2003 Channel Chiefs: 11-20


CRN logo By CRN Staff

12:18 PM EDT Mon. Oct. 20, 2003
From the October 20, 2003 issue of CRN
11CHUCK ROBBINS, Vice President, U.S. Channels, Cisco Systems
WHY? Supported Partner Business Planning initiative, which aligned Cisco's enterprise sales efforts with specific, key partners. Introduced new metrics for measuring partner financial models.
PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: Cisco derived more than 92% of its worldwide revenue from the channel from Aug. 1, 2002 to Aug. 1, 2003, up 2% year-over-year.
CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: Increase planned.
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 20,000 authorized resellers and 1,000 certified partners (U.S.)
ELITE PARTNERS: 68 Gold partners (U.S.)
RECRUITING TRENDS: Number of U.S. certified partners is off slightly, but ranks of Gold partners rose 17% year-over-year
AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 10
GOALS: Map partners against key markets based on focus and expertise and reward them effectively.
REPORTS TO: Paul Mountford, Vice President, Worldwide Channels
12GEORGE KAFRARKOU, Senior Vice president, Worldwide Channel Operations, Computer Associates International
WHY? Buoyed by success in Europe, Kafkarkou unwrapped a massive channel program redesign in July headlined by a new lead-generation effort and aggressive rebates.
PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: 15% in 2002
CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: NA
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 12,000
ELITE PARTNERS: 400
RECRUITING TRENDS: Ranks grew for both categories.
AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 3 to 5
GOALS: Deliver $750 million in fully configured leads to partners during next 12 months.
REPORTS TO: Gary Quinn, EVP Sales and Field Operations
13CLARK BROWN, Vice President, North American Channel Sales, NEC-Mitsubishi
WHY? Implemented innovations in lead-generation programs, provided specific segmented benefits to system builder channel. Introduced replacement and recycling program aimed at corporate accounts.
PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: 100%
CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: Increase planned
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: Slightly more than 10,000
ELITE PARTNERS: 5,000
RECRUITING TRENDS: Both levels are growing
AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 3 to 4
GOALS: Grow reseller base and better align products with those partners.
REPORTS TO: T.J. Trojan, President
14ROSS BROWN, Vice President, Worldwide Sales, Service and Channel Operations, Citrix Systems
WHY? Although he decision to pare partner ranks has been controversial, Brown has created a discount structure that emphasizes VARs and downplays the telesales and Web sales models. He is also driving innovation in programs that recognize emerging influencer/agent models.
PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: 95%, remaining 5% is booked direct with commission to partner driving deal
CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: Approximately 10% of sales
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 2,400 (U.S.)
ELITE PARTNERS: 37 Platinum members
RECRUITING TRENDS: Down from previous year due to increased focus on core partners
AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 2 to 5
GOALS: "Increase the business value of being a committed, focused Citrix reseller to a point that our own SEs think about quitting to become a VAR for us. The business equation for being a Citrix reseller is good, but profits from product sales are low compared to the high margins on services. Balancing this equation by bringing up margins on product sales is goal one."
REPORTS TO: John Burris, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales
15THOMAS VALIANTE, Vice President, Channel Sales, North America, Hitachi Data Systems
WHY? The new TrueNorth Solutions Alliance aims to provide consistency in how Hitachi teams with the channel. Valiante also has the support of the company's sales organization which is now aligned with channel accounts. Hitachi is a company storage solution providers proactively cite for channel friendliness.
PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: About 40% of hardware, software and services
CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: Varies per division, total not available. However, Hitachi is investing in a new global channel group to provide a better selling relationship with partners.
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 250 (North America)
ELITE PARTNERS: 85
RECRUITING TRENDS: Ranks are increasing
AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: "Not as many as I need to on a weekly basis. On a average month I meet with 20-25 partners."
GOALS: Increase cover of partners in accounts no longer touched directly by Hitachi Data.
REPORTS TO: Curt Wittich, Vice President, Sales and Services
16SCOTT COOPER, Vice President, Worldwide Channel Marketing, IBM Software Group
WHY? