One of VMware’s highest priorities in 2022 is to invest in our diverse partner ecosystem as more organizations around the world embrace the multi-cloud model.
VMware’s research shows 75% of enterprises are using two or more public clouds to run their growing number of apps, and 40% of customers are moving to three or more clouds. These customers want to innovate using the best available services from different clouds—and VMware is delivering the cloud-smart ecosystem to enable our partners to capture the multi-cloud opportunity.
We see three enormous opportunities for our partners:
- Cloud migration: Our partners are standing up net-new consulting and managed services practices to help our mutual customers move to a modern cloud infrastructure faster.
- Application modernization & Scaling DevOps: We’re empowering partners to accelerate customers’ app modernization strategies and scale their cloud and DevOps platform to operationalize modern apps.
- Secure digital workspace services: We're investing and innovating in partner-centric offerings that empower the distributed workforce while driving partner profitability.
We are deeply fortunate to benefit from an outstanding roster of employees and leaders who oversee the critical work of collaborating with our partners and empowering them to act as trusted advisors for our mutual customers.
I’m pleased to share that two of these leaders—Sandy Hogan and Bill Swales—have earned well-deserved recognition among CRN’s Most Influential Channel Chiefs for 2022. Sandy and Bill are fitting honorees, selected on the breadth of their professional achievements and strategies for driving channel growth and innovation.
Sandy Hogan is a CRN Top 100 Executive of 2021, member of the CRN Women of the Channel "Power 100" for 2021, and now part of the CRN 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs list for the second consecutive year. As senior vice president for VMware’s Worldwide Partner and Commercial Organization (WPCO), Sandy drives our worldwide commercial strategic plan and revenue attainment. Sandy also leads the go-to-market strategy with VMware's global partner and distribution network. Over the course of her career, Sandy has led multiple outcome-based, go-to-market models that have transformed how organizations deliver customer for life value, achieve above-market growth, and scale their businesses. Under her leadership, WPCO has delivered a range of powerful new multi-cloud sales incentives and tools to enable outcomes as a service. Sandy is known for her “partner-first” focus and for placing the needs of our partners at the center of her focus each day.
Bill Swales has been recognized by CRN on multiple occasions for his channel leadership. He currently serves as vice president of our partner organization for the Americas (United States, Latin America, and Canada). Bill has a broad remit that includes solution providers, corporate resellers, public sector partners, OEMs, systems integrators and outsourcers, ISVs, and distributors. A fierce competitor, Bill is highly regarded by partners, peers, and team members for his deep understanding of channel and business fundamentals, combined with a data-driven, no-nonsense approach to delivering results. He is deeply committed to building a transparent and collaborative culture in which both personal and professional achievements are nurtured and recognized.
Throughout the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, VMware and our partners have continued to pivot and work together as one team to drive customer outcomes—and that is in no small part due to Sandy’s and Bill’s work. Congratulations to both for this honor.
The key to our continued success is taking advantage of the opportunities we see for partners in multi-cloud, fueled by the accelerating adoption rate of new technology, the increasing complexity of that technology, and widespread talent shortages for IT teams across all industries and segments. The expected growth in multi-cloud and application modernization in the coming years will create enormous opportunities—and VMware is uniquely positioned to capture this opportunity with partners, by helping our mutual customers unlock the full potential of multi-cloud.
Our partners play a critical role for our customers in their cloud transformation journey—and I know we will continue to deliver value to them thanks to the tireless efforts of Sandy, Bill, and their teams.