As part of an ongoing effort to drive more profitably drive revenue growth through the channel, Commvault this week appointed two new channel executives. Rick Fairweather, formerly with Veritas, has need named vice president of Americas channels, while Mark Fong, formerly with Equinix, has been appointed vice president of Asia Pacific channels and alliances.
In the Americas, Fairweather replaces Dave Fisher, who has left Commvault to focus his energies on a non-profit outside the technology sector.
The immediate goal is not to set a new channel strategy, but rather accelerate a transition Commvault already has underway, says Fairweather.
Commvault early this year to quell an investor revolt promised to focus more of its efforts on indirect sales to both expand its share of the market and improve its bottom line. Since then Commvault has expanded its channel management team under the leadership of Scott Strubel, vice president of worldwide channels for Commvault.
Fairweather says the most immediate issue Commvault faces is further aligning its sales organization with the sales efforts of channel partners. On the Commvault side, Fairweather says that means seeing channel partners as being more than just being fulfillment engines. On the partner side of that equation, it means working with solution providers that can focus on the business outcome trying to be achieved by the customer rather than simply selling backup and recovery software as Commvault looks to expand the scope and reach of its data management portfolio, says Fairweather.
To achieve that goal Fairweather says Commvault has three primary areas of channel focus. The first is to work more closely with the channel partners of its alliance partners, which include Cisco, NetApp and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE). The second is to teach existing Commvault partners how to sell the platforms offered by those technology alliance partners to create a more comprehensive solution. The third is to work more closely with distributors to reach new channel partners.
“Being partner led is not just part of the plan,” says Fairweather. “It is the plan.”
Naturally, it takes time and effort to revamp any channel program. But with each new channel hire, Commvault is making it clear it’s in a significant hurry to deliver on a promise it not only made to channel partners but, just as significantly, to investors.
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