Venkatesh Murali (VMware)
VMware has appointed Venkatesh Murali as general manager and country leader for nascent markets and Vietnam. Murali had led the development and execution of the market's channel strategy since 2020 as head of channels.
This follows the steady onboarding of new leaders across the ASEAN region, including country managers Tan Siew San in Singapore and Sarene Lee in Malaysia.
Murali, an industry veteran with a strong background in solutions sales and channel development, will focus on driving business strategy and growth in the region. He will work closely with partners and enterprises to meet customers' booming demand for digital transformation.
"Digital transformation is a top priority for customers across the world, including emerging markets in Asia," said Murali. "VMware is in a unique position to help emerging economies here to leapfrog to the latest and best solutions in hybrid & multi-cloud, modern applications and cyber security.
"Working closely with partners and customers, we will help organisations respond, adapt and accelerate their digital transformation journeys to better capture business opportunities and outcomes."
Paul Simos, VMware's vice president and managing director of Southeast Asia and Korea who joined in January, quoted statistics that Vietnam was forecasted to become the region's second largest internet economy by 2025, with developing economies expected to grow 5.3 per cent by 2023, according to Asian Development Bank. Murali's appointment is thus a strategic play to tackle the fast-growing region.
"Venkatesh has played a significant role in transforming our partner ecosystem and extending our reach in this exciting region to support even more businesses," said Simos. "I am confident he will continue delivering strong growth and further strengthen VMware’s relationships with customers and partners in this region in his new role.”
Murali has over two decades of experience in the IT industry. Prior to joining VMware, he was head of software defined infrastructure across Central Asia Pacific for Lenovo Enterprise Solutions. In that role, he led the software solutions and data centre sales strategy for governments, corporations, and small and medium businesses across the region.
Murali has also built and led a team driving enterprise solutions in his role at Dell Global BV as the head of global computing and networking solutions.
