(uplifting music) >> Welcome back to The Cube's coverage of VMworld 2021. My name is Dave Vellante and right now we're going to dig into the powerful go-to market and partner network trends within the VMware ecosystem. Sandy Hogan is here. She leads worldwide commercial and partner sales. Hello, Sandy. Welcome. Good to see you. >> Great to see you, Dave. Thanks for having me today. >> It's really our pleasure. We're always excited to cover VMworld virtual, of course, this year, second year in a row. Now you joined VMware right after the lockdown. So you've been with the company now about 18 months. Was that difficult? Starting out completely virtual, such a huge scope of responsibility. And how did you handle that with your team and the partner ecosystem? >> Oh, it's actually one of the most common questions, actually that I get even on a daily basis still. So yes, I started VMware completely virtual and mind you I'm based in Chicago and, as you know, our headquarters is based in Palo Alto. Ironically, I would say, it actually gave me a little bit of an advantage. And here's why. Because when we're such a distributed workforce anyway, before COVID hit, you have people who are in meetings who are in one room, right in a conference room. And those of us, you know, sit on a virtual Zoom or another mechanism somewhere else. So by joining virtually during the COVID era, it actually leveled the playing field, because it allowed me to meet with everybody via video, in their homes. It allowed, albeit virtual, eye to eye contact. And that actually made some of the onboarding easier. But by no means, does it replace at all the personal interaction that's so critical. >> Well, possibly in the middle part of the country, I think it's good. I'm an east coast and we're kind of primarily a west coast firm, so I'm in early. People don't like it when I call them super early, but I get calls at 10 o'clock at night. So that's maybe another advantage. And when you think about VMworld 2021, what were your objectives? I'm specifically interested, you know, based on what you learned last year, how you thought about 2021, what were you must have features of the event? Talk about your role in shaping the event this year and your specific contributions. >> Sure. So, you know, I think a really big shift as you think about VMworld this year, and truly becoming this multi-cloud provider, the role of the partner in this new world is more important than ever. And I think in the past, you know, candidly, it's been more about the technology centricity and then figuring out how we attach partners to that. At the core of this is really around delivering customer for life value. And the role that partners play throughout that entire life cycle becomes critical in helping our customers, jointly, become successful in this multi-cloud world. >> So as the partner chief of VMware and you're early transformationally leading and driving that partner ecosystem evolution, how do you see the next two to three years? What would you say are your top priorities? >> Sure. So I think it's important to know, you know, especially with the pandemic. But I think it's fair to say, not only our transformation, our transformation is also a result of our partners' transformation. I can't think of a partner who I have met with in the last 12 months alone, who has not gone through dramatic change. Where they're expanding their business models, expanding their capabilities to respond and be proactive in this environment. And so, everybody is trying to figure out how to become more relevant and help customers through this, you know, multi-cloud digital transformation. And so that's what I referenced around delivering customer for life value. And, most of the premise in our transformation, we've been primarily transaction oriented. And everything about this new world is about moving to an influence, deploy and consume motion, which is pretty significant. And that's all also about creating a consumerized experience for our partners to bring value wherever they see fit, based on where the customer is in their maturity. And in the end, our partners are really enabling our customers to become cloud smart. And in order to do that, we've actually focused on three key priorities in our partner transformation and evolution. First is really around leading with a partner-led services motion for influence, deploy, and consume. We see that more partners are playing key advisory roles in helping customers become cloud smart and determine their roadmap, the timing of the roadmap, and what they will implement and when. And customer success is a critical element of that. And so that means how we help partners create new capabilities, new certifications, and helping them maximize the investments that they're already making. So that's very essential and core to our strategy. Second is embedding VMware into the DNA of our partner's solutions in a scaled motion. So this really means how we formally jointly innovate with our partners, enabling our partners to build their solutions, their unique IP on top of our cross-cloud services. And that means anything like solution labs, self-serve business innovation, expansion of marketplaces and enabling partners to have another method to transact and offer their solutions. And all of this in the construct of becoming much more use-case based. So really thinking through, as we all know, our customers don't want bespoke, independent technology. They want solutions that are going to solve their business problems. And so we're really adapting