 Live from New Orleans, it's theCUBE. Covering VeeamON 2017, brought to you by Veeam. We're back, Dave Vellante with Stu Miniman. This is theCUBE, 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. Well thank you for having me. So you're welcome. So the channel is where it's at. It is. This company from day one, right? Day one, I have to say that Veeam did a wonderful job in terms of their go to market was always through the channel. It's, so 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 just been, it's been the case since the beginning. So how are you guys organized? I mean, obviously you've got, you know, a sales force as well. And that's what, in an evangelist force, they're an overlay, they're sort of catalysts. How does that all? So from a channel perspective, I mean, look, we want to work to enable our partners, obviously understand the technology, understand how do we solve, you know, customer challenges. And then we align ourselves to our segment teams, you know. So from an end user sales standpoint, we have the traditional enterprise commercial SMB sled fed teams. But really, from a channel standpoint, I don't, I look at our salespeople. I mean, 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, to get closer to their customers and deliver the solutions that, that really do solve the problems that our customers are facing. So when you're a real tiny company, you know, the channel wants to make money. How do I make money with you guys? So Veeam had a hot product. Yes. So the channel said, okay, good, I'm there. Now as you're a larger company moving up market, 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, so, so one of the things that I love about Veeam, and I've been on board for about 15 months and I've come from some larger companies certainly in my past. And even though we're getting bigger, we're staying very entrepreneurial in our approach, right? 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, right? Our partner program is consistently rated as one of the best in the business. And it's because it allows partners, you know, to be profitable. But again, the product and the solution is so complete and so, you know, it just works, you know, that it's the right fit for our shared customers. So as we've gotten bigger, you know, 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, 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? And, you know, we started in the SMB, right? The company started in the SMB eight and a half, nine years ago when we started selling product. But absolutely we're on that journey into the enterprise space. Without forgetting the fact that SMB is where our, you know, we were born and bred. Yeah. Kevin, one of the great things about Veeam is there's really a simplicity to the product set. Can you explain what kind of the segmentation though? You got the SMB, you've got the enterprise. If does the product differentiate itself? Is there pricing and bundling or, you know, incentives? How does that break up when you go to market? Great question. So the reality is that the solution is the same. So, you know, it's funny that, you know, as companies you segment a market and the customers don't see themselves any different, whether they're a hunter-man shop or a Fortune 50. They have business problems that they have to solve. And so the solution is the same, but we really realize that we need to make sure that we dedicate a part of our end user sales force against each of the segments to make sure that they get the right level of service. So the way that we do it is that everything below 250 seats we classify as SMB. We have a very significant commercial space that is almost everything else. And 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's just really a matter of our level of service for them. Okay, we talked to Peter McKay earlier. He said about 30% of revenue is with service providers. How does that fit into the whole channel mix? So, and 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. And 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, and then you have the cloud service providers that get more into that type of model. And then we certainly have the folks that do both. And that is, 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 being. Yeah, speak a little bit to the, the channel readiness for cloud. I remember a few years ago it was like, oh, 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 the next wave? Look, I think we're all learning together. I mean, it's a brand new world, if you will. And 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. And we're all learning together. And so we're educating, we're figuring out what are the right programs? What's the right sales approach? What is the right level of support? And I think that if we don't make this transition together there'll be people left behind. Help us understand the sort of makeup of the channel. You get, sorry for the pejorative, but you got kind of the box sellers. You got the cloud service providers. You 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 maybe they have our channel. So, and the traditional guys who just move boxes, they're either evolving or they're going to probably die. Solutions guys, okay, whether SAP, Oracle, VMware, obviously some of those guys. And then, as I say, the cloud service providers and the DevOps. How do you, help me refine that little mental model that I just painted. Is that a viable picture of the channel? And I think that, and 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? I mean, 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. And 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. And 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. And they're the ones that have a deep and wide services bench. They're the ones that have the ability to do massive deployment type 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, right? 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 stat of the total ecosystem? So revenues over the last two years have now tilted to the majority being in the services side from the traditional infrastructure sales. And really that just lends itself to the fact that we're getting into more complex deployments, we're getting into longer engagements. And so for those of us as vendors that are looking out for the partners that are going to help us take these solutions to the next level for our shared customers, we have to have partners that have that ability that to deliver those services to have those lengthy engagements. So the conversation that you're having with customers is changing as well, obviously. We don't even, it's interesting, there was a day and it wasn't that long ago that you sat down and you talked to 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 are you worried 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. So 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's embedded in the conversation when we tell you how we can solve your problems, but we don't start with that. So with 45,000 partners, obviously you're going to, it's a lot of partners, you're going to span all those constituencies that we just talked about. So how do you look at the ROI of a partnership and where you invest and how you sort of manage that portfolio? It's a great question. And it's a great challenge, right? Because, you know, 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 in ourselves and that we're building a business together as opposed to customer ask for it, I provided it. That's going to happen and that's great. But when we have to, we have to identify where it makes sense to place our bets, if you will. And 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, you know, bench of services opportunity to understand the value of really data availability. And that's what it is any longer. It's no longer 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 spent a day with partners yesterday. Can you give our audience a little bit of insight? You know, what are the key things you're doing? You know, what feedback are you getting? What advice are you giving to the channel partners? So all I say is it's been a wonderful ride. I mean, you know, I, as I stated, I think at the opening, I've only been on board for about 15 months. So I can't take credit for all the greatness that's been going on at Veeam from its beginning to now. Sure you can. You know, I actually, I can't, yeah, no. But the reality is it's been a great ride. But the ride that we're about to take, you know, out for the next five to 10 years is going to be entirely different and it's going to be a wonderful one. And so what we're convincing, or what we're telling partners is, thank you for being a part of this to this point. But boys, it's 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. And so they're not out looking to try to solve the next customer problem. So my message to the partners is, this is only going to get better. And we are enterprise ready, right? We were born in that SMB 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. And 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 wagon to the right player. Well, it talks to relevance. I mean, the partners wants to work with a company that is relevant and has momentum. You guys got a lot of tailwinds behind you. Kevin, thanks very much for coming to theCUBE. 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 is theCUBE, live from New Orleans, Veeamon.