In a candid and insightful conversation, Henri van der Vaeren, Vice President & General Manager for South Europe, Middle East & Africa at VMware, shared his perspectives on the dynamic landscape of cloud computing and the strategies that are shaping VMware’s approach in these diverse regions.
With an impressive career spanning the ICT industry and extensive experience in various leadership roles, Henri van der Vaeren’s insights into the nuances of the information technology market are highly valued. For the past seven years, he has been at the helm of VMware’s operations in the Southern EMEA region, overseeing a vast territory that stretches from Paris to Johannesburg, encompassing the Middle East and Turkey.
Van der Vaeren’s role encompasses cultivating robust business relationships with customers throughout the entire journey – from initial engagement to support, implementation, and ongoing assistance. Under his leadership, VMware has also made significant investments in Turkey over the past 5-6 years, yielding remarkable results. Notably, major banks, telecom companies, public and private sector clients now rely heavily on VMware’s solutions for their multi-cloud infrastructure management, application management, and device and mobile management needs. The success has been palpable, with positive feedback from satisfied customers underscoring the promising trajectory for the upcoming year.
Could you please provide some background information about yourself and your current role at VMware?
My entire career has revolved around the ICT industry, often spent traveling extensively. For the past seven years, I’ve had the privilege of leading VMware’s Southern EMEA region. In this role, I oversee our business relationships with customers from the initial contact through to support, implementation, and ongoing assistance. Speaking specifically about Turkey, we’ve made significant investments over the past 5-6 years, yielding impressive results. Our local team has been instrumental in our success, leading with dedication. I’m proud to say that many major banks, telecom companies, as well as key public and private sector clients heavily rely on VMware for their multi-cloud infrastructure management, application management, and various aspects of device and mobile management. We’ve achieved great success, and I believe this year will be another outstanding one, given the positive feedback from several satisfied customers I met with earlier today.
When you think about the past years, how has the market evolved? What is happening in Turkey, especially in cloud transformation?
This year in the Turkish market, things have been promising. Our strategy revolves around three key elements.
1. Agile, Hybrid, Multicloud Strategy: being the, humbly said, undisputed private cloud global technology provider, we’ve been focusing on helping our customers build an agile, hybrid, and multicloud strategy. The term “hybrid” here signifies a blend of private and public cloud solutions. Interestingly, around 75% of Fortune 500 companies already use 3 to 4 cloud providers, including their private clouds. The term “agile” is crucial because many customers, influenced by regulations and regional factors, have transitioned from a pure public cloud strategy to one that values the efficiency and security of their private cloud, often built on VMware technology. They now want the flexibility to move between different public cloud providers based on their specific needs. This shift from “only public” to “multi-cloud” or “hybrid” is reshaping the market.
2. Application Modernization: Rather than advising a blanket modernization of all applications, we acknowledge that it’s not always or immediately necessary. Many legacy applications can remain effective for the next few years. Customers are now seeking a clear roadmap for application modernization, indicating which applications to update, why, when, and how. Instead of modernizing everything at once, they are focusing on targeted applications that require immediate attention.
3. Sovereign Cloud: The concept of “sovereign cloud” is gaining traction, particularly in sectors like banking and the public sector. Customers are increasingly concerned about data protection, security, and agility when transitioning to public clouds. They want assurance that the solutions we provide to public cloud providers meet the criteria for a sovereign cloud. We’re actively involved in internationaldiscussions and with various government bodies in my region to define and develop sovereign cloud standards.
Additionally, I’d like to highlight our partnerships, particularly with Turkcell. Turkcell is a significant player in the local public cloud landscape. Customers are now looking to not only leverage hyper-scale public clouds but also local options like Turkcell for their AI-driven and data-centric applications. This adds a new dimension to our multicloud strategy as customers want the flexibility to move between these different cloud providers based on their evolving needs. In summary, our strategy is designed to offer agility, selective application modernization, data sovereignty, easy consumption anywhere and enhanced cybersecurity. These elements align with evolving market trends and respond to our customers’ changing needs, positioning us well for the future.
In the EMEA market, how does regulation differ from Turkey, where there are strict regulations for sectors like banking, finance, and healthcare, particularly regarding personal data? Can you provide an example from another country that might shed light on how the hybrid cloud environment and hyperscale cloud providers are approached?
