VMware Cloud Foundation: How Partners Can Become Trusted Advisers to Help Customers Transform Their Cloud Strategy

Written by Casey Burns, Senior Manager, VCF GTM Strategy, VMware

As the pioneer in virtualization, VMware is no stranger to cloud-based computing, and many would argue that we are the leaders in multi-cloud and hybrid cloud infrastructure. Customers’ workloads continue to grow in public and private cloud-based environments. In fact, we should see a balanced approach between on-prem and public, with a slight edge to public cloud by 2024 with over 87 percent of workloads being utilized across multiple clouds, private and public.

What Is VMware Cloud Foundation?

VMware Cloud Foundation is the central building block for building and maintaining cloud environments with flexibility, efficiency and simplicity which customers and partners need.

VMware has delivered millions of customers’ workloads through our multi-cloud offerings, including the world’s largest hyper-scalers, while maintaining the largest private cloud footprint of any of other infrastructure provider through VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). This multi-cloud strategy at VMware that combines public and private based solutions has a single common denominator: VCF. Customers have favored public cloud over the past few years but now are re-evaluating where workloads are placed after considering finances, security, performance and widening tech and staff debt to manage infrastructure.

This new way of delivering VCF is evolutionary. We now have a way to deliver an OPEX-based VCF model that more than 69 percent of customers want to procure. By delivering an offering for a complete infrastructure stack in a SaaS model, customers are able to acquire this technology using OPEX-based financials and deliver cross-cloud services (through the VMWare Cloud Console) to on-premise environments. This will enable accelerated delivery of breakthrough features and functionality into VCF. Customers are not only looking for a more balanced approach to cloud but looking to drive consistency, efficiency and simplicity in their environments.

Profitability Opportunities for Partners

Customers are looking for a trusted advisors who can help them accelerate and transform their cloud strategy, favoring a more “balanced” approach between public and private clouds. Since the launch of VCF eight-plus years ago, our reseller and services partners have been successful in helping customers deliver a private cloud-based infrastructure with easy extensibility to public cloud, all while driving higher profitability for partners. With the release of VCF+ and VCF-S, all solution benefits are now available in a sub/SaaS-based model outside any previous “bundled” offerings such as VMCU. This allows for immediate profitability for partners from the license transaction and subsequent services.

By simplifying the portfolio and the transaction process with VCF, partners can recognize revenue immediately and monetize further by delivering deployment and consumption services associated with VCF and other VMware technologies. Our internal analysis has shown that for every $1 spent on VCF licensing, the partner can drive an additional $1 in services revenue and $1 in hardware sales on just the initial sale. With the average sales price for VCF being about $450,000, partners can conceivably achieve $1.5 million in total revenue.

VCF drives additional opportunities for services beyond the initial rollout: vSphere and Kubernetes, Horizon, deployment of automation and operations management with VMware Aria, Hybrid Cloud Workload migration to VMC on AWS and network policy creation. In this highly dynamic world of applications and infrastructure, partners have a limitless opportunity to transform their customers’ environment, help them with their rebalanced approach and deliver consistent profitability with VCF and beyond.

Over the past few years, there has been a shift of applications moving to public cloud, producing positive outcomes for customers, but it comes at a cost. Customers will have a more balanced approach to their cloud strategy and will need partners that can help them determine what this future state will look like and help them build and maintain these environments. Partners that can do one or both will be invaluable to their customers. VMware Cloud Foundation is the central building block for delivering this more balanced approach and allows for the flexibility, efficiencies and simplicity customers and partners need.

Accelerate Your Customers’ Journey to the Cloud

Want to learn more about VCF and how you as a partner can accelerate your customers’ journey to the cloud and drive higher profitability for your organization? Please visit the Partner Connect VCF web page or contact your Partner Business Manager.