This is a guest blog post by Michael “Q” Quirin, Partner, Alchemy Technology Group.

It’s been a challenging couple of years, for everyone. Here at my company, Alchemy Technology Group, we didn’t want to boil the ocean, and even going back to when we first started out, our goal was really to put the value back in value added reseller. We can’t be everything to everyone, but where we do play, we want to be the best.

This January, Alchemy was announced the CSP Worldwide Partner of the Year at Citrix Field Kickoff 2022. This announcement served as such a rich form of validation for the incredible work our team put into everything we accomplished with our customers in 2021, another year full of unique challenges and constant learnings. Since achieving this great recognition of success, we’ve spent some time here at Alchemy reflecting upon what went right last year to lead us to this place, and how we can continue focusing our efforts and fine-tuning our approach throughout the coming months to see even greater success in 2022.

What did that success look like in 2021? To start, we almost doubled our total year-over-year bookings, setting a new company benchmark for cloud booking. We really attribute this to keeping our sights set on making the shift to cloud with an approach that puts the end customer in the driver’s seat.

Customer-First Philosophy

Our “customer first” philosophy enables us to establish deep relationships with both customers and vendors, resulting in top-tier revenue performance and industry recognition. We’re committed to keeping our customers at the forefront of everything we do, and this approach rings true as we help customers make the shift to the cloud with managed services, allowing them to easily choose between products and services that can be implemented and managed on-premises, off-premises, via hybrid cloud or a combination of all three — the epitome of flexibility. Alchemy has made the shift to providing the know-how and business acumen to aid Citrix in its transformation journey by advocating the products and services that best fit customers’ needs.

Everything we do here at Alchemy is built on sustained, trust-based relationships with partners like Citrix and our customers, as well as internal employees, and that’s really how we’ve crafted this organization. It’s fun because in this kind of business, all three can win: you can show the customer success, we as the partner can win internally, and then Citrix ultimately wins, as well.

Responding to Evolving Business Needs

One portion of the Citrix Field Kickoff Closing Keynote that really resonated with me and my team was when Tim Minahan, Citrix’s EVP of Business Strategy and CMO, and Tricia Atchison, Citrix’s VP of Worldwide Partner Engagement and Experience shared: “If 2020 was the year of uncertainty, 2021 was the year of decisive change.”

What it really comes down to, given these challenges, is that many customers are clamoring for change. In our conversations with customers, we’re hearing common, persistent themes around the need for flexibility and agility, as well as automation, to enable customers to do more faster and with less.

When discussing cloud, we hear customers talk a lot about wanting the ability to flex up and down as we continue navigating through COVID times. There are a lot of companies that have experienced workforce contraction, yet they are stuck owning a whole bunch of licenses, because they had just signed long-term license contracts pre- or right at the start of the pandemic. This need for flexibility extends beyond improved IT efficiency and reduced IT costs. When COVID forced workers out of the office and into their homes around the world, the need for high quality and secure remote workspaces became critical overnight.

When it comes to securing your remote workforce, what used to be a nice-to-have is now a must-have. These must-haves are things Citrix has been doing for decades — providing the workforce, most of them still working from home, with secure remote access where they get a very rich user experience. User experience and remote work is more important than it’s ever been.

Keys to Success

With 85 “Alchemists,” we are small enough to be very flexible, so as customer needs change, we’re very quick to adapt. Our relationships are our number one focus, across the entire business. We try to have very open communication internally, with our technology partners and with our customers. We constantly have conversations with our customers to make sure that we are aligned with their initiatives and have a vision of what they’re dealing with now, as well as what their ideals are where they want to take things — and we build for it. And that’s everything from having the right technologies embedded and ready to go, to having services around providing the right talent and expertise.

Looking ahead, we’re focused on continuing to evolve in new directions. We want to continue to be great at what we do, so we don’t want to lose sight of that. But we’re constantly trying to figure out how to evolve. Change really is the only constant — especially in technology.

Together with Citrix we are continuing to provide customers with a level of expertise and effort that is truly transformative to their business, and that of their customers. We have over 600 active customers across many verticals with an emphasis on healthcare, oil and gas, and finance, but our approach remains the same no matter who we’re working with — we’re constantly striving to transform the way people work, enabling organizations to deliver a secure, always-on workspace. The key is to set out on that journey with our customers, gaining a true understanding of their goals and selecting the right products and services to meet their unique business needs. We’re excited to continue putting customers at the heart of everything we do and to carry the momentum of our CSP Worldwide Partner of the Year win forward into the rest of 2022.

Learn more about Alchemy Technology Group and see the complete list of Citrix Partner of the Year Award winners.