AVANT Special Forces brought AVANT’s partner community together to work through what their customers are asking right now, from VMware renewals to hardware prices to AI. Expedient showed up with one message: customers get through these decisions best with a partner who listens first. Expedient Chief Commercial Officer Allen Skipper was a panelist in the Top 5 Sales Plays cloud session then got to tell a client story with ATC and Drees Homes on the main stage, and AVANT recognized Expedient with Top Vendor: AI and Steve Gruetter with Top Regional Partner Manager of the Year. This recap covers what attendees took home, and gives partners who couldn’t make it the same takeaways.
What attendees got in the cloud session
If you were in Allen’s “Top 5 Cloud Sales Plays” session, you left with a way into the conversation and the follow-ups that sharpen it. Start simple with “What is your VMware Broadcom strategy?” and listen for one of three answers: no plan yet, a plan but no way to execute it, or a plan with a closing deadline. Each pointed to a different next step, and Expedient’s bridge licensing program gave customers on a deadline time to choose.
The panel’s follow-ups went a level deeper: how long the VCF term ran, how close hardware end-of-life dates sat to the renewal, which applications could only run on VMware, and whether anyone had analyzed the applications for a move. Landon Clark of AVANT, who moderated both sessions, has asked 300-400 CIOs that last question, and none had.
Allen also pointed to the factors making the VMware decision harder for customers: hardware prices up 300 to 400 percent by Expedient’s tracking, and VMware renewals were landing at 3x to 30x, according to Landon. Costs rose whether a customer renewed or bought new hardware.
What attendees got from the main stage
The main stage session put a real customer in front of the room. Doug Heisel of ATC and Greg Adams, VP of IT at Drees Homes, walked through a VMware renewal that came in at 3x and how they handled it. ATC documented the environment and built a weighted scorecard before naming any provider, and the scope grew to include backup, disaster recovery, security, and connectivity. Expedient joined ATC’s process, listened first, and used bridge licensing so Drees had time to decide.
For partners, Greg’s line was the takeaway: “partnership to me means you share risk.” Drees had a team of about 50, a growth plan, and AI development underway, so it needed a partner willing to share the risk while revenue grew faster than cost.
The awards back the story
Expedient won Top Vendor: AI, an award for the private AI platform customers are moving toward, and Steve Gruetter was named Top Regional Partner Manager of the Year, which recognized the day-to-day relationship partners rely on. Each award reflects the experience clients and partners have working with Expedient. Allen’s point on the main stage applied to both: trust comes from collaboration and alignment with the partner’s process and the client’s outcomes.
What partners can do next
- Start the conversation. Ask about the VMware Broadcom strategy, then listen for key details.
- Extend the runway. Expedient bridge licensing removes the rush, so decisions follow the customer’s timeline.
- Lay out the options. Bring managed cloud on VMware or Nutanix, colocation, and disaster recovery into the first conversation so customers compare every path at once.
- Find a team that works your process. ATC set the process, Expedient joined it, listened first, and proposed after.
- Offer a path to AI. Ask what AI work is under way, and whether their infrastructure can support it.
Talk with your Expedient regional partner manager to deliver the outcomes your clients want.