and accelerating the way that we help partners build that partner maturity, practice development, and also how we enable that partner to partner acceleration. Because we know in this world today, no one can sell or deliver value alone. And so it's really about how the partners work together and how we enable and accelerate that in a whole new way that we've not done in the past. And so it's really opening up just tremendous opportunities, Dave, that brings unique skillsets and unique scale for our partners. >> Well, I mean, thank you, Sandy, for such a substantive answer. I want to respond a couple of ways. One is, hearing you talk about how your partners have transformed, I was talking to one of your partners at the end of last year, and he said to me, Dave, two things, one is, did you ever think you'd become an expert in COVID? I was like, no. (Sandy and Dave laugh) And the second thing he said, did you ever think that you would forget in one year more than you ever knew about digital transformation? And I think those are two-- I mean the first one is like, wow, well, never. But the second point is everybody talks about the acceleration, but wow, we were sort of forced into it and learned a lot. And now we're stepping back and being a little bit more planful. And then, the other thing that strikes me is, when you talked about joint innovation with your partners, because, you know, kind of the early part of last decade, the VMware ecosystem, it was about, you know, making it kind of work the plumbing of getting recovery to work or storage APIs. And now you're talking about a layer of innovation that is going to be much deeper business integration. And that's exciting. >> Yes, it is so exciting. And what's incredible about it is our customers jointly benefit the most from this. Because our customers are living a very complex world. You know, I've been in the technology space for a long time. And I had titles, you know, in my role description that were all around digital transformation over a decade ago. So that's how long, you know, many of us have been talking about it. But that complexity has not allowed many of our customers to transform. And so, with this evolution of really being, helping our customers be cloud smart, it is forcing all of us in how we work together to bring those solutions in a much more digestible, consumable way that I think is more meaningful and more exciting than it's ever been, frankly. >> Now, I want to ask you, you know, this November marks a big milestone for the company. You've had many milestones, of course, VMware has, but you will once again be completely untethered, from a governance standpoint, and you'll be a purely standalone company. And for the partner ecosystem, I think that's almost a rejuvenation of one of the defining tenants of VMware, the value that's created for customers by partners. What impact do you see the spin having on the partner ecosystem? >> Well, you know, what's great about, I think the opportunity we have is, certainly it gives, you know, flexibility for both parties in our expansion in ecosystem and who we work with. Our strategic partnership is going to be more strategic than ever. And also it's important to note, we share a very robust ecosystem together. And so our partners will continue to be able to leverage the best of Dell and the best of VMware as we continue to jointly solve our customer business problems together. >> Great. So you don't see it as a radical change. It's more of an evolutionary and so that's great, too. So it's not disruptive. Well, Sandy, great to have you on The Cube. Best of luck and look forward to hopefully seeing you face to face and in the near future. >> Wouldn't that be nice? I have not met many people face-to-face, Dave, so that would be fantastic. It was great being on here today. Thank you. >> You're very welcome. And thank you everybody for watching. Keep it right there. More great coverage from The Cube, at VMworld 2021. (uplifting music)

(upbeat music) >> Welcome to VMworld 2021, a two day virtual event, hosted by the company which permanently changed data center operations last decade. My name is Dave Vellante, and you're watching theCUBE's coverage of VMworld 2021, where we want to know what VMware and its ecosystem have in store for the next 10 years and how your digital business can survive and thrive in the coming decade, and who better to give us a glimpse as to how that's being done both inside VMware and within its customer base, than Mike Hayes, who is the chief digital transformation officer at VMware. Mike, great to have you on the program. >> No Dave, thank you for having me, we appreciate you and all that you do for this great event. Thank you, sir. >> Oh, I appreciate that. So talk about, what's involved with your role as chief digital transformation officer. What's that all about? >> Yeah thank you for, many people, are chief digital transformation officer in a lot of different places, different things. Here at VMware I'm responsible for worldwide business operations and digital transformation of the firm. Just like first and foremost, we're focused on our customers and how our customers can improve their own business models, whether it's cost, flexibility, speed, imagining new things, that's what gets us really excited. And at the same time, we're transforming internally in order to bring ourselves into our exciting third chapter. >> Yeah, everybody wants to be a SAS company these days, VMware obviously is accelerating its move towards SAS. Maybe you could talk a little bit about