VMware targets tier-2 and -3 cities

VMware India
is gearing up to improve its market share in the tier-2 and tier- 3
cities in the country. To cater to the requirements of these new
markets, the company has already identified partners and is working
out expansion strategies with them. However, the company does not
have any concrete plans to increase its channel base across India.
Apart from this, the company observed commendable growth in the last
1 year and expects this momentum to continue in years to come. Now,
VMware India intends to
target more verticals like manufacturing and government and is
investing its resources towards this cause. Adding to this, Ganesan
Arumugam, director, partners, VMware India said, “Apart from our
core products, there are plans to further push our emerging products
like desktop virtualizations into the Indian market. Geographical
expansion is also on cards as we are now planning to establish
ourselves in tier-2 and tier- 3 cities of the country.” He further
added, “We are working towards educating customers on how to get on
cloud, be it private, public or hybrid models.”

The company
do not have any plans to double its channel partner base. However,
the company has identified certain partners to work to fulfill its
expansion plans. Talking about the Indian market, Douglas Smith, VP ,
global partner strategy and operations, VMware said,
“There is some difference between emerging markets and developed
markets. The emerging markets may be a couple of years behind.
However, in English speaking markets, we see faster adoption across
the board like India. This is also observed with regard to verticals
in this market, like financial services and healthcare,
we see better adoption of virtualization. The vertical sometimes is
more important then geographic differences.”

Arumugam
further added, “What we have seen in the Indian market is that
there is good adoption of virtualization in the last 1 year. We see
tremendous growth in our business and one thing worth mentioning is
that the adoption is happening across the board. Be it SMB, banking,
financial services, healthcare or manufacturing, we have seen good
adoption rates and now the government is slowly opening up to this
technology.”

Considering
Indian market, the company has witnessed that most of the adopters
have deployed solutions for non-critical or non-core segments of
business. However, now the shift is towards the second stage wherein
companies are considering deploying solutions for critical
applications of business. Expressing his opinion on adoption
competitiveness, Smith said, “As compared to developed markets,
certain verticals in this market are at par with its global
counterparts primarily because of its global competitiveness.

However, in
most other cases, they are behind the developed market but they are
quickly catching up.” Commenting on the channel market, Smith said,
“On a global basis, we are definitely a channel driven company and
85% of our business comes through our channel. However, in India, it
is 100% channel centric business.” Adding to this, Arumugam said,
“We have a structured partner enablement program running in India.
Through this program, we not only enable our partners to sell our
solutions but we also run various technical programs, certifications
like ECP and advanced courses for overall grooming our channel
partners.” As of today, one of the key challenges that the company
is facing in the market is talent retention at partner organizations.