customer experience. And from a partner perspective, there’s way more profitability in that. And there’s way more customer satisfaction, because ultimately, they can really fine tune the network and the experience to exactly what the customer is trying to achieve.”
He said an AI-driven, multitenant managed service platform can help partners provide the value customers want.
To learn more about Juniper Networks’ channel growth, read James Anderson’s article here.
Thoma Bravo is pursuing an acquisition of Darktrace, which could take the company private after going public in spring 2021.
Darktrace confirmed the acquisition talks with Thoma Bravo in a filing with the London Stock Exchange. The company is based in the United Kingdom.
Darktrace said it’s in the early stages of discussions with Thoma Bravo. That’s regarding a possible cash offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of the company.
Rik Turner is principal analyst at Omdia. He made waves this week for his analysis of the backstory behind Darktrace’s journey to potential acquisition.
“Darktrace has had its ups and downs since its IPO, enduring a very torrid few weeks a month or two after that,” he said. “I haven’t followed its stock to see how it’s doing now, but the bigger story seems to me to be that Darktrace was out ahead of the pack with the AI/ML-based approach to network security that came to be known as NDR, but that the market has rather caught up to them. There are several other names in that segment, including the likes of Vectra. But perhaps even more significant has been the growth of extended detection and response (XDR), which encompasses NDR, but adds telemetry from the endpoint, cloud and other areas such as email and identity stores for an enterprise-wide view of threats. Thus, a dedicated NDR product may not be quite so attractive.”
Read about other Thoma Bravo M&A in Edward Gately’s article.
Google Cloud says it is “pushing harder than ever” to support its partner ecosystem. Plans include bringing its partners and channel sales team together into one organization. It also aims to almost double its spend on partners in the coming years.
This partner-first strategy is helping to differentiate the cloud provider from its competitors, says its UK&I channel leader. Simon Aldous says the Google Cloud partner ecosystem “and the industry-specific expertise and solutions it provides [are] integral to our growth strategy.”
Aldous made waves just for his enthusiasm.
“Partners are choosing Google Cloud to drive the next stage of their business because we are choosing to prioritize them,” he said.
To discover more about the partner program, check out Christine Horton’s article here.
A new PwC survey shows 50% of responding businesses are planning layoffs in the coming months, including technology, media and telecom companies.
Executives now see the distinction between merely having people, and having people with the right skills. Therefore, one-half of all respondents are reducing their overall headcount. Furthermore, 46% are dropping or reducing signing bonuses, and 44% are rescinding offers.
Bhushan Sethi is PwC‘s joint global leader of people and organization. His research made waves for showing that business leaders are prioritizing changing their “workforce mix by ensuring they have the specialized talent needed to grow, while also managing labor costs due to the current inflation rate.”
Sethi added that “companies need to find ways to battle rising labor costs. And we are seeing companies take a number of different approaches to this with one of them being layoffs.”
Read about the risks executives have on their radar.
New SonicWall CEO Bob VanKirk made waves for his claims that partners will play a massive role in the company’s next chapter. This comes nearly six years after it divested from Dell Technologies.
After SonicWall divested from Dell, it relaunched the SonicWall brand and rebuilt its partner ecosystem. It also added key virtual and cloud capabilities, released its Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection (RTDMI) technology, and delivered its full suite of Gen 7 product and management solutions.
“We’re 100% channel-driven and have been for over 30 years. Channels and partners are in our DNA. And with 17,000 partners, they are a force multiplier,” VanKirk said. “Credit where credit’s due: We’ve seen incredible growth over the last couple of years because of our partners. But it’s more than that. It’s also aligning with them around the core capabilities that they can then take to market and offer to customers.”
Check out the remainder of Edward Gately’s interview with VanKirk.
After two years of phased changes, VMware has put the final touches on the new iteration of Partner Connect. On Thursday, the company gave the revamped global channel program its official kickoff — all with cloud and SaaS in mind, and even as the pending Broadcom deal looms.
Tracy-Ann Palmer, who serves as vice president of partner experience, programs and investments at VMware, made waves for helping develop the new Partner Connect program. The program measures partner performance beyond bookings. When the initiative fully launches, partners will earn money for pre- and post-sales activity, as well as sum-total life cycle interaction with the customer, by business model type: solution reseller, cloud services provider, solution services provider or solution builder.
Read Kelly Teal’s piece to discover how partners may build their own offering through specialization.
Frontier Communications workers in California ended their brief strike this week, protesting the company’s reported continued subcontracting of work.
The Frontier workers are members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). They said the subcontracting is in violation of the collective bargaining agreement between CWA and Frontier.
Frank Arce is CWA District 9 vice president.
It’s an understatement to say he made waves this week. It’s more like a tsunami.
“Our members are fed up,” Arce said. “We will no longer allow Frontier to line the pockets of its executives and jeopardize our members’ livelihood by hiring cheaper and inexperienced contractors who provide inferior service. We are simply asking for Frontier to respect the agreed upon protections included in our contract and we are prepared to stay out on the picket line until our demands are met.”
Go here to see Frontier’s response.
Frontier Communications workers in California ended their brief strike this week, protesting the company’s reported continued subcontracting of work.
The Frontier workers are members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). They said the subcontracting is in violation of the collective bargaining agreement between CWA and Frontier.
Frank Arce is CWA District 9 vice president.
It’s an understatement to say he made waves this week. It’s more like a tsunami.
“Our members are fed up,” Arce said. “We will no longer allow Frontier to line the pockets of its executives and jeopardize our members’ livelihood by hiring cheaper and inexperienced contractors who provide inferior service. We are simply asking for Frontier to respect the agreed upon protections included in our contract and we are prepared to stay out on the picket line until our demands are met.”
Go here to see Frontier’s response.
Channel people at PwC, VMware, Juniper Networks, Google Cloud and more are among the individuals making waves this week. Channel Futures’ Channel People Making Waves showcases those who have made an impact over the last seven days. (See our slideshow above.)
DevOps is the name of the game for some partners who are starting to invest in the technology. And Juniper Networks is responding. Partners are beginning to “really tinker and optimize that customer experience,” according to one expert from the company that we’ve featured in this edition.
When it comes to acquisitions, it would be rare if there weren’t one to cover. Thoma Bravo is pursuing a deal with Darktrace, although the company is still in early stages of discussions. Learn more about what analysts are saying about that deal.
Finally, Google Cloud wants to support its partners more than they ever have. See how the cloud provider is differentiating itself from competitors.
And, if you didn’t catch our previous edition, you can find it here.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Claudia Adrien or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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