7. Santiago Madruga

Red Hat is transferring its direct commercial business over to channel partners.

And Santiago Madruga, vice president of presales and services for EMEA at Red Hat, made waves this week because he wants partners to be happy. Really happy.

“On commercial, our aspiration is that we do 100% through the partners,” Madruga said. “On enterprise, we will have a degree of flexibility, but our strong preference is to also do business through and with partners in those accounts as well.”

Madruga said Red Hat has been evolving in that direction over the last few years. Now in 2022, the company has adjusted its plans to emphasize this and accelerate on it.

Learn how Red Hat is also looking to replace more traditional go-to-market avenues with a focus instead on partner ecosystems.