Citrix, which witnessed business restructuring in 2015, has announced a slew of new channel engagement initiatives for partners and distributors. The newly designed incentives are aimed at driving growth, profit and predictability for the channel community. Citrix has a significant presence in the enterprise space. The company will now focus on the commercial and Mid-market segment as a part of their channel strategy. Eklavya Bhave, Head, Partner Strategy & Sales for India and SAARC Region, Citrix explains Citrix efforts around channel nourishment.
Below are the excerpts from the exclusive interaction with Channel Times-:
Citrix underwent from the process of global restructuring in 2015. What has been the impact of alignment of business of Citrix business?
The FY 2015 was very crucial for Citrix. We have restructured various business units and also revamped our global leadership. The company announced the appointment of Kirill Tatarinov as president and CEO. Tim Minahan is designated as chief marketing officer (CMO). Kimberly Martin was appointed as the company’s worldwide channel chief. So, there is a complete new team driving the Citrix global business.
On a business front, we decided to keep some core products to our portfolio and spin off the ‘GoTo’ line of products. The move was taken to ensure that we have penetration in new accounts with a right mix of different product lines. This has enabled us to make sure that we do not lose our focus and fully concentrate on growth. It has helped us get more traction from customers as well as partners. As we continue to focus on core products, all investment and R & D efforts will go into these products and you will see new enhancements coming in the next few quarters.
What is your business strategy for the mid-market segment? What solutions are you offering to this segment?
In terms of focus, we will utilize opportunities in the commercial segment in India and globally. We are also targeting SMBs and mid-market segment. We have also redefined our marketing strategy to acquire clients in these segments. The enterprise will continue to be the focus area of business, but the real growth is expected to come from the commercial space. We have identified few solutions which we felt are relevant to SMBs. Application virtualization and Mobility will continue to be the key pillar for us. Beyond that on the networking front, NetScaler and Cloudbridge are the solutions we are leveraging on. We are aligning our team and working very closely with our partners to achieve our targets in a decided time frame.
Please provide more information on Strategic Development Fund for Citrix Solution Advisors (CSAs) and distributors. How will this initiative benefit Citrix to strengthen the Channel engagement across the geographies?
Citrix’s channel strategy is based on three pillars- Growth, profitability and predictability. We want to make sure that our partner’s grow along with the company. The Strategic Development Fund will help our partners to grow their business and win new accounts. Citrix has started a Specialization program around the technologies such as Mobility, Networking and Virtualization. The Citrix Specialization program provides a framework for partners to demonstrate technical competency, end-to-end sales capability, and service delivery to customers. To achieve Specialist status, partners are required to complete a series of e-learning courses and the most advanced technical certifications, provide customer testimonials, and demonstrate design and implementation competencies. The aim behind this is we want to make sure that our partners are expert in their respective domain and competent to address complex IT issues. We have also announced new incentive programs for partners and making it more qualitative. We have introduced newly designed rewards for our partners as well.
What is your channel strategy in 2016? What are your key thrust areas for the current financial year?
We have a strong channel ecosystem in India, with distribution coverage across 60 cities. We are looking to expand our partner network as we focus on the opportunities for our partners and Citrix technology, within India. We have introduced programs such as Citrix Solution Advisors (CSA), CSA Specialist, Citrix Service Providers (CSP) for our channel nourishment and we will continue to leverage on it. We have a strong presence in the BFSI and IT/ITES sectors. Apart from that we are taking efforts to increase visibility in Pharma, Manufacturing, Government and PSUs. We are already a leader in the application delivery and desktop virtualization. We are also strong in the mobility space. Networking is the technology domain where we see huge growth prospects for Citrix. We will continue to leverage on our strong points and explore new markets. At the same time, we will be making our partner ecosystem strong.