Six months ago, I joined Citrix as the head of the worldwide Citrix Service Provider (CSP) business. I immediately set off on a listening tour, which took me around the world to 17 cities in 11 countries. During this time, I met with over 100 CSP partners—new and long-time partners, big and small and of all types of business models.

Via these partner exchanges, it became very evident to me that the needs of CSP partners are different from those of traditional Citrix business partners. In the world of cloud, it seems like things are changing on a daily basis, which makes the world of a CSP partner that much more interesting. As a result, we created the CSP Partner Exchange (CSPx) earlier this year.

The CSPx initiative seeks the feedback of our CSP partners as input into our program, product, sales and marketing motions. Given the diversity of the cloud ecosystem, which is reflected in our CSP business, CSPx members comprise the gambit of partner types, from ISV to Cloud Service Providers and Digital Agencies.

The first CSPx meetings took place in Fort Lauderdale and London; further recognizing that geographical differentiation also applies to CSP. The Americas and EMEA CSPx groups are comprised of key CSP partners hand selected based on their business model and geographic location, with the goal that CSPx members are indeed representative of the CSP partner base.

Initial learnings from the CSPx meetings are proving invaluable as we move the CSP business forward.

  • When it comes to cloud, the needs of customers continue to expand and evolve. Our partners want us to continue to look for innovative offerings that address market demands (vertical offerings, product integration and visibility into product roadmaps).
  • There is pricing pressure in the market. Partners per unit cost continues to increase as competitive pressures are driving down end customer prices. Partners need greater flexibility and options when it comes to pricing.
  • Differentiation is proving critical in the cloud world. Partners would like to see a differentiated program that provides the right level of support and rewards the best partners for their commitment to Citrix and value they deliver to customers.

It is my goal to provide a frictionless program that allows our partners to deliver solutions to their customers faster, better and profitably. To support this objective, our CSP team is focused on several areas.

  • Continued expansion of the partner ecosystem aimed at driving solutions into new markets and geos
  • Improve our program with a focus on business expansion, customization, simplification and differentiation
  • Improve communication with our partners in order to support their success.
  • Most importantly, continued incorporation of partner and market feedback into everything that we do

I’m listening and will continue to listen because partner feedback is the single most important competent to our success. In this spirit, I very much welcome your thoughts and feedback. Please feel free to send me an email at carlos.blanco@citrix.com or leave a comment below.


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