Discussion Or Divorce

STEVEN BURKE

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Can be reached at (781) 839-1221 or via e-mail at [email protected].

Tim Hebert, the chief operating officer of Atrion, already is seeing changes from the likes of Packeteer and RSA Security in the wake of the initial summit meeting, which was held at CRN&'s Waltham, Mass., location. Some of the vendors that attended the summit are in the midst of major channel initiatives. Packeteer, for its part, is in the process of rolling out a customizable marketing campaign that can be used by all of its top partners. The new program is aimed at building a business case for real-world problems being solved by partners like Atrion. Rather than the usual technical mumbo jumbo, the customizable campaign is focused squarely on the business pain points being experienced by solution providers&' clients. RSA, meanwhile, also has upped its channel game by modifying its channel management strategy for all of its partners. That includes dedicated channel field reps from the one-time direct-focused vendor. Rather than a territory manager model, the new channel reps will work directly with solution providers to grow channel business.

Besides Packeteer and RSA, the Atrion summit included APC, Aventail, Bluesocket, Bradford Networks, IronPort Systems, Network Instruments and SilverBack Technologies. The time and effort taken by the top-level executives from all these players shows they are serious about getting it right. The issues being tackled are all aimed at driving best channel practices. Hebert, for his part, is thrilled at the results he has seen thus far from the summit and already is planning another meeting. That&'s good news given the continuing communication needed to ensure success between vendor and solution provider. Like a good marriage, the vendor/solution provider partnership requires a hard discussion about where both parties want to go. Failure to have those heart-to-heart talks results in an unsatisfying relationship for both parties or even worse, a divorce.

Which vendors are you having a heart-to-heart with? Let me know at (781) 839-1221 or via e-mail at [email protected].

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