NetApp Unveils Unified Data Storage Built for the AI Era | Jenni Flinders

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Jenni Flinders

SVP, Worldwide Partner Organization

NetApp

NetApp’s partner-focused strategy: Analyzing the Partner Sphere program

Partnerships are a core component of the technology space. For NetApp Inc., that ethos has spawned an expansive ecosystem for added value delivery in its native data management solutions domain

play_circle_outline NetApp's partner-first philosophy and culture

play_circle_outline Overview of NetApp's Partner Sphere program and its success

play_circle_outline Incorporating AI and data-driven solutions into channel partner strategies

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Jenni Flinders | NetApp

Jenni Flinders

SVP, Worldwide Partner Organization NetApp

Rebecca Knight

>> Hello everyone and welcome back to theCUBE's live coverage of NetApp Converge here in Sin City. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight, along with my co-host and analyst Rob Strechay. Rob, this is a partner place. -

>> Yeah, it's about partners. That's where NetApp has always been partner first and really leaned into that throughout, from the engineering all the way to sales, to going and engaging to this event. It's always been that.

Rebecca Knight

>> Well, who better to talk about the partner first philosophy than Jenny Flinders. She's the SVP, Worldwide Partner Group at NetApp. Thank you so much for coming on theCUBE, Jenny.

Jenni Flinders

>> Thank you for having me. What an amazing event.

Rebecca Knight

>> Yeah.

>> Yes.

Jenni Flinders

>> Fantastic announcements today.

>> Yeah.

Jenni Flinders

>> And thank you. It is all about partners, okay? So let me be clear. I've got the best job at NetApp. I actually am responsible for our entire global strategy around our partnerships. And you mentioned another thing, it's partner centric, partner first. At NetApp, we do have a partner first culture, and it shines through in so many aspects of what we do. It starts from listening to our partners, to co-selling with them, to helping deliver customer success, and then making sure that we have the programs to support them from an enablement standpoint. Making sure that we are helping them build the certification levels that they need, the solution competencies, to make them the best of the best out there to support NetApp and our customers.

Rebecca Knight

>> So it's fascinating to hear how this is a philosophy, but that is constantly reinforced at the organization from you, from the top down. Talk us through NetApp's Partner Sphere program, what it's all about.

Jenni Flinders

>> So our award-winning Partner Sphere program is a year into its launch since we came out with it. And gosh, the feedback has been phenomenal, from the industry as well as from our partners. What we wanted to do was put together a program that helped our partners differentiate themselves. Take our amazing product portfolio, wrapped around with the services and all other offerings that we have, to bring to market solutions that can help them deliver customer outcomes and to help them be successful as well. So the partner program that we have, Sphere allows us to really interact with our partners based on their business models and how they want to interact with NetApp. So it's been a beautiful program. It's been fantastic. We love it.

>> Yeah, and it's not just about the go-to-market partners like the VARs and disties, and things of that nature. Also, your purview is over people like NVIDIA, who was just on stage, and Lenovo, and some of the OEMs, and things of that nature.

Jenni Flinders

>> That's right.

>> And to that extent, a lot of the revenue for NetApp itself comes from this Sphere, or ecosystem, of partners.

Jenni Flinders

>> Yes.

>> And help us understand just the magnitude of that.

Jenni Flinders

>> So I would say around about 86% of our business is within through our partners. So are we partner-centric? Hell yes. Do we have the best portfolio for us to become even more partner-centric and increase that? Absolutely. Our partnerships stretch across different business models. So like you said, NVIDIA, strategic partner for us. Lenovo, strategic partner for us. And we have so many that are co-engineering with us, co-solutioning, and co-selling. And together, we just bring beautiful stuff to the market for our customers. I think you saw some of that today.

>> Yeah, no, we had them up on stage here and we were really talking about it. And I think to your point, it's about the solution and the outcomes. And that has to be where you're focusing from a partners, is to really how do we deliver outcomes to the partners?

Jenni Flinders

>> Yes. Now, let me add onto this. So recently we did a study. You can call me Ms. Moneybags. That's also good.

Rebecca Knight

>> 86%.

Jenni Flinders

>> We did a study recently with a firm called Canalys. They're an independent analyst firm. And we wanted to show our partners, beyond just selling our product, how do you really monetize the NetApp relationship? And for every $1 of NetApp sold, a partner can make up to $4.55 over and above that in services. And what we've been doing with the Partner Sphere program, and everything that we are engaging with these partners through different business models, is showing them how to monetize based on their differentiating factors, based on their solutions, their services models, their capabilities. And it's just been fantastic. So it's not just the portfolio. It's then some, because you know what? That's how we deliver customer success. It's not just selling the product, it's actually delivering that outcome.

Rebecca Knight

>> So we know that customers are clamoring for demand for AI and for data-driven solutions. How are you planning to weave this trend into channel partner strategies to fuel excitement and further adoption of the NetApp offerings?

Jenni Flinders

>> We already have.

Rebecca Knight

>> Done?

Jenni Flinders

>> It's done. We did it.

Rebecca Knight

>> Mission accomplished.

Jenni Flinders

>> In Partner Sphere, we have the AI competency, solution competency. So we already have partners that are attaining that solution competency, where we're working with them to develop that capability in the market. Done. We knew this was going to happen a long time ago. We planned for it. Ahead of the curve.

>> So when you look at it and you look at your partner ecosystem, and it's very robust. And I think to your point about the 4.55, not six or four, but five five, so over four and a half times every dollar. These competencies are helping them build up their teams to be able to deliver these solutions.

