Partners Take Center Stage In Broadcom’s VMware Cloud Foundation Services Push

As more businesses transition to VMware Cloud Foundation 9, one thing is clear: partners are essential to its success. Customers need trusted expertise to get the most from private cloud, and Broadcom is investing in services delivery partners to help make that happen.

In a CRNtv interview, Brian Martinez from Broadcom and Debra Korol from ClearBridge Technology Group discuss how this partner-first approach is shaping customer success with VCF 9.

Sydney: Brian, as customers move to VCF 9, they are expecting more from a true private cloud platform. How is Broadcom Professional Services helping them make that transition, and how does the partner ecosystem fit into the picture?

Brian: So VCF 9 has been an absolutely incredible platform that customers really are excited and passionate about.

Bringing a true private cloud on-prem is something that they've been asking for for a while, and VCF 9 delivers on. Now, what we've noticed though is that demand for our high-skilled resources has outstripped or has grown exponentially. Because of that, we're looking to use our partners who have these wonderful relationships with our customers to continue to grow and deliver on these platforms.

Our professional services teams help customers build their environments, including architecture, design, security and expansion, and we have enabled our partners to do the same.

Sydney: At Explore in Las Vegas, Hock Tan emphasized the role of Expert Advantage Partners in driving adoption. What changes have you made inside your organization to support that vision for VCF 9?

Brian: We are really seeing a growth of our customers asking for talented resources. Now, professional service doesn't have that staff. We can't scale to the size that’s needed. So, what we've done is continue to work with these partners. We've turned professional services from a more of a professional services organization to a partner services organization.

This allows us to take IP, our intel, our architecture and design, our ability to move customers forward, and turn it over to our partners. We allow them to have access to our Insights portal, which gives them really all the material that they need to be successful in deploying, scaling, automating and securing the platform.

This allows our customers to deploy VCF 9 in the best possible manner. So, by doing this, we've transferred our organization to be more focused on growing our partners and their skill sets, and less us going out there and delivering directly to our customers.

Sydney: Debra, you have been a longtime services delivery partner with Broadcom. What changes have you seen over the last two years as VMware became part of the Broadcom portfolio?

Debra: For context, ClearBridge has been a partner with VMware for about 10 years, and over the last five years we have become one of the largest services delivering partners within the Americas. As we continue to grow our relationship with Broadcom, we have seen significant change which provides us benefits due to their partner-first model. As you can imagine, this has been incredibly impactful for ClearBridge, and we are involved at a more strategic level, tightly integrated with the partner program office and the professional services organization. We're a member of the EAP program. We are co-delivering with Broadcom, as well as other EAP partners.

All of this allows us to be a true services solutions provider, leveraging our deep well of VCF-certified resources to deliver across the enterprise.

Sydney: Building on that, Brian mentioned investments in partners. What resources or programs have you tapped into that have helped strengthen your VMware delivery practice?

Debra: We have a dedicated services partner business manager acting as our champion, a proactive resourcing and delivery management team, dedicated principal architect, a team of learning and enablement professionals, ability to earn certifications and achieving next level expertise. As a member of the EAP, we also have access to Broadcom partner learning and the Broadcom Insights portal, the ability to participate in immersive training such as the one, the event that we're at today here at TD SYNNEX, the partner builder, and then the involvement in Broadcom Knights program.

This is all helping us to help Broadcom ecosystem to deliver services and drive adoption for VCF customers. I would like to add that we are successful because of the investments, and it's a huge testament to Brian and his team at Broadcom. We are extremely grateful for the support and partnership.

For partners who want to learn more about ClearBridge Technology Group or opportunities with Broadcom, visit expert.broadcom.com.