>> Narrator: From around the globe, it's theCUBE
with coverage of SUSECON Digital,
brought to you by SUSE.
>> Hi and welcome back.
I'm Stuart Miniman.
And this is theCUBE coverage of SUSECON Digital '20.
Getting to the end of a full day wall-to-wall coverage.
We've been rather than everyone getting together
in Dublin where we talk to SUSE executives, their customers
and their partners where they are around the globe,
happy to welcome to the program.
Rachel Cassidy, she is the Senior Vice President
of Global Channel and Cloud.
Thank you so much for joining us.
>> Thank you for having me a pleasure to be here.
>> All right, so love getting to talk
a little bit about the channel,
talk about the whole go to market piece,
maybe you start a little bit if you would, Channel in Cloud,
how do those two go together?
Talk to us a little bit about
what your organization does?
>> Okay, sure. That's great.
So I think this is something new for SUSE.
So at the beginning of this calendar year,
we actually saw a lot of synergy
between how you're going to market
with our full end year system,
and really pulling in all of the different partner type,
(mumbles) our route with supporting our customer,
digital transformation to the Cloud.
So that allowed us to pull all of the alliances together
that really support and and that transformation.
So under this charter,
we're basically looking to fulfill
and support our customers, regardless
of what route they want to use
to help them through this time of digital transformation,
enabling them in whatever type of Cloud environment
is best suited for their business,
whether it's hybrid, or completely public
or born in the Cloud, etc.
So that's what our team is is focused to do.
>> Excellent, interesting to see
how those pieces are coming together.
Of course, one of the big discussions is,
moving more towards that cloud model we've been saying
for years, you know, public Cloud really is that bar
that everything gets managed to add everything
from the consumption model to price
and everything and the like.
I know one of the pieces is that you
have a new partner program,
could you lay out, what's changing?
How does that all work?
Well, what does it mean that how SUSE is going to
work with that ecosystem?
>> Great. Yeah.
So we're very excited about this.
We're releasing or unfolding slowly
our SUSE one partner program.
And this is one holistic partner across all of SUSEs.
I think historically, we had some different programs
that address certain go to market routes or what have you.
And we're pulling that all together,
so we have this larger all encompassing offering.
Already today, we've just soft launched
a brand new partner portal,
so there'll be easier look and feel
and ability to use our systems,
Coming soon, we'll also have an updated
Learning Management System behind the scenes,
so you'll have easier and more access
to different types of training
to support the different roles as you
going to build out your panel in cloud strategy
within your organization,
and all of the supporting services and solutions
that support that as well.
The other big things that we're doing,
and this is a preview of what I mean later
towards the end of the summer,
so this isn't released yet,
but I'm giving you that precursor here.
Is a different approach.
So we're not going to categorize our partners
by I'm an IP or I'm an ISP,
what we're going to do is focus on specialization.
So how to sell Are you a seller of a solution?
Are you a builder?
So you're building integrated solutions
that other partners in the downstream channel can sell?
Are you a managed service provider
or services provider or CSP?
Yeah, so we'll have those different areas of specialization.
But then our partners can opt into one or more
and make their business more impactful to their customers
and we'll support them along that journey.
>> Sounds like that that move is to kind of align more
with what you're seeing customers, I'm assuming.
What do you expect that seems
to have a ripple effect the SUSE's business?
>> Yeah, I think it allows us
to have more of an impact with our customers
make our end and offerings more strategic,
and also allows us to really leverage
and create relationships across
the full partner ecosystem.
So it's not just the a SUSE's specific solution,
but we're looking at what are the use cases
that our customers are trying to solve?
And how do we put the different parts
and pieces of the ecosystem together
to help them get to that next state of success,
whatever that looks like for them,
and oftentimes that's the trifecta
of a multi partner solution.
That then we can package bundle support,
and enable our partner ecosystem
to support customers on as well.
>> Excellent, Rachel, how are you seeing some
of the changes in that ecosystem
impacting what you're doing?
We talked a bit about Cloud,
AI, of course, is a big discussion point
for the event this week.
So how are some of those larger technology trends,
impacting your channel and go to market?
>> Yeah, I mean, the first piece is I think
the different partners are changing their businesses,
there were traditional IAT, they're looking
and expanding their offerings into more services
or MSP type offerings.
So they're looking to really engage and support their
customers through that digital transformation.
And that's what the partner program
and how we're aligning our organization
is in support (mumbles)
And then maybe on the technology roadmap,
we're looking to move up the stack
and be more more impactful with some
of those application-driven solutions.
So MLN, AI, etc.
And how we can be a bigger part of that
and enable our partners to be
successful in that as well.
