>> Announcer: Live from New Orleans, it's the Cube. Covering VeeamOn 2017. Brought to you by Veeam. >> We're back, Dave Velante with Stu Menamin. This is the Cube, the leader in live tech coverage. Kevin Rooney is here. He is the vice president of North American Channel Sales at Veeam, good to see you. Thanks for coming on. >> Thank you for having me. >> You're welcome, so the channel is where it's at in your company from day one, right? >> From day one I have to say that Veeam did a wonderful job in terms of their go to market was always through the channel. We're not changing DNA of the company in terms of getting them to engage with our partners and figure out how to work well with them. It's been the case since the beginning. >> How are you guys organized? Obviously you've got a sales force as well and that's what, an evangelist force? They're an overlay, they're sort of catalyst? How does that all? >> From a channel perspective we want to work to enable our partners obviously, understand the technology, understand how do we solve customer challenges. Then we align ourselves to our segment teams. So from an end-users sales standpoint we have the traditional enterprise, commercial S and B sled-fed teams. But really from a general standpoint I look at our salespeople and we carry quota. I mean, we are salespeople so we're not just in the enablement game, we're also in helping our partners to get closer to their customers and deliver the solutions that really do solve the problems that our customers are facing. >> So when you're real tiny company we know the channel. The channel wants to make money. How do I make money with you guys? Veeam had a hot product so the channel said okay good, I'm there. Now as you're a larger company moving upmarket, you know it's really got to provide more support and training and deal with your deal reg and all kinds of things. Can you talk about that transformation and what people are asking you for? >> Yeah, one of the things that I love about Veeam, and I've been on board for about 15 months. I've come from some larger companies certainly in my past. Even though we're getting bigger we're staying very entrepreneurial in our approach. We realize that we have to be very proactive in our approach with working with partners. We need to provide them the complete story. So profitability is certainly a component. Our partner program is consistently rated as one of the best in the business. It's because it allows partners to be profitable, but again the product and the solution is so complete. It just works, that it's the right fit for shared our customers. As we've gotten bigger we need to continue to make sure that we're staying very much engaged with our partners. We focus on our enablement. We make sure that they have the right level of training. We make sure that they understand what is our sales pitch into the customer base. Why is it that Veeam is a better option than what else they might be looking at. We started in the S and B, right? The company started in the S and B eight and a half, nine years ago when we started selling products. But absolutely were on that journey into the enterprise space. Without forgetting that S and B's we were born and bred. >> Kevin, one of the great things about Veeam is there's really a simplicity to the product set. Can you explain kind of the segmentation? You've got the S and B, you've got the enterprise. Does the product differentiate itself? Is there pricing and bundling, incentives? How does that break up when you go to market? >> Great question, the reality is that the solution is the same. It's funny that as companies you segment a market and the customers don't see themselves as any different whether they're 100-man shop or a Fortune 50. They have business problems that they have to solve. So the solution is the same, but we really realize that we need to make sure we dedicate a part of our end-user sales force against each of the segments to make sure they get the right level of service. The way that we do it is that everything below 250 seats we classify as S and B. We have a very significant commercial space that is almost everything else. Then we name about 1,000 accounts that we go after from an enterprise standpoint. But the reality is every single customer is just as important as the next. So it really was a matter of how do we best service them as opposed to hey, we treat them differently, we give them different pricing. None of that exists. It is just really a matter of our level of service for them. >> We talked to Peter Mackay earlier, he said about 30% of revenue is with service providers. How does that fit into the whole channel mix? >> That's a part that's growing each and every day. As the cloud becomes more and more important our cloud service providers become a more significant portion of our business. So it's really, it's the full spectrum. We work with the traditional resellers that are simply interested in the typical infrastructure, software sales. Then you have the cloud service providers that get more into that type of model. Then we certainly have the folks that do both. It's really, I think that's our next big jumping off point is that cloud business because literally there's no better solution for our customers and therefore our partners to do that hybrid model than Veeam. >> Speak a little bit to the channel readiness for cloud. I remember a few years ago it was like 10 or 15% of the channel was ready. I think a much higher percentage at least understands cloud, or trying to figure out how cloud fits into their practice. Are you riding that wave? Are you educating them on that next wave? >> I think we're all learning together. I mean it's a brand new world if you will. I think you're going to see, and we have seen, the folks that can't make that transition into what is required by our customers which is truly that hybrid. I do need on-premise, and I do need off-premise. >> We're all learning together. So we're educating. We're figuring out what are the right programs with the right sales approach. What is the right level of support? And I think that if we don't make this transition together there will be people left behind. >> Help us understand the make up of the channel. Sorry for the pejorative, but you've got the box sellers, you've got the cloud service providers, you've got solution providers, and you have this maybe I don't know what you call them, the DevOps, the hoodie crowd. This is more of an influencer than anything