Tom Holland, ControlUp’s Chief Revenue Officer, looks at the revenue-generating opportunities for the channel as Citrix and VMware strong arm tactics hit partners
It ranks as one of the biggest upsets in sporting history. The 1974 World Heavyweight Championship fight in Zaire, famously known as “Rumble in the Jungle,” saw challenger Muhammad Ali defeat George Foreman—a punching powerhouse and bookies’ favourite. Yet Ali’s "rope-a-dope" strategy defied conventional boxing wisdom. By hanging off the ropes, he avoided Foreman’s strong-arm tactics until ‘Big George’ tired himself out, leading to an eighth-round knockout. It certainly was clever boxing.
Strong-arm tactics resonate in the world of end-user computing (EUC). The market has been turbulent over the past few years given the significant takeovers: Citrix was acquired by private equity firms, Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital, while Omnissa (formerly VMware) by Broadcom and then KKR. Both have created disruption and uncertainty, sparking mixed reactions, and at times, ill will among customers and channel partners selling their solutions.
Why? Aggressive licensing policies by the VDI vendors, particularly Citrix—based on a last-paid price model—are being adopted to lock customers in long-term agreements especially in regulated industries like healthcare, government, and financial services. Licensing costs are rising astronomically. There’s also been a move to disintermediate the channel, allowing the most profitable and largest accounts—those with a mission-critical reliance on their VDI platform—to be managed directly by the vendors.
These changes are shaking up the EUC strategies of most IT leaders, even those with deep pockets. The impact on channel partners has been significant, raising questions about how desktops will be managed and delivered.
Opportunities Amidst Disruption
As everyone knows, VDI is a niche way to deliver EUC and Windows applications. There are other choices—traditional physical ‘fat’ PCs and laptops, Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) options like Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 and, more recently, secure browser solutions from specialist firms like Island.
Then there’s hybrid working. Post-COVID, this is now an accepted business practice, with Forbes reporting that 28% of the global workforce remains hybrid.
With market disruption comes opportunity, so it’s not all doom and gloom for channel partners who have made their living from VDI. Citrix and Omnissa are complex to deploy and optimize and require specialised configuration. This creates a lucrative opportunity for the channel to offer fully managed VDI services to the installed base. Many enterprises lack the in-house skills to manage VDI effectively. As a result, there’s a demand for technical support and expertise that the channel is uniquely equipped to deliver.
Add to this is the transition from Windows 10 to 11. With the looming October 14, 2025 deadline for Windows 10 end of support —when security updates will cease— doing nothing is not an option. Any migration is costly, time-consuming and complicated—thus presenting a commercial opportunity for EUC specialists.
Given the ownership changes in the VDI sector and burgeoning licensing costs, many organisations see switching to a digital workspace solution based on Microsoft as the simplest, safest, and most practical solution. And the channel has a clear opportunity to facilitate this transition.
However, this presents challenges for everybody. The question is how best to deliver apps to staff working from anywhere, on any device, and over any network while ensuring a high-quality experience? This must be achieved without overwhelming service desks with support tickets or escalating operational costs, especially as the trend toward streaming desktops over the Internet continues to grow.
Harnessing DEX: a Strategic Lever for Enhancing Digital Workspaces
This is where a Digital Employee Experience (DEX) platform can help. It addresses the above challenges while creating an opportunity for the channel to boost IT support response times, improve client service, and generate revenue when offered as part of a managed service.
DEX tools are built on real-time data collection, leveraging agents capable of gathering thousands of metrics related to device performance and application status. It’s multidisciplinary, so it doesn't matter if you’re using VDI, DaaS, physical devices, working on-prem or remotely off the corporate network. Issues can therefore be identified, assessed and remediated effectively, often before they escalate into major problems.
DEX also streamlines Windows 11 migrations, with detailed analysis provided of each device, like disc space, chipset compatibility, RAM, battery health and so on. This enables organisations to quickly determine which devices can support Windows 11 and those which need replacing.
EUC has undergone significant innovation over the past 30 years. Yet, managing and securing applications and devices has grown increasingly complex and costly, especially in the hybrid work era. And it’s not been made any easier with the recent high-profile VDI acquisitions adding disruption.
DEX can help channel organisations to rise above this enabling them to meet contractual and SLA commitments, stay profitable, and—borrowing from boxing once more—punch above their weight to support their customers in the best possible way.