And then on top of that,
I think the other compelling factor
that we have to offer is through source initiative.
I think especially now in this marketplace,
we're seeing a lot of more,
you know, it was already becoming mainstream,
if you will, but now with COVID-19,
it is a catalyst for innovation.
And we are all about through open
source opportunities and offerings.
And that's what we're also enabling our partner ecosystem
and our end customers jointly together around
so that they can also be successful.
>> Yeah, I've had some great conversations
covering SUSECON, with your partner ecosystem,
talking about the digital transformation,
talking about the date.
Is their framework, are there some new training
that you're rolling out?
Maybe you can expand a little bit on that,
that digital transformation discussion,
how you make sure that you've got
a holistic solution for customers between SUSE
and it's in an ecosystem.
>> Yeah, great question.
So one of the things that we're doing is,
we're calling them to the one partner stack.
And they're modularized, integrated solutions stack.
And we're doing these basically top down and bottom up.
So from a market demand perspective,
where should we be playing?
What are the partners that we should be interlocking with
to create those end to end solutions
that meet high market demand opportunities
and challenges that our customers face today.
And at the same time, we're also building
and defining these from the ground up.
So what are the assets that we're seeing from the field
without any marketing support or anything
just kind of proactively coming through us,
help us solve this problem,
and pulling those parts and pieces together,
and then also making them very modularized.
So that they can be almost like a LEGO Block, if you will.
So you can plug and play the pieces that are relevant
to your specific solutions.
And in the partner world,
if you have your own storage offering or whatnot,
you can use that or you can use art.
So it's very modular.
And it also really helps to address
very tailored civic solutions.
We're starting these kind of a horizontal play.
So looking at some of these new technologies,
like you mentioned, what are we doing in AI veteran
to help support that partner ecosystem
and an end to end solution.
But then the next wave of this is,
what can we do more of that repeatable
and scalable to help our healthcare providers
or automotive opportunities as well.
So the next iteration, our neck neck,
will be to have these solutions to one partner stack,
if you will, for vertical offerings as well.
And then if we're sorry,
you also mentioned framing.
So all of this it's not just building it in the background.
We're doing it in the field,
with our customers, with our partners
and then all of the different supporting components
that you need to be successful from how to support,
do it yourself marketing tips
so that we can empower our partners
to build this into their solutions
or services are also part of this.
And then enablement is a key table stakes for all of it.
And not just on the the parts and pieces
but the end to end offering.
And also looking at that role base.
Like what do I need to really help my customer understand
the value of this end to end solution
all the way down to the support technician
or the deployment architect.
>> Excellent, so Rachel is both in the keynote
and the conversation that I had with Melissa,
there was really a celebration of SUSE being
fully independent now, for a year.
I'm curious what impact that has on the ecosystem,
and how does just being an independent open source company
impact the relationship that you have?
>> I think we've seen a nice uplift
and excitement and opportunity from just that.
So when people choose or go or embrace an open source option
is because they want choice
and we are now the largest independent open source company
in the world, and we're offering advice and flexibility.
And all those values that are key
in the open source, culture and world
are part of SUSE's culture,
which I also think is really important
and it resonates through our partner ecosystem,
but also then extends to our customers.
>> Excellent, I want to give you any final words
you want to share with the ecosystem
as to what they should be looking for,
you give a little bit of a hint
for some things coming out in the summer.
But final takeaways from SUSECON.
>> Yeah, our logo or tagline, if you will,
is the power of many.
And this isn't something that any one
of us can do on our own.
And I think especially in this days, environment,
all the challenges that we're facing,
we're really seeing people come together.
And that is the definition of open source.
And I've been in this environment for quite some time.
I drank the Kool Aid a long, long time ago,
and it's important to us.
So for the partner ecosystem,
like they say, the power of many and work together as one.
And I think that's kind of the the message that resonates,
and we want to make working with us,
whether you're a customer or a partner,
easier to go to market, easier to be innovative
and find those solutions together.
And, part of our overarching mentality is,
to simplify, modernize and accelerate.
So everything we do are under those three pillars,
which I think is really exciting.
And I'm excited to be here and be a part of this,
especially at this time.
>> Well, Rachel Cassidy, thank you so much for updates,
I think perfect note to end things on community,
obviously something that a big focus at the show,
as well as something that is near and dear
to the heart of theCUBE team.
So it's been a pleasure for us to participate
in SUSECON this year and definitely look forward
to many more SUSE events in the future.
Thanks so much for joining us.
>> Stuart thanks for having me.
Have a great day.
>> All right, make sure to check out theCUBE dot net
for all the interviews that we have.
That, well, it shows we will be at future.
I'm Stuart Miniman,
and thank you for joining us for theCUBE.
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