VMware announced the next evolution of the company’s flagship VMware Partner Connect programme is live worldwide. Partner Connect is a singular, unified programme for all partner types that is now more flexible and efficient, provides faster and simpler paths to progression, delivers more incentives, and rewards partners for both performance and capabilities. Through Partner Connect, VMware is empowering partners to drive growth by helping their customers successfully navigate the multi-cloud era.
As organisations move from an environment of cloud chaos to a cloud smart approach, there is a significant and immediate opportunity for partners to help their customers accelerate migration of applications to the right cloud, automate and secure the software supply chain, and rein in control of spend on private and public cloud infrastructure.
VMware, together with its partners, will tackle each of these problems by supporting critical business outcomes such as accelerating app modernisation, enabling enterprise cloud transformation, and securing the hybrid workforce.
Customer success depends on a connected ecosystem. No one company can solve all a customer’s needs alone. Through four distinct business models, VMware has created an interconnected and diverse Partner Connect programme enabling more partner-to-partner collaboration to help customers become cloud smart and achieve outcomes faster. Partners can participate in one or more business models, with each model opening a door to more incentives and even faster programme progression.
The strategy is for every VMware partner to own the customer lifecycle end-to-end, leading with services, partnering with others, and building predictable, recurring revenue streams.
IDC is seeing a transition in the market today, where for customers it is not just about digital transformation, it is about digital first. This continued evolution will drive changes in how the VMware partners engage their customers, where and how they create value, and how they interact with an increasingly connected ecosystem.
The transformation we see VMware delivering in the Partner Connect programme is a recognition of these macro trends. By bringing everything under one VMware programme with a more simplified experience, VMware can help partners transition to as-a-service, subscription models, expand their services portfolios, and better leverage their investments to the fullest.
Previously, partners could only progress through the programme with tier credits earned through transacted bookings. Now, non-transacting partners registered as Solution Services Providers have a path to level up in the Partner Connect programme by earning performance points for influenced bookings. Solution Services Providers offer their customers services before and beyond the transaction, with an emphasis on pre-sales advisory and post-sales life cycle services.
VMware offers partners 14 Solutions Competencies, 8 Master Services Competencies, and two Specialisations partners use to close larger, higher margin deals faster. Partners can now earn capability points toward programme progression based on their investment in training, competencies, and certifications.
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