A familiar face can be found on this year’s list of the 2015 CRN Channel Chiefs. CRN’s list, which represents the most powerful leaders in the IT channel, includes VCE’s very own Chris Sullivan for the second year in a row. Chris also was named one of CRN’s 50 Most Influential channel chiefs.
Click to Tweet: Congratulations to VCE’s Chris Sullivan for being a 2015 @CRN Channel Chief! https://www.delltechnologies.com/a-channel-changer-chris-sullivan-named-a-crn-channel-chief/
The honor is well deserved, as Chris continued to evolve VCE’s partnering strategy and led the team to a number of milestones in 2014. This year, VCE focused its investments on increasing engagement and deepening relationships with partners, which has been met with great success through the VCE Partner Program.
With the introduction of VCE Specializations and the VCE Certified Professional Program, VCE has armed partners with enhanced capabilities, tools and skills to sell VCE converged infrastructure. The response has been tremendous: 60 partners have completed more than 140 specializations, and more than 5,000 IT professionals became VCE certified. This success has even driven VCE to create additional specializations for new service and solution categories.
In addition, along with EMC and Cisco, VCE introduced the Cloud Infrastructure Solutions Accelerator, which has encouraged partners with new benefits and incentives. VCE also expanded its technology partnering initiatives with two new certification programs: VCE Vision Ready for partners integrating third-party software with VCE Vision Intelligent Operations, and VCE Validation Ready for enabling partners to test and validate software integrations with VCE converged infrastructure on a remote test bed.
During the last 12 months, there was a 56 percent increase in partner-driven sales, including a record number of new customer acquisitions. VCE is committed to continuing this momentum through 2015 by matching technology innovation with channel innovation, and partners will see VCE continue to make selling VCE converged infrastructure solutions as profitable as possible for partners.
This award is an honor for Chris and for VCE, but it is equally so for VCE partners, whose input and feedback are crucial to VCE’s success. We are incredibly appreciative of the work and effort our partners have made in growing the converged infrastructure market, and are constantly looking for ways to give back. In fact, stay tuned; VCE will soon announce the inaugural winners of the new VCE Global Partner Awards program, highlighting those partners that have committed to moving VCE and converged infrastructure forward.
Here’s to a successful 2015!