EC News DeskNutanix has announced it has achieved Champion status in the 2019 Canalys EMEA Channel Leadership Matrix and is the highest-ranked hyper-converged infrastructure company in channel management throughout EMEA, according to the study.
Canalys observes that this year’s Champions span a broad spectrum of technologies, including PCs, networking, data centre infrastructure, software and security. However, they exhibit some common characteristics. They all show improvements in channel processes to drive simplicity and ease of doing business; they prioritise investments in partner profitability and business models; and demonstrate a commitment to maintaining or growing the share of revenue generated through partners.
All of the Champions generate the majority of revenue through partners, but crucially are supported by a channel-led (rather than a channel neutral) sales approach. This tends to be reflected in the importance given to channel management functions at a corporate level, and internal sales cultures that recognise the value of partners to the vendor’s success.
Other leading vendors fall into three categories.
Contenders: AWS, Dell EMC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper either have high partner ratings relative to competitors, or have made significant channel investments, but have seen partner sentiment decline over the last year.
Growers: Apple, Huawei, IBM, Microsoft and VMware have lower scores relative to peers, but have seen improvements over the last year.
Stragglers: Citrix, McAfee, Oracle and Symantec have the lowest scores and have seen partner sentiment stagnate or fall in the last 12 months.
The Leadership Matrix is based on 12 months of channel feedback in the Vendor Benchmark along with a Canalys expert analyst assessment of vendor performance, strategy, investments, execution and planned initiatives. To achieve Champion status, Nutanix had to be ranked among the highest partner scores with the strongest year-over-year growth in those areas.
Nutanix’s Champion status reflects the company’s commitment to drive simplicity and ease of doing business within the channel charter and prioritise investments that increase partner profitability. Channel partners value Nutanix’s commitment to selling primarily through channel partners and specifically ranked Nutanix among the top two in the following areas according to the December Canalys report:
- Highest ranked quality of technical support to the channel
- Highest ranked marketing activities and lead generation
- Highest ranked on generating growth through services and support
- Ranked #2 in product availability and supply
- Ranked #2 in ease of doing business
This news comes on the heels of the momentum Nutanix has seen over the last year, including new and enhanced incentive and rebate programs, additional investments in channel support and management staff, a new distributor program, new marketing and lead generation campaigns and increased technical training and certification programs for partners.
Additionally, channel partners have welcomed Nutanix’s joint go-to-market and demand generation collaborations with HCI partners including Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fujitsu, and Lenovo that enable increased choice for customers seeking hybrid cloud solutions that fit their unique needs.
“2019 was a year of dramatic growth for the Nutanix EMEA channel business as we introduced exciting new channel programs and drove massive joint customer momentum,” said Cyril VanAgt, Senior Director of Channel Sales in EMEA at Nutanix. “This is a proud moment for Nutanix and a validation that our continual investments in sales, marketing, and enablement resources and customer support are helping drive our partners’ success.”
“Working with the Nutanix Channel Charter team has been a true partnership since day one,” said Will Carver, UK Alliances and Partnerships Director at SCC. “Nutanix invests in SCC’s success and has armed us with the tools and knowledge needed to drive sales and support our clients.”
“Nutanix is focused on a partner-led sales model and we’re pleased to see that our channel partners understand the value that we’re bringing to customers and their business,” said Sammy Zoghlami, SVP of Sales in EMEA at Nutanix. “We want to thank our channel partners for this joint success and look forward to driving even more customer momentum, together, in 2020.”
