Last year, the message was loud and clear: Partners should familiarize themselves with Citrix Workspace and move beyond virtualization. Kicking off 2021, Bronwyn Hastings, senior vice-president of worldwide channel sales for Citrix, is sticking closely to last year’s script.
“We still see partners as a significant engine of growth,” Hastings told Channel Daily News in during a recent interview. “Partners have been such a fundamental part of that growth.”
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Citrix is doubling down on themes discussed last year and encouraging partners to do the same. Hastings says partners are well-positioned to move beyond virtualization and shift the customer base to the cloud with Citrix Workspace’s help. The second message for partners is around infrastructure.
“A big bucket of growth for the channel is moving from infrastructure to what we call ‘wall-to-wall’ use cases, or unique use cases across the customer’s environment,” she said.
Hastings pointed to some internal data from March 2020 that highlighted how only 30 per cent of customers at the time were planning on investing in technology that would be considered “transformational.” By September, customers’ appetite appears to have grown, with 65 per cent of customers planning to invest heavily for the future with “transformational” technology. A hybrid work model, she says, is top of mind.
“Everyone was focused on just being able to establish business continuity…to just try and stay working,” Hastings said about the early days of the pandemic last year. “But after September, it was clear [remote work] was going to stick.”
Citrix Workspace Suite includes app and desktop virtualization, secure mobile app and device management, enterprise file sync and share and cloud networking in a single solution. With the right understanding across infrastructure and applications, partners can significantly benefit from the Workspace suite, explained Hastings.
The acquisition of software firm Wrike, a deal announced in January, will lead to a huge boost for partners once the deal is approved. Citrix agreed to acquire Wrike, an online project planning tool, for US$2.25 billion in cash.
“Wrike will incrementally extend opportunities for partners,” Hastings said.
While platforms like Workspace help with the heavy-lifting around virtualization and device management, Wrike is all about the details: Aligning team collaborations and managing projects, for example.