After nine years of selling backup and recovery solutions to small and mid-size businesses, Veeam Software Inc. now boasts 45,000 channel partners and is setting sights on large enterprises. The company intends to maintain intimate partner relationships as it moves up the chain, according to Kevin Rooney (pictured), vice president of channel sales at Veeam Software.

“Even though we are getting bigger, we are staying very entrepreneurial in our approach,” Rooney said during this year’s VeeamOn 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

One might expect that an ecosystem of 45,000 partners would spread the company at its center a bit thin. However, feedback from Veeam partners indicates that somehow it manages to keep the whole lot satisfied. “Our partner program is consistently rated as one of the best in the business,” Rooney told Stu Miniman (@stu) and Dave Vellante (@dvellante), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio. (* Disclosure below.)

The quality of Veeam’s solution is a factor, but the way that it works proactively on partners’ behalf is equally important, Rooney pointed out. Veeam enables partners to earn larger profits through engaging them with training and other programs, he added.

Bringing SMB style to enterprise C-suites

Veeam will carry these tactics, bred in the small and medium-sized business, or SMB, market, up to the C-suites of mega enterprises, Rooney stated.

The day when a conversation with the information technology department opened with a PowerPoint display of product features is gone, according to Rooney. Vendors must first find out what business problems keep IT pros up at night and proceed from those.

IT is increasingly integrated with business departments and the overall revenue model, so its concerns are broadening. “IT is no longer just a support mechanism for businesses. It’s a way to make revenue, and if it’s not done properly, you’re missing a tremendous opportunity” Rooney said.

This is how Veeam has worked with SMBs historically; it believes it is the best approach for modern enterprise IT leaders as well, Rooney concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of VeeamOn 2017. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for VeeamOn 2017. Neither Veeam Software Inc. nor other sponsors have editorial influence on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE