Intelligent Tech Channels Issue 45 | Page 63

CHANNEL CHIEF

BABATUNDE ABAGUN , Channel Sales Manager , West , East and Central Africa at Nutanix , a global provider of hybrid multi-cloud computing solutions . Abagun talks about his current job role and how Nutanix is recruiting partners , working with the channel and developing its business across the African continent .

DDescribe your current job role and the parts that are somewhat challenging ?

My current job role entails recruiting and ensuring that recruited partners are successful across West , East and Central Africa . I also execute on sales campaigns , marketing campaigns and growing partner competency through certifications . In addition , I help partners to sell and carry the Nutanix mission and vision through to their customers the same way Nutanix does .
The somewhat challenging part is ensuring that we have the right level of C-suite support from partners so as to keep maximum mindshare and thus investment on the Nutanix brand from partner organisations .
In a market where many technology decisions are made based on the brand or vendor popularity , I have also found that helping partners to see the unique differentiators of a solution is a challenge .
Can you explain how your company works with channel partners ?
For us , we aim to achieve a true partnership with our partners where both entities work in collaboration – contributing in terms of leads , sales activities , and building competencies with a profitable rewards model to reward partners as they grow competency as well as ensuring that they get additional leads to pursue over and above their typical day-to-day business .
The Nutanix Elevate Channel Programme helps our partners to differentiate themselves in the market by “ elevating ” them .
How do you ensure channel partners flourish in a highly competitive market ?
How I ensure channel partners flourish in a highly competitive market is by helping them differentiate themselves and helping them to adopt a solution-oriented approach to sales . Our Elevate Partner programme is built to allow partners to develop their competencies to enable them to leverage solution sales plays , which in turn helps them build a solution sales approach with their customers .
We also provide a very robust and profitable rebate programme . As part of our Elevate 2.0 launched in August , partners continuously get rebates in alignment with their customer lifetime value .
One unique way we ensure channel partners flourish is by building dedicated channel programmes based on the type of channel partner . Whether you are a systems integrator , a service provider or a reseller , Nutanix has built dedicated and specialised channel programmes for each partner .
For instance , our distributors have a dedicated channel programme and our service provider partners and managed service providers have a different one and so forth .
What are the latest trends you see emerging across the channel ?
So , some of the trends that we see emerging are channel partners looking to make additional revenue from other sources . They are looking to make more revenue from services , residencies and support , not just from the initial sales . So , partners are looking for those OEMs and
Babatunde Abagun , Channel Sales Manager , West , East and Central Africa at Nutanix
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 45 63