Transcription
HomeHomeEditor’s commentCustomers want moreautomation and betterdata to help IT budgetsMicroScopeINDISPENSABLE CHANNEL ANALYSISDECEMBER 2018Silver Peak revampspartner programmePartners are the key tounlocking SME salesAre the good olddays of long lunchesand conversations ofsubstance coming back?Using technology as aservice to build successTime to harnesstechnology’ssuperpowersChannel comment: Whyhaving a strong partnercan make the differenceTechnology with a heartBusiness has a role to play in improving the worldby creating tech for the betterment of societymicroscope.co.ukDecember 2018 1SERGEY NIVENS/ADOBEFive-minute interview:MicroScope puts itsquestions to SteveArmstrong, regionalsales director at Bitglass
MicroScope25 Christopher Street,London EC2A 2BSHomeEDITOR’S neralenquiries 020 7186 1401Customers want moreautomation EDITORIALand betterdata to help IT budgetsEditor Simon Quicke020 7186 1412 squicke@techtarget.comSilver Peak revampsProductioneditor Claire Cormackpartnerprogramme020 7186 1461 the keyBobto WellsunlockingSMEsales020 7186 1462rwells@techtarget.comSenior sub-editor Jaime Lee DanielsArethe goodold020 71861417 jdaniels@techtarget.comdays of long lunchesand conversationsofPriestSub-editor Ryansubstancecoming back?020 7186 1420 rpriest@techtarget.comUsing technology as aADVERTISINGservice to build successSales director: Jat technology’sAccount manager Emea Marco Perottisuperpowers07943 531613 mperotti@techtarget.comFive-minute interview:MicroScope puts itsMicroScope is produced monthly byquestions to SteveTechTarget,25 ChristopherArmstrong,regional Street, London,salesat BitglassEC2A2BS,directorUK. No partof this publication maybe reproduced, stored in any form of retrievalsystem or transmitted in any form by any meansChannel comment: Whymechanical,photocopying, recordinghaving aelectronic,strong partnermakewithoutthe differenceor canotherwisethe prior written consentof the copyright holder. All rights reserved,Using technology as a force for goodBefore everything went wrong with the banking collapse in 2008, the “green pitch” was one of the things customers wanted tohear from their channel partners.Was the technology going to help cut carbon emissions and had it been produced in an ethically clean supply chain? Thosewere some of the questions that customers cared about. But then it became a grim battle for survival, and as one reseller said at thetime, “No one has time for anything green anymore”.But that is changing and this time the questions that the channel might get asked are not just about being carbon neutral, but alsoaround the ethics of those that have designed and manufactured the products they are pitching.Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VMware, used his keynote at last month’sVMworld Europe to talk about using tech as a force for good, disustomers want to know theycussing how technology is neutral and it can be used for good or bad,depending on the motivations of those shaping its use.aren t working with a companyIt might sound all a bit removed from the coalface where resellersare trying to solve business problems for users, but it probably won’tthat dumps toxins in lakesbe for long. Customers want to know where vendors stand on the bigor exploits child labourissues and want to be reassured that in a divisive world they don’tend up choosing to work with a company that turns out to be dumping toxins in lakes or exploiting child labour.It probably won’t seal the deal, but being aware that there is an increasing movement among the large vendors to talk about“responsibility” and “using tech as a force for good” is something that needs to be noted.Talking about saving the planet and working with a vendor that supports humanitarian projects might sound fluffy, but you can tellit is important to the manufacturers and you can bet it is important to some customers as well.I wish you all a Merry Christmas and may 2019 be a positive year for the channel. nC’Simon Quicke, editorincluding translation into other languages.microscope.co.ukDecember 2018 2
ANALYSISHomeEditor’s commentCustomers want moreautomation and betterdata to help IT budgetsSilver Peak revampspartner programmePartners are the key tounlocking SME salesAre the good olddays of long lunchesand conversations ofsubstance coming back?Using technology as aservice to build successTime to harnesstechnology’ssuperpowersFive-minute interview:MicroScope puts itsquestions to SteveArmstrong, regionalsales director at BitglassChannel comment: Whyhaving a strong partnercan make the differenceCustomers want more automation andbetter data to help manage IT budgetsA global Cisco study has found that customers looking to innovate and undergo digital transformation need to takethe pressure off the IT budget by improving their ability to predict where problems might occur. Simon Quicke reportsIf the channel really wants to help customers, then using automation and data analytics are two of the ways that they cansupport user