MOCA Builds New Sun-Focused Programs That Emphasize Services

"MOCA believes the worst is over for the partner business," says Rich Severa, president of MOCA, whose sales bottomed out in the second quarter of last year, but have since consistently grown in sequential quarters.

To fuel new growth, MOCA has built several programs designed to help solution providers generate new business, take advantage of services opportunities and increase focus on the storage market. Getting the most attention is MOCA's Locked on Target program. It builds off Sun's Target Account Rebate Program (TARP), which gives Sun iForce partners a 10 percent cash rebate for penetrating non-Sun accounts. MOCA is adding value to Sun's target account list by supplying additional customized and detailed account information.

So while Sun's target list might include hundreds of account names, MOCA is adding industry and customer profile data, revenue information, install base, phone, e-mail and fax numbers, and an accurate assessment of the target's needs and goals. MOCA is also padding the list with strategic sales tactics that VARs need to penetrate the accounts. Acquiring the data will require a $100,000 investment from MOCA for the first six months of the program, but the distributor believes the information is crucial to its customers' successes.

"MOCA is doing a wonderful job of helping customers turn over the proverbial rocks and uncover new opportunities," says Hank Johnson, vice president of infrastructure solutions at Dallas-based systems integrator Stonebridge Technologies. "This Locked on Target program is all about business creation."

Johnson says Stonebridge has recognized the Sun services opportunity for years and is glad to see MOCA beefing up resources in that area. He sees professional services as "money on the ground" and another chance for MOCA to drive incremental value.

Under Locked on Target and TARP, iForce partners have to work with Sun field sales representatives to call on accounts, but there is a 90-day noncompete clause to give solution providers the chance to secure accounts. "This is a great indication of Sun's integrity and credibility to work closely with partners," Severa says. And while Sun has in the past focused heavily on the finance and telecom markets, the vendor is using TARP to target potential accounts in other markets, such as life sciences and pharmaceuticals.

MOCA also recently launched a Sun Services business unit that helps solution providers reap the higher margins associated with new and renewal Sun maintenance agreements, professional services and education contracts. While MOCA has always emphasized services, the new division represents a "stronger focus," executives say. Executive vice president Bill Page will head the division.

Severa says that one of the company's strengths in the services division is its exclusive access to Sun's Web-based Enterprise Service Quoter (ESQ) tool. The tool gives MOCA direct electronic access to Sun's database, pricing and serial-number information, saving the distributor time and money. The former paper-intensive process required up to 43 percent more time to complete a service contract, according to MOCA.

MOCA is also offering $10,000 to VARs to help offset the cost of obtaining Sun's new level of certification, called Strategic iForce Partner, if they complete it within six months. Once VARs achieve the higher level, Sun will give them an additional 2 percent rebate.

For customers that are Sun Storage Elite partners, MOCA has created the new Storage Elite Acceleration program to help them generate additional business. The program includes four segments: training and education, consulting and infrastructure, road shows and seminars, and customized marketing. Sun is seeing "significant growth" in its branded storage sales, and MOCA believes the program can help fuel that growth, Severa says.

All of MOCA's new programs are in response to what Severa calls a Sun transition to more of a "solutions" company, with a greater focus on software and professional services. The programs are designed to help VARs take advantage of meaty opportunities that will help them grow. "For us, we ought not to be focused on the sizzle, but on the steak," Severa says.