Earlier this year, during the Ingram Micro Cloud Summit, I shared my thoughts about Citrix, our initiatives, and trends in the channel.

1) Continue Evolution of the Channel

Citrix has a long history of partnering, and we are renewing our commitment and focusing on reinvigorating the Citrix Channel. In many segments — key partner communities such as commercial and SMB — we’ll be 100 percent channel. As part of that, we are also expanding our partner profiles to include business models such as services providers and managed services companies.

As we continue to share our story with those potential partners, Citrix focuses on our value to them — and their customers. The tech solutions we have at Citrix create a tailwind in a turbulent market, making it easier for our partners to sell, sell more, and sell faster. Plus, our solutions portfolio is profitable, no matter what type of channel business you have. I think we can agree: If it’s easy to sell and makes you money, that is where you want to be, especially as predictions around recession begin to surface.

2) What’s Coming in the Channel?

I recently wrote a LinkedIn article relating tessellation and channel partner ecosystem. So first, tessellation is a mathematical term meaning a pattern of geometric shapes that fill a 2D space with no gaps or overlays (think a nicely tiled floor). That is what I expect the channel to look like in five years. There will be a lot of pieces and players, and we all need to fit together in a way that is beneficial to our partners and their customers. Again, the winners will be those who create value and enable the channel to sell nimbly and with solid margins.

3) Long-Term Trends

When we look at 2023 and beyond, there is one particular trend I expect to gain momentum: marketplaces and hyperscalers. Among those players are Citrix alliance partners Microsoft, Google, and AWS, and they are very busy determining what role they can play and where they fit with the channel and all its elements. It all comes back to tessellation!

Watch the interview below:

P.S. As a bonus, you’ll also hear about my dream role on Broadway