Citrix reinforced its commitment to partners focused on small and medium business (SMBs) through the launch of its Citrix Solution Advisor (CSA) SMB Specialist Program.
This adds a new level within the Citrix Solution Advisor Programme. In order to capitalise on the demand for SMB virtualisation, this scheme will equip new partners with the necessary skills, products and incentives and will enable them to effectively solve customer problems and fully integrate Citrix solutions with SMBs, the company said.
“The four months between the introduction of the SMB Specialist Program at Synergy Barcelona last October and today’s announcement supplied us with the proper time to refine the details and develop a complete package that we are proud to offer the VAR community. This program lays out a cohesive collection of services, marketing and sales tools and training discretely designed for service providers going after an exciting new market opportunity. We feel this offering meets the high standard of our other programs and solidifies our commitment to new and existing Citrix partners,” said Tom Flink, VP, worldwide channel and market development, Citrix Systems.
Citrix’s decision to develop this specialist programme has been fuelled by the increased SMB market demand for virtual desktops, representatives said. In May 2011, a Gartner study found that “SMB organisations are adopting desktop virtualisation at an accelerating rate in order to reduce desktop management costs”. While the small and mid-sized businesses that have already deployed the VDI-in-a-Box solution are enjoying the benefits of enterprise-quality desktop virtualisation, it is the mission of the Citrix Worldwide Channel team to equip new partners going forward, representatives added.
Partner benefits of the SMB Specialist program are also intrinsically tied to the solutions themselves, it was reported. For instance, the combined VDI-in-a-Box and the Citrix GoToManage cloud-based support offering make it easy for managed service providers and IT staff to remotely monitor and support virtual desktop deployments at multiple sites or customer locations while providing partners with additional revenue streams associated with consulting services.
