VMware, Rackspace, Pax8, Dell on Cloud Trends Impacting Channel
Find out what the vendors had to say at the latest Channel Partners cloud roundtable.
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Over the last six months, vendors have seen different cloud trends take center stage.
Pax8, for example, has watched SMBs, in particular, shift their focus from building the tech stack and increasing revenue to seeking profitability. That’s because the economy continues to create difficulty for business owners and consumers alike.
So, smaller firms are working to adapt more quickly and operate more efficiently, said Pax8 channel chief Ryan Walsh. Given that Pax8 acts as a cloud marketplace, Walsh spoke from that point of view.
And, he added, such marketplaces can “represent competitive threat as well as an opportunity” for SMBs. Therefore, SMBs’ pursuit of profitability, especially as cloud marketplaces might factor into the equation, has emerged as a key trend.
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Over at Rackspace, channel leaders are fielding more inquiries from partners trying to make sure “they have the right education and resources.”
That’s the word from Adriana Bustamante, Rackspace’s VP of global alliances and channels. When it comes to knowledge-building, many of the partners who work with Rackspace understand cloud and infrastructure, but they’re lacking in specific specializations such as security, Bustamante said. That’s bound to change.
VMware’s John Turner, director of customer marketing, agreed.
“Education has been a big trend,” he said.
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The inquiries around education and certification are coming from two different angles. The first is partners “really looking deeply into what they’ve been offering their customers,” VMWare’s Turner said, and learning how needs are changing.
“The past six months are [re]defining the new normal,” Turner said. “There’s less emphasis on providing remote work … and more conversations around branch technology.”
Secondarily, legacy partners want to know how to level up.
“They’re being asked to grow,” Turner said. “We’re focusing on the core partners we have and on making them better. … We drug them into that,” he joked.
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For Dell, the main cloud trends reflect what much of the sector has been discussing over the past year: “It’s optimization,” said Michael Piccininni, director of global alliances, Americas cloud, data center and telco service providers at Dell.
Optimization, in this case, applies to more than just the cloud environment, Picininni said. It also ties to the people managing resources and the number of resources in play. End users, Piccininni said, “are looking holistically at their entire business.”
Indeed, partners’ customers, up against ongoing inflation and IT skills shortages, are assessing budgets and spending across the board more than ever.
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But embracing cloud poses some challenges for a lot of partners, especially those with legacy roots. The first obstacle, of course, ties to earning and incorporating that aforementioned education and certification. Then there’s the need to hire the requisite people. The in-between, the process of getting from point A to point B, creates the most uncertainty for partners. So, said Pax8’s Walsh, more vendors are offering professional services to help the channel bridge the gap.
“It helps us establish a strong community,” he said.
Dell’s Piccininni echoed that statement, adding that his company is working to crack the cloud code, too.
“We’re in maybe year 8 of figuring out how to have a more compelling and visible role … as folks are modernizing their communications platforms — UCaaS and cloud,” he said.
That makes sense, given that Dell, like VMware, goes back a number of decades. Navigating the journey from infrastructure to software is no easy or fast feat. Everyone’s learning at the same time, and together.
“Everything’s happening faster now … and that education is critical” for all parties, Piccininni said.
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Rackspace’s Bustamante agreed with VMware and Dell, especially as the evolution around cloud affects more traditional agents.
“Some of the legacy channel, you’re starting to see come around,” she said. “It’s a target-rich environment.”
With that in mind, Rackspace continues to pursue what used to be known as the master agent world (now technology services distributors or technology solutions brokerages). However, that comes with a caveat. The giant managed service provider is talking with TSDs that are “bought in on cloud, not spelling cloud with a K.”
That’s because provisioning cloud requires a lot more effort and heavy lifting from the channel than many legacy agents are either accustomed to providing or want to provide. Even so, Rackspace sees promise among TSDs and their agents.
“There’s untapped opportunity in there, so we’re doing more coaching and encouragement.”
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If you’ve been wondering about cloud trends impacting the channel, look no further.
That topic took up much of the discussion during the latest cloud roundtable at the 2023 Channel Partners Conference & Expo. For the third year in a row, Channel Partners held this invite-only, closed-door event to uncover not only cloud trends, but challenges and evolution and more — all as it applies to partners.
Four vendors joined the panel: Ryan Walsh, co-founder of Pax8; John Turner, director of customer marketing at VMware; Adrianna Bustamante, vice president of global alliances and channels at Rackspace; and Michael Piccininni, director of global alliances, Americas cloud, data center and telco service providers at Dell.
Pax8’s Ryan Walsh
VMware’s John Turner
Rackspace’s Adrianna Bustamante
Dell’s Michael Piccininni
We don’t want to give away the cloud trends conversation here — click the image above to start the slideshow and get the full takeaway.
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