L-R: Paul Simos (VMware); Chad Norberg (US Embassy); Alvin Tan (Ministry of Trade and Industry) and Sylvain Cazard (VMware)
VMware has launched its regional digital innovation hub in Singapore with plans to support Southeast Asia’s current growth momentum as a technological hotspot, while connecting partners and customers with the vendor's key markets around the world.
To get more insights into the new hub, Channel Asia spoke with two leaders from the multi-cloud provider, Paul Simos, vice president and managing director of Southeast Asia and Korea, and Eric Chow, director partner of ASEAN. Right off the bat, both executives shared that Singapore was the ideal destination for the hub due to the city state’s strategic location and digital capabilities.
“The launch of the digital innovation hub for us was really a critical point in the commitment and investment of VMware into Singapore,” Simos told Channel Asia. “This provides opportunities for our customers and partners to really connect in an immersive space across our other briefing centres in Asia Pacific, Japan, and around the world.
“We believe the strategic positioning of Singapore within the region gives us a strong foundation with our customers and partners to be able to leverage the facility and understand more about VMware technology and how we can help in the market.”
Referencing a KPMG study, Chow shared how the country's strategic location is well-known for being the top innovation epicentre outside of Silicon Valley and operates as a critical gateway to access Southeast Asia’s burgeoning market.
Furthermore, with more countries in the region reopening their borders, Singapore’s accessibility will help business travellers ease back into the game and reconnect.
“While the pandemic has lightened, travel and logistics are still a concern for quite a number of our partners and customers across the region, [which has] over 18 countries,” said Chow. “It’s very important for us to bring this back to Singapore, where travel for partners and customers is easily accessible.”
Personalising customer experience
Once at the hub, partners and customers can access cutting-edge tools like digital white-boarding, virtual reality (VR) and a personalised experience utilising radio-frequency identification (RFID).
The two leaders added that visitors can also tap on the Virtual Briefing Centre (VBC) to explore VMware solutions, experience in-depth demonstrations through hybrid and online briefings, as well as collaborate with experts from around the world.
The centre is connected to global VBCs, hence in addition to leveraging local experts, customers can speak with technical teams from anywhere in the world to work through constraints and design customised technology roadmaps to meet their top business priorities.
This will enable customers to test current technologies, concepts, and pilot projects before official rollouts, serving as a secure innovation sandbox to build new innovative concepts and roadmaps. This is vital at a time when businesses are at varied stages of the digital transformation journey.
“The proposition for our customers is how do we allow them to go faster, spend less, and be free when it comes to managing the diverse and changing technology landscape around running their technology operations?” said Simos.
“One of the things that we’re seeing with our partner community right now is a real desire to shift to help meet customers where they are, and really working with customers to understand the role that partners and vendors play in helping them achieve their cloud outcomes.”
He added that the pandemic has allowed customers to spend ample time reviewing and reassessing their transformation needs. Will their efforts benefit the business in the short or long-term? Will it be enough to keep business momentum going forward? The current role of partners is thus to remain closely connected with their customers to understand those long-term visions and pressures.
“The continued evolution of our partner ecosystem is critical for our customers’ success and the success of VMware across the region,” said Simos. “With the digital innovation hub, [it’s about] having our partner ecosystem understand that it’s a resource investment that’s available for them to leverage.
“In partnership with VMware, partners can support the messaging of how to meet the customer where they are and really take advantage of all the technology offerings that are available in the cloud ecosystem today. I think that’s a big focus with our partners off the back of the digital innovation hub and we're looking forward into the next 12 to 18 months.”