of our channel. The traditional guys that just move boxes, they're either evolving or they're going to probably die. Solutions guys, okay well the SAP, Oracle, Veeam Ware obviously, some of those guys. Then it was to say the cloud service providers and the DevOps, how do you refine that little model that I just painted? Is that a viable picture of the channel? >> It is, and I think you said it well. Those that don't make that transformation into what is really required by our customers, they dictate what we need to become, right? We can all sit back in think tank rooms and say what do we think we want to go out and be? But if it doesn't apply to solving the business challenges that our customers are facing, it doesn't matter. So those box pushers as you put it, they're going to go away. If they don't transform their business to truly meeting the requirements that the business is driving today, they won't be around. So we're working to try to identify and I think for the most part a lot of us in the technology sector recognize the partners that have made that transition or that are in the process of making that transition and we're investing heavily into them. They're the ones that have a deep and wide services bench. They're the ones who have the ability to do massive deployment type of activities. I mean, for the first time in the history of the channel the last two years we've seen over 50% of the revenues come from services. So if you're not working with partners that have that deep and wide services engagement ability then you're probably working with the wrong people. >> So what's that total ecosystem? >> Revenues over the last two years have now tilted to the majority being in the services side from the traditional infrastructure sales. Really that just lends itself to the fact that we're getting into more complex deployments. We're getting into longer engagements. So for those of us as vendors that are looking out for the partners that are going to help take these solutions to the next level for our shared customers, we have to have partners that have that ability to deliver those services to have those lengthy engagements. >> So the conversation that you're having with customers is changing as well, obviously. >> It's interesting, there was a day and it wasn't that long ago, that you sat down and you talked features. This is what my product does. That isn't the way that customers want to talk any longer. Yes, embedded in the discussion is the fact that our software can deliver all kinds of features and functionality. But you start out with what keeps you up at night? What do you worry about? What is it that your leadership is putting pressure on you, Mr. IT leader? I mean IT is no longer just a support mechanism for businesses, it's a way to make revenue. And if it's not done properly you're missing a tremendous opportunity. When we go in with our partners and they're having these discussions the correct way as well, is that we sit there and say what is it that we need to solve? We don't sit there and say let me tell you what Veeam 10.0 brings you. Yes, that is embedded into the conversation when we tell you how we can solve your problems. But we don't start with that. >> With 45,000 partners obviously that's a lot of partners. You're going to span all those constituencies that we had just talked about. How do you look at the ROI of partnership and where you invest and how you sort of manage that portfolio? It's a great question and it's a great challenge. Because look, we want as many people out as we possibly can delivering the Veeam value proposition. That said, we understand that we need to identify the partners that are actually investing back on ourselves. And that we're building a business together as opposed to customer asked for it, I provided it. That's going to happen and that's great. But we have to identify where it makes sense to place our bets, if you will. So whether that's from our field resources, whether it's from our dollars investment we're identifying the partners that have a deep and robust bench of services opportunity, understand the value of really data availability. That's what it is any longer. It's no more about high availability, it's business availability, it's data availability. And those partners that are willing to take the leap with us and start to invest and do the technical certifications, sales certifications, build a practice where Veeam is a part of it, that's where we're putting our investments. >> Kevin you spend a day with partners yesterday. Can you give our audience a little bit of insight. What are some of the key things you're doing? What feedback you're getting, what advice you are giving to the channel partners? >> All I say is it's been a wonderful ride. As I stated in the opening I've only been onboard for about 15 months so I can't take credit for all the greatness that has been going on at Veeam. (laughter) But the reality is it's been a great ride. But the ride we're about to take out for the next five to ten years is going to be entirely different and it's going to be a wonderful one. What we're telling partners is thank you for being a part of this to this point but boy is this going to be really interesting here as we go out over the next one, two, five years. I mean the work that we're doing with our alliance partners, the product we iterate on it every six to 12 months. I mean, a lot of the people in our space and I won't name names, but they sit on the same technology that's been in place for years. So they're not out looking to try to solve the next customer problem. My message to the partners is this is only going go get better. We are enterprise ready. We were born in that S and B space and we love that space and we're never going to look away from it. But come along with us because we solve all customer problems. So if I'm a partner sitting in the audience yesterday or today or in these meetings that we're having in the Expo Center, I feel pretty confident that I've hitched my ride into the right player. >> Well it talks to relevance. The partners wants to work with the company that is relevant, that has momentum. You guys have got a lot of tailwinds behind you. Kevin, thanks very much for coming on the Cube, it was great to see you. >> I appreciate it, thanks guys. >> All right you're welcome. Keep it right there, Stu and I will be back with our next guest right after this. This is the Cube, we're live from New Orleans, VeeamOn. (upbeat digital music)