This year, Citrix has made significant progress in simplifying our channel programs and reinvesting in areas we think will drive future success for our business, our partners, and our mutual customers. We are coming off of one of the most channel-centric quarters in many years—in fact, we saw a higher percentage of business through the channel in Q2 of this year than we have seen at any other point in my five-year tenure.
But reaching that milestone was no accident. We set out two goals for ourselves this year for our partner programs:
- Try to build a more predictable revenue model for our partners
- Invest more heavily in our product to give our CSPs more capability and capacity to offer their customers more value.
Towards the first goal, during our Citrix Unite event we introduced offerings for annualized product packaging and annualized commitments, which has been well received from our larger partners. However, in the feedback we received, we realized this transition was more difficult for our smaller partners.
So we set out to explore options that still provide the predictability we want for the business, but a solution that allows these partners to have a clear route to servicing their customers in a model that aligns with how they operate today.
A Better CSP Model for a Broader Part of Our Ecosystem
To solve these challenges, we have reached a strategic partnership with Arrow Electronics, who starting October 1, 2024, will manage the partner ecosystem for any service provider channel partner consuming fewer than 2,000 Citrix licenses. These partners will work exclusively with Arrow in North America and Europe so that we can ensure they have the level of coverage, service, and technical support that they need to be effective in their business and maintain flexibility in the model in how they consume and manage their Citrix licenses.
Arrow is positioned to bridge the gap and open new doors to reach more partners, not just to drive success with the business they have today but also to position them to grow their footprint into new customers and new opportunities. It is truly a win-win for everyone—allowing Citrix to focus our investments on building the best products in the market, giving our smaller channel partners greater enablement, flexibility, and support, and ensuring that our SMB and mid-market customers can continue to get the most from their Citrix solutions.
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