Selling the FlexPod Data Center Solution

Transcription

1 Selling the FlexPod Data Center Solution The opportunity is clear Your customers need to reduce their overall operating expenses while increasing their agility and ability to respond to changing market conditions. The solution is compelling The FlexPod Data Center Solution combines the computing, storage, and networking expertise from NetApp and Cisco to deliver the cost, performance, and management improvements your customers need. Avnet can help! Fast configuration and ordering processes Pre-assembled and tested solutions delivered to your customer Vertical industry expertise to help drive new and incremental revenue Ongoing support to help you and your customers maximize ROI

2 Selling the FlexPod Data Center Solution Selling the FlexPod Data Center Solution...4 The Avnet Advantage...5 Know Your Prospect...7 Qualifying Questions...8 Solving Common Business Problems with FlexPod...9 Streamlining your Sales Process...10 Handling Objections...13 Tools and Resources...14

3 The Market is Primed for a New Data Center Solution In response to growing needs for a flexible, cost-effective IT solution that will fit into current infrastructures, many organizations are moving away from silos of servers, storage, and networking resources toward higher levels of virtualization and the cloud. The FlexPod Data Center Solution from Cisco and NetApp directly addresses these needs via a validated, shared infrastructure that scales vertically or horizontally across many different application workloads and environments. And though you re well aware of this revolutionary new data center architecture and have certainly had success selling FlexPod what s kept you from truly capitalizing on the potential of this breakthrough solution and maximizing your FlexPod sales? If you re like many resellers we work with, the answer comes down to a simple concept: When budgets are tight and resources are slim, you only have so much time and energy to dedicate to identifying and nurturing potential FlexPod sales. But, because the solution holds immense potential both in terms of serving existing customers and acquiring new ones it s important to do what you can to make the most of your FlexPod business. FlexPod meets the needs of customers who have the following requirements: Migration to a shared infrastructure with many applications Improved agility to meet growth and key business initiatives Lower cost per user without sacrificing scalability Need to improve operational agility, processes, and costs Evolution to operations that align with ITIL-based standards Deployment of dedicated applications that support software as a service (SaaS), VDI, and other cloud environments 3

4 Selling the FlexPod Data Center Solution FlexPod is a pre-designed, pre-validated infrastructure building block Built On Cisco UCS, Cisco Nexus data center switches, NetApp FAS storage components, and a range of software partners that can be easily customized to address a variety of requirements. The FlexPod definition and value proposition are clear and compelling: What is FlexPod? What does it do? What this means to your customer? FlexPod is a pretested, pre-validated, scalable data center solution that leverages best-of-breed technologies from NetApp and Cisco to increase business agility while lowering deployment risks, accelerate application deployment by compressing project timelines, and reduce TCO by leveraging the efficiencies of a shared infrastructure. We do this by combining validated technologies from industry leaders in storage, networking, and server virtualization to create a single, integrated platform that can scale both vertically and horizontally and incorporate third-party infrastructure management solutions. With this architecture, you ll be able to lower capital and operating expenses, enhance IT agility, and realize faster cloud deployments that are driven by simplified, standardized, repeatable processes. Oftentimes, however, just relaying the value prop is not enough you need prove it in terms the prospect will understand. Avnet can help you in this regard by giving you the option to have our technical experts accompany your staff to any site visits at your prospect s location. They ll work closely with you to: Quickly and effectively asses the prospect s needs Scope the solution Illustrate how your solution will deliver the benefits described in the value proposition 4

5 The Avnet Advantage At Avnet, we understand the challenges you face, and we recognize the potential benefits the FlexPod architecture can bring to your business. And, with our proven solutions distribution expertise and strong relationships with NetApp and Cisco as well as other complementary solution providers we are uniquely qualified to help you take advantage of your FlexPod opportunities and maximize the effectiveness of your sales efforts. To help you achieve these goals, you can leverage FlexPod Services by Avnet FSA a single source for the products, assembly, testing, technical expertise, and pre-sales support you need to quickly and successfully close high-profit FlexPod sales. FSA provides the end-to-end resources required to help you understand your prospect s needs, customize the FlexPod architecture to fit these requirements, and quickly deliver a finished product and support and enhance it throughout every step of the data center lifecycle. Best of all, you can engage with Avnet for support at any point in the sales cycle to help drive the deal to a rapid, successful close either via your dedicated FlexPod Services team or by calling GO-FLEXPOD ( ) so you can identify more prospects, pitch more solutions, and pump more dollars to your bottom line. Your FlexPod Services Team A dedicated solution sales and services team provided by Avnet and focused exclusively on FlexPod, your FlexPod Services by Avnet team provides: Pre-sales support for fully configured FlexPod solutions Ordering and POS/benefit tracking Assembly, pre-test, and shipment of fully configured FlexPod solutions Demand generation and marketing for new FlexPod opportunities Upgrades for FlexPod solutions sold through FSA Service contract and asset tracking of all FlexPod components Help identifying and driving post-sale demand generation activities Roadmap for partners to successfully specialize in key high-growth vertical markets 5