Regulation serves a similar fundamental purpose across regions, but there are nuances in its application. The primary objective of regulations is to create a framework that ensures market stability and preparedness for various scenarios. One of the key areas of focus, especially within Europe, is safeguarding the data of citizens. Regulations such as GDPR have been widely adopted to establish stringent data protection standards. These data protection regulations are pervasive and are consistently enforced. Additionally, regulations address security concerns and strive to strike a balance among major economic powers like Europe, the United States, and China. The European Union, for example, imposes regulations on hyperscale cloud providers to bring them closer to achieving data sovereignty, as I mentioned earlier. Most European countries, including France, the Italy, and Spain in my region, are rapidly adopting public cloud solutions, especially in the banking sector. However, this adoption is closely guided by regulatory directives. I recently had a discussion with the CIO of a prominent French bank, which is in the process of migrating to some of the largest hyperscale cloud providers but while keeping a strong hybrid focus with their VMware-modernized private cloud. They are doing this with a strong emphasis on agility and adherence to strict regulatory guidelines, which are becoming increasingly stringent. For instance, there is a forthcoming European regulation that underscores the necessity of rapidly repatriating data and applications back to a private cloud in certain circumstances, such as during a conflict or a specified need.
So, in any case, if the government demands it, banks should have the capability to provide all their data from their own data centers or under their own operational control.
Precisely. This means that banks and financial institutions should be equipped to fulfill government requests for data, and this capability is an integral aspect of the regulatory framework. While the core objectives of regulation remain consistent, the approach and specific regulations can vary across regions. In Europe, there is a notable trend toward the adoption of public clouds within the boundaries set by regulatory guidelines. This transition is part of a broader shift from the initial rush toward public clouds to a more calculated and strategic approach. Organizations are now looking to create “smart clouds” by modernizing the right applications at the right time, striking a balance between agility and efficiency. VMware plays a crucial role in enabling this transition by helping organizations make informed choices about when and where to leverage private and public cloud resources.
CIO’s are a little skeptic on embracing the public cloud. Apart from many constraints from regulations, they are also afraid that the IT expenses will be out of control. Do you agree with these concerns?
That’s an excellent point. Many CIOs, CFOs, and CEOs were advocating for a “public cloud first” strategy five years ago. However, what we observe today is a shift towards a more thoughtful approach. People now say “cloud” in a broader sense, meaning it can be either private or public, and emphasize being “smart” about it. The key is not to rush but to think strategically.
There’s a significant trend towards AI, especially in the context of automation and general AI. What is your strategy regarding automation and AI utilization, and what role do they play?
We’ve seen a growing emphasis on this for the past 3-4 years, even in Turkey. Historically, CIOs often managed siloed IT departments with different teams responsible for various aspects, such as networking, storage, and applications. However, we believe that CIOs should shift their focus towards collaboration with DevOps teams, those responsible for application development, and provide them access to an automated infrastructure managed by AI and machine learning. Why do we advocate for this shift? Take, for example, our software-defined data center, which is at the core of our private cloud solution, VMware Cloud Foundation. It incorporates machine learning and AI-driven systems that continually analyze data center usage patterns. Based on this analysis, it constantly adapts the infrastructure (and its TCO) to meet the specific needs of customers. This direction emphasizes the importance of focusing on your customers’ customers andthe applications they require. It involves supporting DevOps with a platform for efficient application development. With the emergence of micro-segmentation and new application development approaches, DevOps teams can utilize an automated platform with AI and machine learning capabilities beneath it. They can easily select and configure the resources they need to develop or enhance applications, making the process more streamlined and efficient. This approach enhances returns for companies by concentrating on the application layer while automating the underlying infrastructure. Moreover, it helps reduce shadow IT because DevOps teams seek fast and straightforward access to power, AI, storage, and more. CIOs are striving to create such platforms, which offer easy, much more efficient (operationally, financially and in terms of security) and enjoyable access to tools, ultimately reducing the need for employees to resort to their own corporate credit cards to access resources from hyperscale providers, thus minimizing shadow IT practices. This is the prevailing trend we observe today.
QUOTE ON BROADCOM DEAL
When it comes to large transactions like the one with Broadcom, multiple regulators get involved. You have regulators in the U.S., the EU, the UK, and even in other countries like South Africa. These regulators examine whether market rules are being followed. This process is ongoing, and each regulator has set an agenda, which is publicly available online. There have been extensive dialogues between the regulators, Broadcom, and VMware. s. VMware will continue to exist as the software division of Broadcom, as previously announced by Broadcom. There are also interesting white papers from Gartner, Forrester, and others to consider. Broadcom’s CEO has expressed admiration for VMware’s technology, particularly VMware Cloud Foundation, private cloud technology, and the hybrid cloud relations with hyperscale providers. VMware has also performed well in the market recently, including in Turkey. Broadcom has a strong desire to continue investing, particularly in R&D, which will have a positive impact on VMware’s core solutions. Personally, when you look at some of Broadcom’s software assets related to mainframes, it aligns with the fact that some customers left mainframes unattended while focusing on cloud evolution. Combining one of the mainframe software leaders with a multi-cloud software leader could potentially offer interesting opportunities to help customers add more value from the mainframe while migrating to the cloud.
