In the heart of Piccadilly Circus, amid flashing lights, bustling theatre-goers and an impressive display of Christmas décor, a select 15 business leaders, decision-makers and C-suite executives descended upon the luxurious Café Royal.

Never one to disappoint, this stunning venue, laden with golden accents and amplified by just the right number of Mexican Poinsettias, opened its doors to VMware partners and C-Suite executives, as the sweet aromas of vanilla infused the lobby. The walls of this landmark hotel, formerly frequented by icons such as Oscar Wilde, have heard many things and tonight was no exception, they were in for a real treat.

On this particular evening, our high-class CWO event, Servicing Success: Cloud Partnerships that Deliver gathered an exclusive list of Cloud Service Providers to discuss how to drive their cloud strategy and make it thrive. Guests would learn how to develop their relationship from supplier to strategic partner with the unified aim of continuing to deliver success in an ever-evolving competitive marketplace. Ultimately, they would discover how to align their strategic direction, initiatives and business goals with VMware’s.

Welcomed into the Mayfair room, guests were greeted with bubbles and an introduction by one of the world’s 389 Master of Wines, Anne Kriebiehl. Armed with wit and a fountain of wine knowledge to guide guests through the evening.

VMware speakers of the night included:

Herve Renault, Senior Director Cloud Provider EMEA at VMware

Duncan Greenwood, Vice President Northern EMEA at VMware

Henry Godwin, Director Cloud Provider Northern EMEA at VMware

Herve Renault

Senior Director Cloud Provider EMEA at VMware

Introducing the evening, Herve began his speech by stating he welcomed the challenge as “it is always nicer to start than to finish.” So, what was the night all about?

Herve, who admittedly, despite being French is not at all good with wine, kicked off the evening with a nod to VMware’s top hitting scores this year:

• $3B in Revenue
• 2500 service providers in the EU and Africa
• A diverse market portfolio acquiring 15% of overall cloud business, an increase of 3% from the previous year.

The beginning of a fruitful story he calls it, with cloud sure to end up everywhere, very, very soon.

If the current climate is anything to go by, we’re seeing a healthy and steadfast rise, producing an annual profit of 30% gross, but with this, there have been a few observations along the way. Herve homed in on two main learnings:

• The current climate warrants more investments into building multicloud environments
• 92% of customers are ready for the cloud but don’t want the onerous task of implementing it, meaning there is still an avenue to explore

To achieve this, a great starting point would be building an ecosystem of service providers, who consider VMware as not just suppliers, but strategic partners.

“That’s why we are all here tonight, we want to hear from you, find out your business needs and how we can meet them,” Herve stated as he addressed the roundtables.

To bridge the gap between suppliers and vendors, Herve believes there needs to be a strategic approach, and it begins by moving forward, together. Breaking the cycle and enabling cloud service providers to deliver success armed with sustainable cloud strategies.

Duncan Greenwood

Vice President Northern EMEA at VMware

Duncan followed Herve’s introduction with a summary of his experience with VMware so far. Halfway through his fourth year, he is leading cloud efforts across Northern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

He stated that in the coming years, most UK business will be migrating to the cloud. A fact substantiated by NetApp, quantifying “most” as 60%. And that migration will be occurring within at least the next 12 months.

According to Duncan, one thing he has learnt about cloud, and he will always ensure he reiterates, is that cloud transformation is not a destination, it is a journey. And not just any type of journey, but a hard one.

With VMware a clear leader in private cloud, and placed among the top ten for cloud services, clients can get the services they need from the top cloud player’s in the game.

The market is growing at an exponential rate, with a 30% increase year on year. There’s no chance this will diminish any time soon. When viewing the portfolio and comparing core vs non-core, there’s a comparison ratio of 90:10, making private cloud a clear and distinct business opportunity that must be explored. Businesses want to implement cloud technologies but do not want the cumbrance of running the cloud themselves.

There is an immediate and unique prospect to enable those on their cloud journey with the right strategy as the market accelerates. No other country is developing as fast as the UK, speaking volumes if you consider the current political climate. What impact has uncertainty had? Very little or none. As a matter of fact, Duncan is sure it has had almost the opposite effect.

Transformation is the key to success. Businesses today have to transform to stay relevant, but in doing so, remembering that “what got us to where we are today is not necessarily what will move us ahead and get us to the future.” Businesses need to adapt, now. However, with 30% profit year on year, it could be worse.

Henry Godwin, Director

Cloud Providers Business Northern EMEA at VMware

Henry steered away from the facts and figures, rather I prefer we focus on the art of listening. Why? Because amid the fast-paced nature of business, especially in the current disruptive age of digital it seems “we have all lost the ability to hear”.

Why is this important? Henry continued, because it’s always easy to assume the business needs of our partners and so forth, without engaging directly, or simply even asking what exactly it is they want.

So, this evening, as the curated list of guests prepared to swig and sip their wines, he drove us to ignite the right conversations and ask the important questions.

• Do you know what we do and vice versa?
• Is there a broader offering you can give to clients, and how often do you include them in your conversation?
• What do you need from us as a business?
• What do you need to do to drive your strategy?

Ending his speech by stating, “let’s hear what you have to say because I’ll be listening.”

As the room broke out over a serving of Cornish crab with pea puree and dill mayonnaise, discussions ensued on how as partners they could engage VMware and refer to them when developing their cloud strategy. Realising the true potential and importance of building partnerships and continuing to deliver success, together.

What is Chief Wine Officer?

Chief Wine Officer (CWO) is an ongoing series of B2B networking events. We bring our diverse portfolio of clients together with for C-Level insight, trending business discussions, thought-leadership content and networking opportunities.

Striking the right balance between business and pleasure, our CWO format is unrivalled. Based on connecting prospects in-person, over several glasses of the finest wines and bubbles. To top it off, at each event guests enjoy some light competition, quizzed over the night by a wine aficionado on what wines are tantalising their taste buds. The venue is often the cherry on top – always luxurious, exclusive, and personal. Allowing guests to relax and experience a superb dining experience in the most intimate of settings. Toward the end of the evening, a lucky guest is crowned the coveted title of “Chief Wine Officer”.

Want to experience this exclusive networking opportunity and connect with your C-level peers?