(L-R): Laura Falko, head of global partner programs marketing and experience, Broadcom; Brian Moats, SVP of global commercial sales and partners, Broadcom; Pierre Cayouette, VMware practice lead, Pellera Technologies; Bill Grismore, co-founder, 27 Virtual; Stephen Moss, SVP of managed services at Insight.

LAS VEGAS – Broadcom’s comprehensive overhaul of VMware’s partner programs caused considerable consternation for partners and end-users jolted by the program’s new “all-in” focus, but three of those partners took to a stage at this week’s VMware Explore event to tout the benefits of this new approach.

Broadcom initiated the program changes shortly after it closed on the VMware acquisition, which aligned legacy partner activities more with Broadcom’s own programs. Kris Prasad, SVP and GM for Broadcom’s VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) division, captured the essence of those changes in a blog post earlier this year in stating that the vendor expects “that our partners will go all-in with us on helping customers unlock the full value of VCF.”

“Partners that are not committed to investing in and evolving their businesses to help customers adopt and succeed with VCF will struggle to find a place in the Broadcom partner ecosystem,” Prasad wrote. “As we head into the second half of 2025, we intend to put greater emphasis and focus on these value-based solution providers. We believe this is the right path forward, not just for Broadcom, but for every customer who relies on VCF to run their digital infrastructure with speed, agility, and security.”

Brian Moats, SVP of global commercial sales and partners at Broadcom, kicked off the partner session by reiterating the importance of the program changes, which shifted more advisory responsibility and oversight to those partners.

“That advisory kind of work that needs to happen early in the cycle is key,” Moats said of that responsibility. “And as you know, not all partners are set up equally to do that, and once the customer decides to go forward with the platform, then you've got to plan that journey.”

Moats added that this journey involves deep work between a channel partner and end-user toward taking full advantage of their VMware investment, which means it requires partners with a deep understanding of VMware’s platforms.

“We’re finding that the type of partner we need has deep, technical depth, some advisory capability, ability to help customer plan that journey, and probably, most importantly, the ability to go help deliver the implementation with the customer,” Moats said.

Those comments followed closely a blog post Moats penned earlier this year explaining Broadcom’s VMware partner program changes. That post included insight into Broadcom’s move in “raising the bar” on its program partners, which could also impact end-user interactions.

“As we streamline our partner ecosystem, some customers will need to transition to a new partner relationship. That’s why the partners selected to move forward with Broadcom will carry a greater responsibility and a higher standard of performance,” Moats explained in the post. “We’re entrusting this focused group with a broader set of customers and, in return, expect them to lead with excellence, operate at scale, and deliver real impact on the journey to a modern private cloud.”

Which partners are benefiting?

The panel member partners all applauded the all-in nature of the program changes, noting the new focus makes it easier for them to take VMware products to market.

“What I love about it is the focus, one platform, one solution,” Stephen Moss, SVP of managed services at Insight, said of the new VMware platform structure, later noting that it was superior “versus the kluge, Band-Aid together 20 different products that were not built to work together.”

“And if you look at the partner program, the way it's structured, how you have a very clear goal-based system for certifications, if you're looking to build and become a VMware partner,” Moss added. “If you're not, it's a great opportunity because it's very well structured. There's great options for getting your team skilled up. If you're not, there's all this training available.”

The partner support provided counter-programming to claims of partner distress.

Equity research firm William Blair noted in an “Enterprise Tracker” report earlier this year that some enterprises and go-to-market partners were continuing to look for ways to decouple themselves from Broadcom and VMware. The report stated that value-added resellers (VARs) had noted “customers are actively strategizing how to get off VMware, and the broader ecosystem (VARs, OEMs, ISVs) is moving away from VMware.”

That last point was bolstered by the research firm noting “newfound disillusionment from partners about Broadcom squeezing them on margins,” with a specific “partner that historically could expect to make 10 to 15 points of margin on reselling VMware is now making only five to six points.”

The VMware program partners on stage did not appear to be that specific partner.

Bill Grismore, co-founder of 27 Virtual, said that the partner has invested time in training its team to “get the most juice out of that platform,” a move that has resulted in a significant return.

“It's been amazing over the last year,” Grismore said. “I’m not going to talk about numbers, but it's pretty crazy how you can 10x a business in 12 months.”

Pricing paradigm unpacked

End-users have also been hit by pricing pressures. Some analysts have claimed customers are reporting a significant spike in what they are having to pay for their long-tenured VMware services.

Forrester Research noted in a report that “one VMware client shared that they’re experiencing a 500% price increase based on their current use of VMware products and how it maps to the new licensing and packaging.”

Broadcom has attempted to tackle this angle by claiming the vendor is offering more cost transparency and that end-users can actually save money when moving to VCF when all operational aspects are taken into account. Moats this week noted that this is especially acute when end-users start AI-related work.

VMware’s channel partners backed that big-picture claim.

“Yeah, it's more expensive, but very predictable. We know it,” Pierre Cayouette, VMware practice lead for Pellera Technologies, said. “But the thing is, most of our customers are already in the cloud, so they spent the money to go there. What's unpredictable, because we were talking about AI, is when you start playing with the knobs, you get into FinOps. That's why we have that practice, because we're helping our customers; it's very difficult to predict. Once you've spent the money, predictably big money to do it [on-premises] and deploy it properly, and you control it, it’s a lot more predictable afterwards.”