/dqc/media/agency_attachments/3bO5lX4bneNNijz3HbB7.jpg)
Follow Us/dqc/media/post_banners/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/praveen-sahai.jpg)
Praveen Sahai, Vice President, Channels, Alliances and Service Provider, APJC Commvault talks to us about the channel strategy of Commvault.
What is the Commvault’s channel strategy for 2023?
Praveen Sahai - In the past few years, the relationship between channel partners and vendors has undergone tremendous change. Commvault channel strategy hinges the following tenets - Partner Profitability, Partner Enablement in this ever changing tech landscape and Partner Pipeline investment - to build business for near term.
Our Partner Advantage Programme is designed to put more focus on partners who invest in Commvault. The program is built on a three-pillar strategy – a simplified approach, a unified platform, and competitive incentives to help partners drive business with clients and grow with Commvault. It is built to empower businesses with greater automation and visibility on a unified platform. The program revisits the incentive structure to maximize transparency and predictability for the partner community.
The key objective for us is to make it easier and more beneficial for partners to do business with Commvault. Our partner programme is especially curated on the basis of thorough feedback we consistently seek from our partner community, aimed at delivering a simplified experience that can help them win with clients.
What are the business insights that will become key differentiators in the channel ecosystem?
Praveen Sahai - Digital transformation and hybrid cloud optimisation, continues to accelerate rapidly driven by the need for organisations to build resilience and adaptability. The entire fabric of vendor- partner relationship has changed over the past few years, especially post pandemic. Businesses should realise that the value of partnerships goes deeper than just selling. It allows the customers to break into accounts with a warmer introduction to drive a more compelling sales conversation. With a push for a more connected channel ecosystem, organisations should adopt best practices for building and nurturing strong channel partner relationships. Investing in new-age technologies like automation and SaaS will give vendors a competitive edge and impact partner engagement, resulting in higher partner revenue. Creating new ways to help drive focused sales and co-marketing campaigns and leveraging data-driven insights and activities will become an even more important part of partnership enablement in the coming year. To achieve this, partners need to be equipped and well-trained on the tools they need to market and sell. Investing in a relationship that is increasingly collaborative, agile, and flexible will help vendors reach broader audiences and break into new markets.
How has the role of channel partners evolved across the security landscape?
Praveen Sahai - The evolving role of channel partners in the security landscape reflects a dynamic shift driven by multiple factors. Macroeconomic uncertainty coupled with shifting customer preferences, evolving business models and intensified competition for strategic alliances has compelled organisations to rethink their strategies and optimise their investments, focusing on areas that promise long-term value, such as data security. This has led to increased collaboration between partners, vendors and customers, with a strong focus on fostering long-term value and trust among all stakeholders.
Moreover, with the newly adopted Digital Personal Data Protection Bill of 2023 in India, channel partners find themselves at an even more critical juncture. This data bill protects the privacy of Indian citizens and empowers them to make decision about their data. The legislation aligns with global data protection norms and stipulates stringent compliance measures around data collection, storage and processing. For companies operating in or dealing with the Indian market, adherence to this regulation becomes mandatory, thereby placing immense responsibility on channel partners to ensure that all the offerings are in line with the new legal framework.
In an era where data drives critical decision-making, channel partners are entrusted with effectively managing and safeguarding this invaluable asset. This shift elevates them to the role of indispensable allies on the journey toward robust data protection. As a strategic advisors, channel partners need to ensure that customers' investments in security tools doesn’t only help overcome today’s threats but also safeguard them with unseen challenges of tomorrow.
Additionally, channel partners have rapidly evolved to keep up with the accelerated SaaS adoption in the industry. Regardless of the size of the businesses, partners must be equipped with the right skill sets and insights to facilitate this seamless transition to the SaaS platforms. This often involves unlearning conventional practices and relearning new technology paradigms, ensuring they are well-versed in guiding clients to secure their digital assets. Furthermore, transforming IT from a cost centre to a value-centric business driver underscores the significance of channel partners. Their ability to provide value-added solutions and professional services has become imperative to achieving broader business objectives.
What is the importance of a customer and partner success programme when it comes to driving a sales strategy?
Praveen Sahai - In today’s economic climate, businesses have scrutinised their budgets and are finding ways to -
- Lower customer acquisition costs and drive healthy sales
- Mitigate any threats/ ransomware risks
- Watertight data protection governance adherence
- Multi-cloud & Hybrid Cloud implementations
In this scenario, pivoting to a subject matter expert/ partner-led strategy has become more important than ever.
Leveraging partner ecosystem is crucial to help manage customers post-sales, improve customer engagement and reduce churn. Partners are well-positioned with local market insights and know buying behaviour and requirements that a global manufacturer, may not be cognizant of. Partnering with the right channel partners can provide access to new markets and geographies, opening up new revenue streams. In addition to this, channel partners have undergone a profound transformation, by adapting their responsibilities to fit changing client expectations and industry developments. Their function has evolved from transactional to one that is increasingly strategic. Technology businesses must redefine and equip channel partners with the required assistance, framework, and operational capabilities if they are to deliver excellent client experiences.