ambitions to make IT budgets stretch further.According to the IT Operations Readiness Index from Cisco,the bulk of the current budget being spent by firms on technology (78%) goes towards keeping the lights on.The firm quizzed those in IT leadership positions worldwideand found that, given the pressure to keep tech running the business, there was little room for innovation. This is a problem inthe era of digital transformation, when CEOs are looking to theCIO to change the business.For those resellers wondering where they can help make animpact, the key appears to be around analytics and giving customers the ability to get pre-emptive capabilities. Data takenfrom across the infrastructure should be able to predict painpoints and outages before they become critical. Data twinnedwith automation means the pressure to put out the fires is takenoff the IT department.“Through analytics and automation, CIOs can evolve fromblindly reacting to events – such as outages – to continuouslymonitoring and optimising their infrastructures based on predictions of future needs,” said Joseph Bradley, Cisco’s globalvice-president of internet of things (IoT), blockchain, artificialintelligence (AI) and incubation businesses.“Through analytics andautomation, CIOs can evolvefrom blindly reacting to events”Joseph Bradley, Cisco“As a result, they can deliver strategic outcomes for their business partners, with change moving from being surprising andthreatening, to becoming something to control.”❯Artificial intelligence success lies with engineers, not algorithms, says expertmicroscope.co.ukDecember 2018 3
ANALYSISHomeCustomers want moreautomation and betterdata to help IT budgetsSilver Peak revampspartner programmePartners are the key tounlocking SME salesAre the good olddays of long lunchesand conversations ofsubstance coming back?Using technology as aservice to build successTime to harnesstechnology’ssuperpowersFive-minute interview:MicroScope puts itsquestions to SteveArmstrong, regionalsales director at BitglassChannel comment: Whyhaving a strong partnercan make the difference“Gone are the days of IT leaders relying on past monthlyreports and hours of manual operational tasks to deliver resultsin the face of growing infrastructure complexity. Instead, fuelledby data and empowered by automation, IT can operate in realtime, be predictive and rely on detailed data to have a true seatat the table, delivering strategic value for their organisation andfor their customers,” he added.One of the key themes that emerged from the report wasthe idea that data had to be flowing into a business as well asaround it. Gaining data from vendors, particularly about security, was important to help users get a more accurate picture ofthe market landscape.The message for the managed service player seemed to be tomake sure that they are able to offer useful data about securitythreats and other market issues as part of the package.“In the future, the most successful companies are the ones thathave the best quality data, AI algorithms to interpret it, and aCDO [chief data officer] to ensure quality and consistency,” saidZeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst at ZK Research.The four stages of maturityThe Cisco report came up with four stages that firms are goingthrough to reach operations maturity:1. Reactive – coping with things as they happen.2. Proactive – trying to use the lessons of the past.3. Predictive – data is being used to respond to events.4. Pre-emptive – data is being used to make sure the businessalways runs smoothly. nHigh-quality data is key to deliveringvalue and insight for businessesTY/ADOBEEditor’s commentmicroscope.co.ukDecember 2018 4
ANALYSISHomeEditor’s commentCustomers want moreautomation and betterdata to help IT budgetsSilver Peak revampspartner programmePartners are the key tounlocking SME salesAre the good olddays of long lunchesand conversations ofsubstance coming back?Using technology as aservice to build successTime to harnesstechnology’ssuperpowersFive-minute interview:MicroScope puts itsquestions to SteveArmstrong, regionalsales director at BitglassChannel comment: Whyhaving a strong partnercan make the differenceSilver Peak revamps partner programmeVendor makes changes in response to partner calls for more predictability around pay-outs. Christine Horton reportsWide-area network (WAN) supplier Silver Peak isintroducing sweeping changes to its channel programme to become “clearer and more predictable”in how it engages with its partners.The WAN vendor said that following a thorough review, itwas making its Partner Edge programme more predictable, withincentives easier to obtain for partners.