Everpure promoted from within for its EMEA channel lead. When does an internal hire beat an external one?

Everpure, the storage and data management vendor formerly known as Pure Storage, has put a 10-year company veteran in charge of its partners across EMEA and Latin America. Craig Robertson stepped into the role vacated by Geoff Greenlaw in August, and told MicroScope that partners who lead customer conversations on compliance, sovereignty and data will be the ones that win. The vendor sells 100% through the channel.

Speaking to IT Channel Oxygen, Robertson explained that since the rebrand, "the personas we were asking our partners to go and talk to on our behalf have changed", with partners now targeting chief data officers and security leaders rather than only infrastructure teams. He also set out the test he applies to every relationship: "There's a very, very simple question I want all my team to be able to answer, which is why are we partnering with them."

What it means for talent

Internal promotion buys continuity during change

Everpure is in the middle of a rebrand, an acquisition and a shift in target buyer. In that situation, an insider who already knows the partner base, the product teams and the internal politics can usually move faster than an external hire who needs six months to build credibility. Promoting from within also sends a strong message to the rest of the channel team that there is a route upwards, which matters for retention at a time when experienced channel people have plenty of options.

The risk is a gap in the new skills the strategy demands

The flip side is that the strategy has changed. Selling to chief data officers and security leaders is a different motion from selling storage to infrastructure teams. When a vendor promotes from within, the usual pattern is that the leader brings continuity and the team underneath needs topping up with people who know the new buyers. That often means hiring partner managers and channel sales people with data, compliance or security backgrounds.

A sharper partner test tends to reshape partner management roles

Asking "why are we partnering with them?" of every relationship usually leads to a more focused partner base. That typically means fewer, deeper relationships and partner managers who are measured on joint outcomes rather than volume. It also tends to raise the bar on the commercial and strategic skills needed in those roles, and can leave some long-serving partner managers needing support to adapt.

Leadership changes create movement elsewhere

A change at the top of a channel organisation creates its own ripple. Experienced channel executives who move on often take a small number of trusted people with them, and competitors watch closely. Vendors in adjacent categories should expect some experienced storage and data channel talent to become available.

What to do now

• Use internal promotion when the relationships matter most. If your partner base is unsettled by change, continuity at the top is worth a lot. Back it with a clear plan for the skills the leader does not bring.
• Hire the new buyer knowledge into the team. If your target persona has changed, recruit partner managers who have sold to that persona before rather than expecting existing staff to learn it on the job.
• Apply the "why" test to your own channel roles. If you cannot explain what each partner-facing role is for in the new strategy, restructure before you replace.
• Have a succession plan for every senior channel role. Everpure could promote from within because it had a credible insider. Many vendors do not, and find out only when someone resigns.

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