Smells Like vSpirit – VMware & Blue Sky Systems Rock!
There are lots of titles I could have used for this post but when Jonathan Bastin, Director at Blue Sky Systems told me his customer said “in working with you, we’ve finally found our ‘Nirvana’” I couldn’t resist!?
As an organisation that’s had VMware at the core since forming in 2014, Blue Sky Systems stand out because they refuse to stand still. As one of a handful of partners in my portfolio to proactively take VMware Cloud Director to market – I’m excited by their ability to create new service offerings that capitalise on VMware’s capabilities.??
So, during a break at the recent VMware partner event, I sat down virtually with Jonathan to learn more about their successes so far and plans for the future.?
Tell me the story behind Blue Sky Systems:?
“Back in 2014 we saw the start of public cloud becoming commonplace, but cloud itself was nothing new – people have been using Hotmail for years. What was new was the functionality on offer.?
The issue was that while public cloud solutions were great for large organisations with teams of IT people, SME’s didn’t have those skillsets inhouse.??
So, we made it our mission to provide cloud as a fully managed service where customers get what they want – an infrastructure that just works. In practice this meant incredible uptime and SLAs you can’t get in public cloud. And we put VMware at the heart of this offering.”?
That sounds like throwing down the gauntlet – you’d better give me some stats!?
“My pleasure ???
We should note that not all SLAs are equal – the SLA you’ll get from a public cloud provider is related to their platform, the SLAs Blue Sky provide our customers go right to their OS.”?
How has VMware grown with your business??
“What we’ve seen is VMware constantly evolving but not for the sake of change. Events like NSX being re-written, the release of vSAN, and support for Nvidia via vGPU has enhanced our customer offerings.??
A memorable example is we now have a boat design specialist using the infrastructure we provide to give customers the ability to design their own yachts at the click of a button.”?
I’ll take a blue one please! So, from yacht design to programme design – what is it about VMware that works especially well for you??
领英推荐
“I’d say Flex Core for VMware Cloud Providers. With some vendors, it’s like having to buy a new car when you get a flat tyre. But with Flex Core, the base functionality we offer customers has increased – we can dip our toe in the water with a range of VMware offerings that support growing customer requirements rather than buying an entire suite.”??
What do you value most from your TD Synnex partnership??
“When we were a start-up with minimal investment, it was refreshing that you wanted to rapidly grow the credit you offered to partners – cashflow is king! Having credit extended in line with our growth made a material difference to our ability to service customers.??
At a tactical level, we rely on TD Synnex to keep us up to date with licensing changes that ensure we can maximise the points system in line with our growth objectives.? And there’s always fun to be had in testing you to the edges of your technical knowledge Dan!”?
Easy Jonathan! If you were to describe how VMware helps you differentiate your offering, what would that look like??
“Like a clear blue sky of course! In all seriousness, our customers are too busy working on their business to be distracted by provisioning and supporting IT infrastructure. So we make it our mission to give them reliability of service and simplicity in billing.??
How do you find the price comparison issue – is it hard to sell on value vs public cloud cost??
“It’s a fair point, but then you remember lots of people leave hyperscalers after receiving unexpectedly large invoices they can’t decipher. With VMware and the IaaS we offer, you get predictable, manageable pricing.??
From a value perspective, the development VMware has put in is worth paying for. And, with our managed service, you get the correct technical response. Some people don’t realise until it’s too late that if your public cloud hypervisor is broken, you have to get your credit card out just to log the call.”?
And finally....what’s next??
“With VMware Cloud Director, we’re extending our offerings to allow customers the level of access they want. Whereas some want a fully managed service, others would like the ability to do light management. This will help us grow the market we are attractive to towards the growing number of businesses who are falling out of love with their public cloud solution.”?
So, there you have it – an organisation with true VMware spirit! Here’s to more blue sky thinking (sorry, not sorry!).??
----------------------------------------?
Ready to discuss how VMware Cloud can help your customers reach their nirvana? Drop me a DM.?