Technology Reseller - v13 2018

technolog y reseller.co.uk Data Management 31 Willing and enabled transformation journey rather than technology per se, providing customers with a roadmap of how to get where they want to be in a few years’ time. “The first thing to do is to understand where your data is and to catalogue it, then to integrate it into other systems and then to deal with quality, mastering and all that other stuff. We help customers along that journey,” explained Murphy. Informatica identifies four main customer ‘journeys’: 1 Cloud/Hybrid for locating, managing and controlling data in today’s hybrid cloud and on-premise environments; 2 Next Generation Analytics to help organisations understand and use data effectively, once it is under control; 3 360 Engagement to provide a complete view of customer and supplier relationships; and 4 Data Governance and Compliance, which is less about the big stick and more about how to turn data compliance and governance to competitive advantage. Partner network Over the last few years, Informatica has been going through a business transformation of its own, gradually moving from a business model based on the upfront selling of software licences to one based on cloud subscriptions. It is now accelerating this process with an enhanced channel partner programme, channel expansion (it has added 150 new partners in the last 12 months) and a new Steve Murphy, Senior Vice President and General Manager EMEA & LATAM, Informatica, was full of confidence when Technology Reseller caught up with him shortly after the European leg of the enterprise cloud data management leader’s revamped global partner event. And with good reason. With 9,000 customers around the world and 350,000 people trained on its products, Informatica is the global leader in cloud data management and EMEA & Latin America is its fastest growing region, outstripping even the US and China. For Murphy, as head of what he describes as “the blue-eyed team” within Informatica, the current market is full of potential. Backed with an enhanced channel programme, new SME pricing and a channel recruitment programme, he is confident of meeting his target to double sales by 2020. Two market developments in his favour are the desire for digital transformation, which is helping to release data from storage and get it to work for business, and the massive growth in data created by humans, machines and, with the Internet of Things, dumb machines. “There are 25 billion things connected to the internet now, whereas just four or five years ago, when I was working at Ericsson, we were predicting 5 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020. Everything is exploding,” he said. Data management platform The Informatica Intelligent Data Platform helps organisations control and make use of their data by providing a shared source of governed and trusted data collected from on-premise, cloud and hybrid systems (including databases, applications, social media, IoT and big data systems), plus a complete portfolio of modular solutions for data integration, big data management, cloud data management, data quality, master data management and data security. With all bases covered, Informatica prefers to talk about the digital There are 25 billion things connected to the internet now, whereas just four or five years ago, when I was working at Ericsson, we were predicting 5 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020 Technology Reseller finds out more about Informatica’s new reseller program and pricing model from Steve Murphy, Senior Vice President and General Manager EMEA & LATAM. Overleaf, Kate Tickner from Entity Group explains why she welcomes the new partner enablement strategy pricing strategy designed to help partners attract SME and mid-market organisations. Currently about 70% of Informatica’s revenue comes from partners that receive margin or influencer fees. Murphy estimates that 30% comes from influencers, typically systems integrators including the Big Four (Deloitte, Accenture, Capgemini and PWC), that talk to customers about data management and recommend the Informatica platform as a solution; and 40% from resellers that resell Informatica software directly. Murphy points out that in addition to license fees and subscriptions, value added resellers and other channel partners generate revenue from services that go alongside Informatica products. “Typically, there’s a 3:1 or even a 4:1 ratio, so when a customer spends one dollar with Informatica, partners get three or four dollars from services. Customers tend to keep our technologies for ever – 98% renew their licence every year and, for the 2% that don’t, it’s normally because they went out of business or were bought by someone else. Customers will often go back to the partner community for years to come, asking for help with the integration of another product or the mastering of data from a company they have just bought. We sell them the licence and we go away; the partner stays in there,” he said. Growing through the channel The channel is likely to become even more important for Informatica in the future, as it becomes more dependent on resellers and other partners to achieve its ambitious growth targets. “We have been working with resellers for 25 years and it’s fair to say that the relationship we have had with our partners has been more about delivery,” explained Murphy. “What we have now, because of data acceleration, is the opportunity for partners to really grow their businesses. We are looking to double our revenues in the next 18 months here in EMEA and Latin America, and all of that growth is going to be through our partners. “If I am going to double my business in the next two years, it is a given that Continued... Steve Murphy