Jenni Flinders

>> It's a fantastic way to work with our partners. Not only are we building capabilities, but we also showing our sellers within NetApp who are the best partners with the best capabilities out there. And that is what Partner Sphere delivers for us as well. So you can see who's got the various competencies that you need to engage with the customer.

Rebecca Knight

>> So your leadership, your confidence is really infectious. And I want to ask you a question about leadership, because here we are at this really exciting event where there's so much buzz, so much energy and momentum. How do you, as the leader, channel this back to your team and make sure that you carry forward with it? Because you want to keep everyone moving forward in the same direction and making sure that you are taking advantage of this incredible event.

Jenni Flinders

>> It starts with wearing great shoes.

Rebecca Knight

>> Okay. All right. All right.

>> Makes sense.

Jenni Flinders

>> No. So that is a great question. But the shoes are very important on stage. We are a very infectious team, a high-spirited team, very passionate about the company and more so our partners. And in fact what we are doing this year at Converge is we've launched, in a big way, the whole co-selling motion with our sellers. So we are literally taking our sellers through enablement sessions on how to co-sell with partners, how to engage them, how to do strategic planning with them, territory planning. Bring them into deals, they bring us into deals. And how we just co-sell together, it's just a fantastic thing. So you'll see a lot of branding around this event, and it's all about net up co-selling with partners. So it's getting very infectious, besides the swag we're handing out. You can't miss it.

>> Yes, I think the swag game is very strong here. We go to a lot of events.

Jenni Flinders

>> Very on point.

>> It was very on point. And I think that, again, brings back to people and they understand and, "Oh yeah, this is that." And I think we were talking about it earlier, the fact that you don't want the sellers who are in the rooms on their laptops and on their phones-

Jenni Flinders

>> Absolutely....

>> but you want them understanding and taking this opportunity to not only work through the process and learn it, but to actually focus and network with the folks that are here as well.

Jenni Flinders

>> Yeah. Look, we've always been a partner-centric company and we love our partners. We could not be successful without them. And the way our product portfolio has just become more awesome with everything that you're seeing, we have to develop new capabilities, but we also have to bring our sellers along and make sure that we're showing them how we are building these capabilities out there in the market, to give them confidence to engage with the right partner within their customer base.

Rebecca Knight

>> So Jenny, what's next? Here we are at this brilliant event, but then what are you focused on over the next year?

Jenni Flinders

>> So I'd say a couple of things. AI is big for us. Being super successful... I mean, it would be a shame if people don't engage on our solutions. It'll be a loss for them. No. But partners see the excitement and they're very excited about everything that we've announced. So we're going to be bulldozing forward. We're going to be successful in our ASA block approach as well. We're going to be successful in our co-selling. Partners will see and feel the difference in that as well. We will continue to innovate in Partner Sphere, bringing the right solution competencies to market that really help our partners differentiate themselves. And you know what, we are the calm amongst the storm, especially when it comes to VMware, right? There's a lot of customers out there today that are not quite sure what to do. We got partners that can literally help them no matter what destination they want to end up landing on. So we've got an amazing set of partners out there. I am confident about how successful we're going to be with them, and I'm excited about what this year is going to hold for us.

Rebecca Knight

>> And you're going to wear great shoes.

Jenni Flinders

>> Oh, always.

Rebecca Knight

>> Jenny Flinders, a pleasure having you on theCUBE.

Jenni Flinders

>> Thank you. Thanks very much.

Rebecca Knight

>> Thanks. I'm Rebecca Knight. For Rob Strechay, stay tuned for more of theCUBE's live coverage of NetApp Converge. You are watching theCUBE, the leader in technology enterprise news, coverage, and analysis.

Jenni Flinders | NetApp

Rebecca Knight

>> Well, who better to talk about the partner first philosophy than Jenny Flinders. She's the SVP, Worldwide Partner Group at NetApp. Thank you so much for coming on theCUBE, Jenny.

Jenni Flinders

>> Thank you for having me. What an amazing event.

Rebecca Knight

>> Yeah.

>> Yes.

Jenni Flinders

>> Fantastic announcements today.

>> Yeah.

Jenni Flinders

Rebecca Knight

Jenni Flinders

>> That's right.

>> And to that extent, a lot of the revenue for NetApp itself comes from this Sphere, or ecosystem, of partners.

Jenni Flinders

>> Yes.

>> And help us understand just the magnitude of that.

Jenni Flinders

>> Yes. Now, let me add onto this. So recently we did a study. You can call me Ms. Moneybags. That's also good.

Rebecca Knight

>> 86%.

Jenni Flinders

Rebecca Knight

Jenni Flinders

>> We already have.

Rebecca Knight

>> Done?

Jenni Flinders

>> It's done. We did it.

Rebecca Knight

>> Mission accomplished.

Jenni Flinders

Rebecca Knight

Jenni Flinders

>> It starts with wearing great shoes.

Rebecca Knight

>> Okay. All right. All right.

>> Makes sense.

Jenni Flinders

>> Yes, I think the swag game is very strong here. We go to a lot of events.

Jenni Flinders

>> Very on point.

Jenni Flinders

>> Absolutely....

>> but you want them understanding and taking this opportunity to not only work through the process and learn it, but to actually focus and network with the folks that are here as well.

Jenni Flinders

Rebecca Knight

>> So Jenny, what's next? Here we are at this brilliant event, but then what are you focused on over the next year?

Jenni Flinders

Rebecca Knight

>> And you're going to wear great shoes.

Jenni Flinders

>> Oh, always.

Rebecca Knight

>> Jenny Flinders, a pleasure having you on theCUBE.

Jenni Flinders

>> Thank you. Thanks very much.

Rebecca Knight