6 Typical Configurations Avnet has leveraged FlexPod s flexibility and scalability to test and document several FlexPod configurations that can address many customer requirements. Use this configuration to address either of these customer scenarios VDI Users Virtual Machines VELFP200VDI75VM VFP.500VDI.140VM.M3 (NetApp FAS3210A) VFP.500VDI.140VM.M3 (NetApp FAS3240AE) VFP.1000VDI.200VM.M3 VFP.1500VDI.350VM.M3 VFP.2000VDI.350VM.M3 VFP.2500VDI.550VM.M3 VFP.3000VDI.625VM.M Configuration details including complete product listing, workload assumptions, and power information are fully presented in the final pages of this Selling the FlexPod Data Center Solution guide. Partnering with Avnet to sell and deliver FlexPod can mean several advantages to your business, including: Simplicity Standardization Performance and Configuration Excellence: Single, easy-to-understand quotes for the entire FlexPod solution Single ordering process and invoice Vartopia registration tool to register one FlexPod deal with multiple vendors A FlexPod solution that is pre-assembled, pre-tested, and shipped complete Sales processes that take costs out of your business, while helping you close profitable sales and drive dollars to your bottom line Validated FlexPod designs ensure consistent results for both you and your customers Configuration guidance and support from certified experts provides the confidence that you ll be delivering the best results to your customers A dedicated FlexPod solutions sales and service team within Avnet Support that helps you to add to the FlexPod brand integrity and benefit from the reputations of the vendors behind the architecture 6

7 Know Your Prospect When marketing FlexPod, it s important to craft your messages so they will quickly resonate with the different roles throughout your prospect s organization. The following are the key individuals you should be targeting, and the best ways to communicate the value of FlexPod to them: CIO VP Operations/ Director IT Infrastructure: Infrastructure Architect Accelerate data center transformation through a flexible IT architecture Reduce TCO with higher data center efficiency to: Decrease the number of operational processes Shorten deployment times Reduce energy consumption Maximize resources Leverage existing infrastructure to new ends Reduce risk with a pre-validated infrastructure stack Benefit from cooperative support and ecosystem of industry-leading partners One platform and set of operational skills and processes for all sites, applications, and security zones Proven, repeatable configuration approach Right-sized components that deliver consistency via known power, floor space, and capacity Infrastructure pools enable centralized management Application integration and wide feature support Extended management capabilities Proven, validated architecture Cisco Validated Designs (CVDs) and guides for deployment and optimization Secure multi-tenancy features can be easily added as needed 7

8 Qualifying Questions The following questions and follow-up statements will help you highlight the strengths of the FlexPod architecture and the value of building a solution with the help of a knowledgeable, experienced, and certified integrator. Qualifying Questions Many organizations have taken the first step toward cloud computing by virtualizing parts of their IT infrastructure. How familiar are you with the concepts and benefits of cloud computing or IT-as-a-Service? Follow-Up Questions What are the key factors that would likely drive your need to transform your data center (cost, agility, productivity, and so on)? How would you rate your organization s desire to support multiple business units, entities, or customers within one shared, virtualized infrastructure? Does a cloud environment offer your organization enough advantages for you to consider it? Are there partners you have looked to when designing, implementing, and supporting your current infrastructure? Dynamic cloud environments require flexible IT resources. Have you thought about the improvements in business agility and time to market that you could gain by provisioning, scaling, and resizing resources almost instantaneously? How long does it take to provision test orders or new applications? How long does it take you to provision or repurpose virtual machine storage? How does that impact your organization? Who else is affected? How do you establish QoS between virtual machines and applications? How important is time to market to your operations? How would a customized, pre-integrated solution that s ready to run upon delivery help you better serve your customers and execute new business strategies? How do you respond to requests to accelerate time to market and project delivery in order to improve business agility? How much time and resources could you conserve by having a certified systems integrator configure your solution before it arrives at your data center? 8

