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WE INTRODUCED
OUR NEW
PRODUCTS
AT GITEX
TECHNOLOGY
WEEK 2018 AND
IN THE NEW YEAR
YOU’RE GOING TO
SEE US CONTINUE
TO DELIVER ON A
WHOLE HOST OF
NEW PRODUCTS.
How important are your partners for
the business?
The only way we go to market is through
our partners. We do not direct-sell – we
believe in the model and understand that
the model has the best reach so it’s the
single best way to increase customer and
end-user satisfaction. We’ve perfected this
with people like Andy Zollo, who’s a master
in the process of partners here in Europe and
in the Middle East, with Lee Schor in North
America and with Marvin Blough globally.
These people have got a pedigree of leading
channel environments.
doesn’t mean it works across the rest of
the US. The reality is that you have to have
local presence to manage local markets.
There’s a difference between France and
the UK. There’s a difference between
California, Texas and Massachusetts. People
believe that because those American
companies share the same tax laws
and business strategies, there’s a lot of
commonality. Ultimately, there’s a unique
group of people and it comes down to
relationships and people.
Some believe it’s expensive, but I think we
try to extend our company culture into our
partner base which seems to bring a real
level of loyalty and commitment.
What are StorageCraft’s plans for
the coming year?
We introduced our new products at GITEX
Technology Week 2018 and in the new year
you’re going to see us continue to deliver
on a whole host of new products. We’ll be
delivering a lot of these products in Q1
and then in Q2. It will become routine in
the fact that we have to have this constant
volley of new products to be relevant and
more importantly, to be current. We’ve
invested and doubled the R&D expenditures
with StorageCraft’s acquisition of Exablox
in early 2017.
So, a lot of that money we used in our
investment, we doubled down on the
number of people we have in R&D and the
expectation is that we’re going to double the
number of products. So, look for a continued
volley of new products, look for us to perfect
our partner programme. I’m really pleased
with the new partner programme, but I
think there’s a great opportunity for us to
now start demonstrating the economics
to the partner on utilising not just our
technology, but our partner programme.
Look for the continued conversion of our
revenue streams to be more global – we’re
still highly dependent on North America and
while it shouldn’t be more than 50% of our
revenue, today it represents about 90% of
our revenue.
And finally, I’d say that we must perfect
with our partners, the advantage that a
subscription model builds. We’ve done a
pretty good job of it – roughly 50% of our
revenue is coming from a subscription model
and I’m going to feel good when we’re
about 70%. n
What’s amazing is that our net promotor
score has steadily increased as we put more
emphasis on the channel model of our
business. Again, it’s not net promoter score
measuring what the channel thinks of us, it’s
the end customer and what they think of us
that’s changing remarkably well.
Are there any regional differences
between what the customers
are requesting from partners and
from StorageCraft?
Absolutely. If anyone tells you differently,
challenge whether they’re global. My belief
is that just because it works in Silicon Valley,
www.intelligentcio.com
Matt Medeiros, CEO
and Chairman of
StorageCraft
INTELLIGENTCIO
99