Slow uptake of user virtualisation hasn’t dented AppSense’s optimism for the New Zealand market. Michael Bosnar tells Heather Wright AppSense is planning for a big year in New Zealand following changes in its delivery model.
Michael Bosnar, Appsense managing director for Australia and New Zealand, is somewhat bemused.
For a country which he believes is normally ahead of the game when it comes to technology, New Zealand’s uptake of virtual desktop infrastructure and user virtualisation is, he says, behind the eight-ball.
“There’s been a much smaller uptake of VDI and user virtualisation [in New Zealand] than I expected and compared to Australia and the rest of the world.
“In Australia, we’ve had 250% growth in revenue [in the past year] as we’ve picked up massive enterprise accounts. The momentum has been picking up over the last 12 months and we’ve seen exceptional growth. New Zealand by comparison has been flat,” he says.
“In Australia we’ve already had massive implementation and growth, but New Zealand seems to be still talking, rather than doing. ”
Bosnar says he’s unsure why New Zealand businesses have been slow to adopt the technology. However, he says there is a silver lining, with the virtualisation specialist expecting the coming financial year to be a boon time, as businesses from enterprise down, jump on board.
He says AppSense is seeing ‘a lot of bigger opportunities bubbling to the top’ now.
“A couple of government departments are putting it on the agenda, and we see a promising year ahead.
“Next year I’m aiming for New Zealand to provide 20% of the revenue for ANZ [up from about 10% now].”
Migration to Microsoft’s Windows 7 is also expected to bolster AppSense’s local business. “If I look at how we gel with Microsoft and Citrix, we would get a percentage of those users. So there’s certainly plenty of growth potential available to us next [financial] year.”
Delivery changes
AppSense recently moved away from its old distribution model, opting for a direct approach with resellers. The company is opting for a three-pronged approach in the New Zealand market, focusing on several big system integrators, a range of resellers and ‘technologists’, such as Resolve Technology, with the technical expertise to do implementations.
Bosnar says the company has been working hard with its SI partners, including Fujitsu, Datacom and Gen-i to create desktop strategies to roll out to customers. “Gen-i is about to begin pushing out to their customers,” Bosnar says.
AppSense has also been working with Microsoft and Citrix in the government sector to increase awareness of the benefits of VDI and user virtualisation.
Bosnar says AppSense’s success will be reflected in its channel partners. “Most of the channel is looking at building services revenue. We don’t intend to bring our own professional services entity to New Zealand so we’ll be looking to channel partners to manager the significant opportunities for us. We can help assist with the design and so forth, but will be relying on partners to do the implementation.”
SMB opportunities
Further out, Bosnar says AppSense will look at the SMB market. “At the moment, anything over 2000 seats is our sweet spot. But we understand that in New Zealand there is a huge SMB opportunity. We have to look at how we can best address that market, and we will be relying on channel partners to do that.
“We don’t want to neglect that part of the market, but right now, we don’t have the channel in place. Our biggest opportunities in the immediate future are the big accounts. But once you get momentum around the big accounts it creates a groundswell.”