your strategy for leading business operations as well as that transformation. >> Absolutely, I think there's a couple of things. And first of all, the most important thing in an organization is agility we have or transforming our own ability to transform. As we all know, everybody listening knows that markets don't sit still, they pivot quickly, and so the organizations that win aren't the organizations that prepare for tomorrow, but they prepare for the ability to change for tomorrow, and as the markets change, they stay ahead of that. So that's what we're doing at VMware and that's what we're really excited about our entire suite of products and services so that we can help organizations do the same. >> Yes so, if I could stay on this for a second, Mike, when you think about what you have to deal with there, and you're moving to that as a service subscription model, you got to the external factors, you mentioned you start with the customer, but you also have internal factors, right? Your salespeople might be used to one and done move on to the next one, more transactional, it's a whole different mindset, isn't it? >> It absolutely is, and so any organization as large as VMware is, should always be staring at itself and saying, how can we be more flexible? And so we just like everywhere else are looking at our foundational data, we're looking at our ERP systems, we're looking at our own internal processes to say, as we pivot to SAS, and the back office becomes closer to the front office. That's really where it's at, there's not a customer in the world that cares about any of their... Where they're buying from, the back offices from where they're buying from don't matter, what matters is that experience, it's that front layer, it's that first touch with the customer. We recognize that, and we're preparing for that, and I'm really excited about how it's going. >> Let's talk about some of the waves that you're riding here, the major trends that are driving digitally. I often call it the forced march to digital in 2020. It was like, we were just thrown into the fire. And it's just the way it was. If you weren't a digital business, you were out of business. And now people are kind of sitting back and saying okay, let's take those learnings, fill those gaps, and really set us on a course over the next decade. So what do you see as the major trends? What are the technologies that are enabling digital business and how are you applying them both in your own business and what you're seeing with your customers? >> We first of all I think what's important is to recognize that every organization needs the ability to scale. So what we're doing at VMware is simplifying our foundation. And so then as we 2x or 5x or 10x, our own business, we're multiplying off a much simpler base. And so as we drive our own transformation, our internal principles of like simplicity and clarity and accountability, and really streamlining is what VMware is doing. And that's what we're also not surprisingly recommending and helping our own customers with. And so that's what gets really exciting for us. I think that, one of the things that you're alluding to with this a forced march to digital which I totally agree with, is really, it is about experience and for us there are a couple of KPIs that are really interesting to us, and it should be for everybody, no surprise here, but the velocity that it takes for operations to go from an idea to a closure, from quote to cash, or from idea to implementation, whatever that front and back end words your own business uses are what's important, but how fast do you get through that? And so for us, we're imagining a touch less future. So no, are we there yet? Absolutely not. Is any organization? Very few are. And so how do we constantly say, ask ourselves what don't we need to be doing? When I walk into a room in a lot of places VMware or otherwise, and you say who's in charge of what we're not doing? That's where all the good ideas are, the good idea spaces, like what organizations aren't doing, so you have that culture of pulling awesome ideas to the front and saying, how do we just prioritize? The hardest thing Dave right now, is that there are so many shiny objects for all of our enterprises, for everybody that's listening. I think one of the hardest things is prioritizing and saying, how do we spend our resources in the smartest way possible, so that we are doing the things that will have the greatest impact for our customers. Something that we feel like we have a great plan for, and we're excited about the execution over the coming year. >> I wonder if you could comment on what you're seeing and just in terms of spending patterns. All throughout last year, we reported that CIO's expected budget contractions of around 5% relative to 2019, and what happened is in the second half, he really saw, companies had to respond to the cyber threats, they had to respond, of course to hybrid work, this whole digital march that we talked about, and it was actually pretty strong. Many people expected that a lot of the traditional companies that relied on data center and on-prem and HQ spend, were really going to get hit and they actually got through it okay. And meanwhile, the cloud is exploding, your cloud businesses exploding, security is exploding. What was interesting is, just this weekend, we published some data that suggested, that is not only continuing into 2021, but CIO's are expecting, more of this in 2022. So we used to have this sort of steady IT spend, refresh cycles, et cetera, but it seems like we're in a step function right now, in terms of investment, and it seems like CEOs are saying, if we don't lead this digital transformation, we're going to become toast. >> Absolutely Dave, yeah, the first thing you mentioned was budget. Let's remember budgets are a function of a company's focus on either short term goals or long-term goals. And so the organizations that are really smartest are thinking three, four, five years out and you're investing now, so that you can always really be high-performing in that 2, 3, 4 year window. Because any organization that mortgages it's future for this current year is not doing itself any favors. So the cycles that I'm seeing that are aligned exactly as you described, organizations are understanding, key leaders get that they need to invest. But the question is, how do you invest in the things that are classically thought of as maybe back office, or let me just say boring, just to be provocative. How do we choke out the boring stuff from a budget standpoint, and then really give a lot of oxygen and energy to the things that are fun and really transformative? And that's what we're seeing, and that's why we feel like our strategy is so great Dave, because we're part of that for the future, and as organizations think about freeing up capital so that they can invest in those fun things that really accelerate their own business models, that's what it's about. >> Now VMware of course has always had an amazing ecosystem, always been very proud of the value that you created, not just free for your own selves, but for your customers, and also your ecosystem partners. So as it relates to your digital transformation role Mike, we talked about customers, we talked about some of the internal stuff and operations. How does the ecosystem fit in? How do you collaborate with them? What kind of learnings do you get from them? How do you plug them into your digital platform if you will? >> Absolutely, I think the most important element you're drawing out, Dave, is the concept of trust. We have incredible partners, and without whom VMware's business and success that we enable in the world would be very limited. So we recognize that we all go through life with friends and partners, it's obviously not just true in business, I was a Navy Seal for 20 years and the most important thing is that foundational element. Now, what we do and what we're always trying to do is be as transparent and fast and helpful as we can. I think that in the partner world, anytime you can reach across the table more than halfway and with another organization, that's easy to intersect. If you're not willing to meet people in places more than halfway, there is no middle. So for us, what we're doing is constantly listening and getting feedback and saying, where can we improve? That's what's really awesome. Sandy Hogan is an incredible colleague of mine who runs our channel, and Sandy runs a board with 30 of our largest partners in the channel, and the first question that she always asks is, what can we be doing better? And that's for us the most important thing is listening. Just like you were in developing an individual product. What's important is product market fit, right? Does your product fit in the market, and then how do you get feedback from it? We apply that as an institution and an enterprise. >> Mike, you mentioned your experience in the military, thank you for your service, I wanted to ask you something about that. So I wrote a piece one time and talked about Frank Slootman, who is becoming a Silicon Valley icon, how he's going to apply his playbook at his new company, Bubba. And he wrote me back, he said, "Dave I learned in the military that, it's not a playbook. I am a situational leader and I learned that in the military." So my question to you is, what did you learn as a Navy Seal to deal with situations, especially in a condition like we are now, where there's a lot unknown. How do you apply that in today's world? >> Yeah Look, the there's the parallels between the Seals and VMware are perfect, right? Because all we're doing is quickly defining an outcome. What's the vision for the organization? What's the outcomes we'd want to achieve? That's the where we're going. Then there's the strategy, which is the how. How are we going to get there? How do you develop strategy? There are a hundred different ways to go achieve the vision, but how do we think about the different risks along the way? And like I said earlier, draw those risks out, so they're known risks. Then we can price them and size them and understand that for our strategy. And then how do we execute well and how do we get feedback throughout the whole thing? But you know Dave, the best thing I would say, the analogy from the Seals in the military, really is what you hit on. A lot of people say that they have a plan, but in the Seals the only plan that we had was for our plan to change, it's that concept I said earlier of transforming our ability to transform. So we go in on any given night with complicated missions and have a plan, but we knew that that plan was going to very quickly change, it's no different than what we're doing here at VMware, with our own customers in this technology market. >> It's a great lesson to apply Mike. I really appreciate you sharing that and appreciate you coming on the queue. >> Thank you for having me, it's such a pleasure. >> Really a pleasure was ours, and thank you for watching over. Keep it right there for more great content from Vmworld 2021, you're watching theCUBE. (upbeat music)