“The new programme enhancements were primarily based onpartner feedback, which we take very seriously. Previous feedback indicated we needed to be clearer and more predictableabout how partners’ investments were returned,” said MikeKontowtt, Europe, Middle East and Africa director of channelat Silver Peak. In response, he said, the new programme “hadaligned the tiers and applied new incentives along with enablement tools that addressed these gaps”.Silver Peak is introducing a foundational partner tier that itbelieves will provide all partners with a clearer understanding ofwhat is required at the silver, gold and platinum tiers, includingupfront revenue and training objectives.“We are evolving the tiers of our programme, primarily focusing more attention toward training and certification, in an effortto make our programme more predictable and easier to understand. Tiering is based both on accreditation and revenue targets, but what this programme is trying to do is add in extrabenefits, such as financial incentives, as the partners invest intraining and resources,” said Kontowtt.In a statement, Silver Peak said it was building a programmethat would equip partners to capitalise on what IDC predicts willbe an 8bn software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) market by 2021.“We wanted to put together a framework that we can build onin the future as we roll out incremental incentives, programmesand enablement offers to allow our partners to build successfuland profitable SD-WAN business practices,” said Kontowtt.The company has also unveiled a partner accelerator programme, available to gold and platinum partners, which creates a set of Silver Peak incentives to reward partners thatfocus on growth initiatives in selling the Unity EdgeConnectSD-WAN edge platform.The programme spans several reward levels and includespartner level, sales and technical team rewards. Silver Peak isintroducing two incentives that will be available to gold andplatinum-tier partners immediately.❯Discover the advantages, challenges and important key terms of SD-WANmicroscope.co.ukDecember 2018 5
ANALYSISHomeEditor’s commentCustomers want moreautomation and betterdata to help IT budgetsSilver Peak revampspartner programmePartners are the key tounlocking SME salesAre the good olddays of long lunchesand conversations ofsubstance coming back?The customer incentive offers an incremental margin of upto 10% paid to the partner at the close of a new EdgeConnectSD-WAN edge platform opportunity. This includes both thefirst order and all follow-on business from that customer for 12months following the initial sale.With the fast-start incentive, an additional 2% incentive willbe paid against all new EdgeConnect customer sales. This isaccretive to the 10% new customer capture incentive and provides partners with the opportunity to earn up to a 12% marginincentive for new customer deployments.The vendor is also promoting a programmatic approach forgold and platinum partners, which it said would enable SilverPeak inside and field sales teams to pass active leads directlyto partners. nSilver Peak’s revamped programme looks to reward partnersfocused on growth initiatives in selling its edge platformUsing technology as aservice to build successTime to ive-minute interview:MicroScope puts itsquestions to SteveArmstrong, regionalsales director at BitglassChannel comment: Whyhaving a strong partnercan make the differencemicroscope.co.ukDecember 2018 6
OPINIONHomeEditor’s commentCustomers want moreautomation and betterdata to help IT budgetsSilver Peak revampspartner programmePartners are the key tounlocking SME salesAre the good olddays of long lunchesand conversations ofsubstance coming back?Using technology as aservice to build successTime to harnesstechnology’ssuperpowersFive-minute interview:MicroScope puts itsquestions to SteveArmstrong, regionalsales director at BitglassChannel comment: Whyhaving a strong partnercan make the differencePartners are thekey to unlockingSME salesVendors want to increase SME sales andBilly MacInnes knows that working with thechannel is the only way to achieve that goalEvery time I see a headline about such and such a vendortargeting the SME market, I can’t help feeling that it soundslike good news for partners. Not so much for large-scalepartners selling to enterprises and larger businesses, but for the80% that do the majority of business with smaller companies.If a vendor is serious about reaching SME customers, then it hasto commit to working with partners to get to them.Of course, the level of seriousness that vendors attach to theSME market corresponds to the level of revenue they can obtainfrom customers in that segment. For many, their business (andfocus) is still dominated by big deals with large customers. Sowhile they may talk about the SME market, their words might notbe backed up by actions.Gatekeepers to SME customersThis is where partners come in. There’s a temptation to think ofpartners as gatekeepers to SME customers, to view their trustedadviser status as a means to funnel products to smaller businesses. If vendors can get their attention, the argument goes,they are halfway to getting their products into the SME market.And that’s true, as far as it goes. But if you forget the actual salesprocess for a minute (which is hard for vendors, I know) and lookat why partners have become trusted advisers to their customers, it’s because they have been able to make technology work forSMEs. The badge or label on the product, software or service isn’tas important as what the partner can make it do for the SME.This means the partner can often act like an interpreter for thetechnology by taking the hardware, software or service from themicroscope.co.ukDecember 2018 7
OPINIONHomeCustomers want moreautomation and betterdata to help IT budgetsSilver Peak revampspartner programmePartners are the key tounlocking SME salesAre the good olddays of long lunchesand conversations ofsubstance coming back?Using technology as aservice to build successTime to harnesstechnology’ssuperpowersFive-minute interview:MicroScope puts itsquestions to SteveArmstrong, regionalsales director at BitglassChannel comment: Whyhaving a strong partnercan make the differencesupplier and applying it in a way that suits the customer. The vendor may have a particular view of why the technology should bemarketed to SMEs, but the partner uses its knowledge of the customer and their requirements to apply it in the most effective way.Vendors don’t have the resources to do that work themselves.Many of them, by virtue of their size, wouldn’t be able to speakthe language of small businesses anyway. They’re just too big.Because selling and supportingIT is their main business,partners can see the merits ofthe technology that vendorsare trying to sell into SMEsMany partners are SMEs themselves, so they can see things inpretty much the same light as their customers. They understandwhat they’re looking for. And because selling and supporting IT istheir main business, partners can see the merits, or otherwise, ofthe technology that vendors are trying to sell into SMEs.Channel businesses aren’t perfect and they can be persuadedinto marketing technology that isn’t necessarily best suited toSME customers, but that’s usually when they fall victim to seeingthemselves as a sales funnel for vendors and lose sight of theirreal role. There’s a reason why they’re called channel partners. nVendors want accessto small businesses,but channel partnersmust not lose sightof their proper roleANDRESR/GETTYEditor’s commentmicroscope.co.ukDecember 2018 8
OPINIONHomeEditor’s commentCustomers want moreautomation and betterdata to help IT budgetsSilver Peak revampspartner programmePartners are the key tounlocking SME salesAre the good olddays of long lunchesand conversations ofsubstance coming back?Using technology as aservice to build successTime to harnesstechnology’ssuperpowersFive-minute interview:MicroScope puts itsquestions to SteveArmstrong, regionalsales director at BitglassChannel comment: Whyhaving a strong partnercan make the differenceAre the goodold days reallycoming back?Long lunches and conversations of substanceare things that Nick Booth hopes will returnIs it a sign of age, or is the IT industry less fun than it used tobe? You used to enjoy briefings, now you endure them. Andthere’s nothing worse than a “working lunch” where your foodgoes colder than your rictus grin while some salesman just talksat you and insists you can only ask questions at the end.You can tell a lot about a person by who they blame for theshortage of laughs.Some will blame Brexit. That’s because they blame everythingon Brexit. If a clock stops, they believe it’s because electrical currents are not sustainable without the Grand Wizardry of JeanClaude Juncker.Some blame Facebook and the rest of the disturbing weirdos ofSilicon Valley. Advertising used to be witty, because it had to grabyour attention by amusing you.The surveillance marketing model doesn’t need to be charming,because they’ve got you by your privates. They’ve already invadedyour home computer, and now they’re rummaging around in yourshopping list and ransacking your psyche.Paradigm shiftSome blame the “paradigm shift”. No good ever comes afterthat ghastly phrase has been uttered. It’s the modern equivalentof a pirate being handed the black spot by Long John Silver.Paradigm shifts in your industry are like your company beingtaken over by a private equity firm. They suck all the vibrancy outof the ecosystem and leave it sad, lifeless and skeletal.I’m sure a veteran of the old days of box-shifting, fast cars andlong, long lunches will agree with me on this. It used to be greatmicroscope.co.ukDecember 2018 9
OPINIONHomeEditor’s commentCustomers want moreautomation and betterdata to help IT budgetsSilver Peak revampspartner programmePartners are the key tounlocking SME salesAre the good olddays of long lunchesand conversations ofsubstance coming back?Using technology as aservice to build successTime to harnesstechnology’ssuperpowersFive-minute interview:MicroScope puts itsquestio
and profitable SD-WAN business practices,” said Kontowtt. The company has also unveiled a partner accelerator pro-gramme, available to gold and platinum partners, which cre-ates a set of Silver Peak incentives to reward p
