Veeam channel becoming ‘calmer’ about alliances approach
Vendor has worked to increase transparency and encourage resellers to tap into the strong network of alliances it has struck
Veeam has been one of the leading examples of the ecosystem movement, with the data management player often benefiting from channel as well as customer expansion thanks to the relationships it forms.
Over the years it has continued to expand its alliances, and the challenge for those managing those relationships is to make sure the channel can get the most out of them.
The vendor’s recent VeeamON event was dominated by the launch of a couple of new products, but there was also time for the spotlight to fall on the channel and the progress that the firm is looking to make on the alliances front.
Catching up with MicroScope after the event, David Harvey, vice-president of strategic alliances at Veeam, said there was a lot of activity in the channel and it had been working hard to encourage its partners to exploit the wider ecosystem.
“We have had a breakthrough in the last six-to-nine months,” he added that it had taken time for it to be baked in with some partners but now they accepted the benefits of taking a wider solution out to customers.
He said that the vendor had doubled down on enablement to make sure that it was clear to partners how they could lean on alliances and that those who invested were rewarded.
Veeam works with strategic partners including the likes of HPE, Lenovo, NetApp and Cisco as well as premium partners like Nutanix and a range of tech partners that can add more complementary products. The idea is that resellers selling an order that combines various vendors’ technology should not have to split that down to unlock their benefits.
Collaboration
Harvey said that things had become a lot “calmer” in the channel as the idea of working collaboratively with “frenemies” started to become more accepted practice.
He added that there was always a risk that the ecosystem grew too big but, “this is an extremely large market”, and there were still lots of opportunities out there for partners to add value.
Harvey said that it had worked hard to make sure that there was not too much conflict and competition over opportunities between different channel players. Efforts to be more transparent had also helped reduce potential problems.
“With the landscape we have got very little overlap and it is a big enough of a market that we [can support] multiple partners,” he said.
The vendor operates around five technology groups, including cloud mobility and compliance and governance, and encourages resellers to line up behind that structure to ensure the vendor can recommend the right partners.
He added that the growth coming from the channel, which he described as strong, underlined how the ecosystem was delivering.
The vendor used its recent VeeamON event to share a host of announcements, including an update its cloud data management tool, Availability Orchestrator v3, along with its move to supply more solutions in AWS Marketplace with the firm gaining AWS Storage Competency Status.