9 Solving Common Business Problems with FlexPod Customers across many industries are facing similar challenges related to doing more with less: Migrate to a shared infrastructure with many applications Improve agility to meet growth and drive key business initiatives Lower per-user costs without sacrificing scalability Improve operational processes and agility Evolve operations so they align with ITIL-based standards Deploy dedicated applications that support Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), VDI, and other cloud environments The integrated approach to data center computing helps you address these customer challenges: Business Problem Unable to effectively manage and allocate infrastructure resources to meet demand Difficulty integrating multiple vendor solutions and technologies Increased costs of managing multiple networks based on platforms, protocols or remote locations Increased risk from siloed technologies and resource pools Increasingly restrictive policies and regulations regarding security and storage of provide or sensitive data FlexPod Feature Scalable Shared IT infrastructure NetApp Unified Architecture Unified Fabric Business Continuity/ Disaster Recovery Secure Multi-Tenancy (SMT) FlexPod Benefit Scale up within each layer of components, or scale out to accommodate a variety of application workloads and customer environments. The FlexPod reference architecture allows the integration of existing IT purchases into the FlexPod stack. A single unified 10GbE network, running SAN and NAS protocols, including FCoE, removes the need for separate networks. Maintain availability during planned and unplanned downtime, while lowering the overall cost of high availability and disaster recovery. SMT offers the data separation and service-level guarantees offered by application silos, while leveraging the efficiencies of a shared infrastructure. 9

10 Streamlining your Sales Process It s clear that the FlexPod integrated data center approach can help you win bigger, more strategic deals and sell into a higher, more executive level at your customer locations. Avnet can help you close more profitable deals faster than before and help you deliver a higher level of customer satisfaction! Sales Your customer recognizes the business and IT benefits the FlexPod architecture will deliver and has worked with you to develop an agreed-upon configuration that is tailored to their specific needs. So what s next? With the deal a few short steps from being closed, you can once again turn to Avnet sales support resources to guide and assist you in the final phase of the sales cycle. For example, we can help you draft the requisite proposals and statements of work and ensure each contains the proper hardware and software components, services, etc. and manage the ordering process from each vendor on behalf of you and your customer. Because our solutions architects are well versed in the specific FlexPod technologies your customer s solution will contain, and speak the language of NetApp and Cisco as well as other complementary solution providers they can help you streamline the ordering process and ensure the right components are delivered in a timely manner. Avnet can help you reach greater profitability on your FlexPod deals. On a typical $250K deal at 15% margin: Gross profit on product components: $37,500 Gross profit on Avnet Services: $10,000 That s a net increase 26% additional gross profit Plus time savings and profit improvements related to letting Avnet do the quoting, confirmation, and SOW work! 10

11 Delivery/Integration Before the FlexPod solution is deployed in your customer s data center, it is first routed to our 228,000 square foot Global Solutions Center in Chandler, AZ, where our dedicated integration specialists and solutions architects will prepare each component of the FlexPod architecture to your customer s exact specifications. They ll manage the required hardware integration and software configuration duties, including: Custom cabling and racking Application uploading Configuration and testing Virtualization partitioning Operating system installation Custom image loads Database installation Following these integration activities, you can turn to our world-class supply chain services to assemble the sever, storage, and networking components of your customer s FlexPod, pack it on a skid, and manage and coordinate the shipping and delivery of the solution from our loading dock to their doorstep. And once delivered, we can aid the onsite installation process, coordinate support contracts with NetApp and Cisco as well as other complementary solution providers and manage the knowledge transfer between our solutions architects and your customer s IT personnel. We have highly trained staff members who are dedicated to the initial unloading and unpacking activities. Let us handle the hard labor involved in readying the solution for integration, so you can free your high-value staff to focus more time and energy on their core responsibilities. Avnet can help you consistently deliver valuable solutions while moving away from managing tactical implementations. Together, we are able to: Take the focus off low-value unboxing, cabling and installation Reduce the risk of on-site integration challenges and delivery mistakes Build perceived value in warehouse custom integration Plus your customer relationship will transition away from systems and storage, and focus on long-term business strategy! 11

