SADA’s Sandy Hogan: ‘The Opportunity Is Really on the Partner Side’

SADA on Wednesday announced that it has hired Sandy Hogan as its first-ever chief revenue officer. Hogan, of course, comes to the Google Cloud-only managed service provider from VMware, where she spearheaded the channel program for more than two years.

Channel Futures had the good fortune to catch up with Hogan for a few minutes on Wednesday in advance of a deeper conversation set for Thursday. When it comes to her move to SADA, Hogan sees the decision as one of ideal timing. For Hogan, the ecosystem, and cloud and digital transformation, all collide to ensure that no one company can go it alone. Regardless of whether that organization is a vendor or a partner, the important thing is to focus on bringing complementary skills together to solve customers’ business problems, Hogan says.

“That’s what customers are looking for; they want the simplicity,” she tells Channel Futures.

And simplicity often translates into providing managed services of the type SADA delivers.

In this short Q&A, we give you a little more insight into Hogan’s plans for her new role. Note that we have edited this transcript.

Channel Futures: What went into the decision to make this move?

SADA’s Sandy Hogan

Sandy Hogan: I think there were a few elements that made this move pretty relevant, particularly my interest in SADA. I’ve been in the tech space for 20 years. And a good majority of that time, in any of the roles that I’ve been in, I have really put a lot of energy and passion around the customer-first approach, outcome-led selling. … And so when I had an opportunity to meet with Tony [Safoian, SADA CEO] … the very first thing he said to me was that he was building a forever company. And that forever company is built on the premise of delivering customer-for-life value. Hearing those words that were identical to a passion of mine just naturally started what I felt were timely conversations.

… And at this point in my career as well, culture is everything. … So as I met the leadership team at SADA and engaged with various leaders across the organization, it was almost just too natural to make the change.

CF: Let’s touch on this interesting aspect of you moving from a vendor, to a partner. What goes into that? How is that different?

SH: The last two-plus years, that’s been my role at VMware — leading and transforming the partner ecosystem. And so I feel pretty blessed. Honestly, during my time at VMware, I had the opportunity to work with just amazing partners who were transforming their business models, who were leading in that customer-first approach. And so what I got to learn and appreciate was the nature of the transformation that the partner ecosystem was experiencing.

… [The transformation] I’ve seen in the last two years is more than what I’ve seen in the last five-plus years together. And so that, in a way, was the catalyst for me to see what these companies were doing in the ecosystem. And they’re really at the front and center of leading the customer transformation and enabling their digital transformation success. So that really was the catalyst for me to look at it. And it wasn’t about, “Oh, do I go to the vendor side or the partner side — it was just such a …

… natural fit of being as close to solving customer problems as possible. And that’s what made it just the natural transition.

CF: What’s your take on SADA creating its first-ever CRO role?

SH: SADA has seen exponential growth over the last few years. They have really invested all-in on Google Cloud. And when I look at the expansion in new markets … [and] new market segments … [it is] a huge opportunity. And in the end, you know, as I look at my role, it’s really about value creation, through a customer-centric, scalable, go-to-market [model]. That’s the pivot point, where SADA really is today, and the immense amount of opportunity to unleash the power and business value of Google Cloud.

There are three key areas that I’m really centered on in this new role. The first is leading with outcome-based solutions through a connected ecosystem. That’s coming together in defining use-case-based orientation, scaling our IP, thinking about expanding the ecosystem in our own go-to-market … and really bringing that to bear across the entire Google Cloud portfolio.

Second is hyper-growth that is scalable and sustainable. That’s looking at growing our existing customers across the thousands of customers that we have. It is the international expansion … and really defining and expanding customer segments and markets … across enterprise and SMB industries.

And then the third I would say is really aligning and scaling the customer-for-life value and operating model. That’s everything from how do we provide that end-to-end value … to the way that we do discovery-based selling engagement. … Those are the three big pillars that I’m so excited about bringing to SADA.

CF: Where do you plan to focus first, geographically speaking?

SH: Well, I don’t think it’s an either-or. I mean, the team has been incredibly successful. In the U.S., we continue to expand and grow that aggressively. And, of course, as highlighted earlier, on the international front, the team has already started in the UK and in Europe, so we’re going to heavily expand there, and really expand our global footprint. … But right now I want to spend time with the team, with customers, with the Google Cloud team, and really immerse myself to ensure that we build the right, intentional strategy.

CF: Is there anything you want to say directly to this partner audience that’s reading Channel Futures?

SH: I am actually incredibly inspired by the partners who I have been so privileged to work with and learn from, building immense amounts of respect in relationships and … bringing that to SADA. I think the opportunity is really on the partner side, and I see that ecosystem shifting and it’s exciting to be part of that side of it. … I’m in that honeymoon phase.

Channel Futures’ James Anderson contributed to this report.