Sanjay Deshmukh (VMware)
VMware has outlined a hybrid cloud opportunity for partners in South Asia, driven through the Dell Technologies’ channel.
In response to increased customer demand for “agility, efficiency, scale and security”, the approach centres on complementary in-market solutions delivered through managed services.
“Analyst reports highlight billion or trillion-dollar opportunities but if you’re a partner operating in Singapore or Malaysia, you don’t see that opportunity because you can’t relate to those numbers,” said Sanjay Deshmukh, vice president and managing director of South East Asia and Korea at VMware.
Speaking during Dell Technologies’ South Asia Partner Summit 2019 in Seoul, Deshmukh advised partners to kick-start transformation conversations with their top 25 customers, in a bid to capitalise on heightened hybrid cloud requirements.
“If I was a leader of a partner business, I’d want to know the size of the hybrid cloud opportunity ahead,” Deshmukh added. “This is a opportunity for partners in South Asia and now is the time to make a decision as to whether you want to participate in this market or not.”
Referencing the “80-20 rule”, Deshmukh noted that on average, 80 per cent of partner revenue comes from the top 20 per cent of customers.
“These are the customers that you have built relationships with over the years,” Deshmukh said. “They consider you as a trusted advisor and you do most of your business with them, whether that’s through selling Dell servers or providing managed services.
“I realise the ecosystem is varied but of your top 25 customers, on average they have around 40 sockets housed in the data centre. That is a conservative number but if you average this out, the total addressable market for partners is 1000 sockets.”
Citing in-market conversations with partners in South Asia, Deshmukh said the potential is clear for a channel transitioning toward hybrid cloud.
“Customers will call you and want to talk about hybrid cloud,” Deshmukh added. “We know first-hand that these customers want to have a conversation around this opportunity. As a partner, this is your addressable market today and 1000 sockets should be the focus point.”
Within this context, Deshmukh said opportunity exists for Dell partners through VMware Cloud Foundation, VxRail, VMC infrastructure and managed services.
“Private cloud is the biggest potential to recognise,” Deshmukh explained. “A very simplistic way of looking at this is that all of these top customers and sockets are moving to VMware Cloud Foundation infrastructure.
“Depending on how fast you can offer this transformation, customers will also invest on managed services and VxRail through Dell. This isn’t focused on expansion, rather on existing customers.”
Delving deeper, Deshmukh - who was appointed to the role in April 2018 - said extra investment exists within hybrid cloud through VMC infrastructure spending, backed up by further investment on managed services.
“Look at the potential of targeting your install base with customers that already trust you,” Deshmukh advised. “Partners will need to make a decision on whether they want to participate in this hybrid cloud space but if you decide not to, your top 25 customers will not be with you in the next three years.
“If you’re not having this conversation with your customers, they will no longer think of you as a trusted advisor and instead, engage with other partners having transformation conversations. Do you recognise this opportunity and do you want to participate in it?”
James Henderson attended South Asia Partner Summit 2019 as a guest of Dell Technologies.