12 Business development After the solution is delivered, installed, and up and running, your customer can leverage our lifecycle-based data center optimization services, which help them get the most from their infrastructure investments by enabling them to: Plan new purchases Acquire the right solutions Integrate new and existing technologies Deploy solutions in production Manage the new environment Dispose of aging systems Our goal in providing these services both during the integration phase and throughout the sales cycle is to help you build trust with your customers and prove to them that you should be regarded as their go-to solution provider. And by complementing your knowledge and skills with Avnet s proven services and expertise, you ll be able to save time and repurpose your sales resources to do what they do best identifying and nurturing prospects, filling your pipeline with high-value FlexPod opportunities, kick-starting the next sales cycle, and driving more sales to a successful close. In addition, should you learn while defining the scope of the solution that your customer would prefer a hosted deployment, we can work with you to determine if a full or partial hosting program may be in their best interest. Avnet hosting services you can offer your customers include: Remote Turnkey Hosting: The customer will keep the FlexPod hardware in house, but Avnet will host some of the software components and perform key management processes. Full Turnkey Hosting: The customer s full FlexPod solution will reside in an Avnet data center and be fully managed by qualified Avnet support personnel. Moreover, Avnet solutions architects will also support your sales efforts by determining the best ways to integrate the new FlexPod solution with your customer s existing infrastructure, and how this new data center architecture will help them further their IT and business strategies. 12

13 Handling Objections It s only natural throughout the course of a FlexPod sale to encounter some push back to the solution you are proposing. Below are some of the typical objections you ll encounter, and the best way to respond to each. Objection We are not considering any virtualization initiatives at this time. We are already leveraging virtualization and have no plans to move to cloud any time soon. We are an [other vendor] shop/are considering a stack from another vendor. I have already invested heavily in my current infrastructure I can t afford a rip and replace at this time. A shared infrastructure doesn t have the security my business-critical applications demand. I prefer to integrate my hardware and software components in-house. Response I understand. But you may be interested to know that the validated, pre-integrated FlexPod architecture can help you significantly reduce IT management costs, while providing a platform you can leverage to accelerate your core business strategies. Many organizations are in your position, which is why FlexPod is designed to easily accommodate a move to cloud when your organization is ready. Plus, because all components are integrated ahead of time and delivered in a single hardware stack, FlexPod can reduce the risk and cost of new virtual infrastructure and cloud deployments, while providing important and unique new features. While the solution you are considering certainly has its strengths, FlexPod is a much more flexible, scalable, and future-proof infrastructure solution than offerings from other vendors and features several capabilities unique to the FlexPod stack, such as Secure Multi-Tenancy, Single-Wire network convergence, and long-distance V-Motion. Then that s all the more reason to consider FlexPod. Because you can incorporate much of your existing infrastructure into the FlexPod architecture, you ll be able to leverage your current capabilities to new ends. This way, you ll have the freedom to maximize the value of your IT investments without building a new data center from scratch. Concerns such as yours are why we emphasized security and reliability when building the FlexPod architecture. The solution offers reliable, automated disaster recovery and data protection processes, provides high availability, fault tolerance, and resource optimization, and delivers non-disruptive data and application mobility even over extended distances. I understand the desire to maintain control over your IT infrastructure, but what other initiatives could you be executing if you didn t have to perform these time-consuming tasks? When you leverage the expertise of a qualified FlexPod systems integrator to build a FlexPod solution to your specifications, your IT team will have more time and energy to dedicate toward delivering on strategic business initiatives. 13

14 Tools and Resources Programs NetApp on Avnet ATS website Quantum Leap Avnet ProSeries NetApp Field Portal NetApp NOW Portal Educational Resources Avnet NetApp Training Avnet NetApp Events NetApp Tech on Tap NetApp University Typical Configurations The final pages of this guide present the frameworks for eight tested FlexPod configurations aligned to specific customer scenarios. 14

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24 2012 Avnet, Inc. All rights reserved. NetApp, the NetApp logo, and FlexPod are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other products, brands, and names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.