Broadcom VMware acquisition: How MSPs can compete and win new business

Broadcom’s intention to purchase on-premises hypervisor platform, VMware, has caused ripples. With reports that VMware customers are concerned about the software’s future, there is a way for MSPs to compete for and win future migration business in a highly competitive market.

Broadcom announced its plan to purchase VMware back in May this year. If all goes to plan the deal will be finalized by November 2023, if a rumored EU antitrust investigation doesn’t derail it. Analysts have advised VMware customers to be on alert and those customers are concerned. They fear that if previous Broadcom acquisitions are any indication, platform innovation will be stunted, and costs will rise. Broadcom has already announced it’s going to accelerate the move to a subscription-based service.

If VMware customers want to migrate, they can:

• Migrate to public cloud hypervisor platforms such as AWS or Azure.
• Swap to an on-premises competitor solution such as Hyper-V or XenServer.
• Move to an application container vendor.

There’s a lot to consider as they weigh up competitors and decide on next steps. The new solution could depend on the level of expertise within the IT team. For example, if they decide a containerized route is best for them, do they have the knowledge to manage that successfully? And how quickly could they manage a migration program?

New opportunities for MSPs

Companies could turn to MSPs to help them with their migration. It’s a competitive market. To capitalize on growing market opportunities, you’ll be facing many of the same challenges that any IT department would:

• Assessing what the company is running on VMware currently.
• Locating application owners and surveying them about their apps to collect additional and/or missing information.
• Analyzing data to decide on the best migration path.
• Scheduling the migration based on business leaders’ input and your team’s capacity.
• Reporting on migration progress and the completion of the final program.

Use automation to move fast with accurate pre-sales proposals

This takes time and once companies have made the decision to move, they may need to do it quickly. Using a digital platform conductor (DPC) you can gain the competitive edge, right from the start. Get an accurate inventory of their estate up front to establish credibility and gain customer confidence when presenting your proposal. A DPC connects to a company’s data sources to automate data aggregation, clean up, and analysis.

Using a DPC, you’ll be able to:

• Leverage a tool that will work alongside your existing delivery tools to deliver new program agility.
• Quickly gain a clear picture of project scope using a real-time view of what the customer is running on VMware.
• Cut the time and complexity of communicating with customer teams across the business using automated communications (including communicating with app owners as well as leaders for scheduling).
• Keep the migration on track and reduce risk using real-time accurate information to determine migration readiness.
• Improve program transparency and build better customer relationship with a real-time view of program status.
• Protect margins by reducing the time and headcount required to manage the migration program.
• Create customer stickiness and leverage a DPC for future customer migration and transformation programs.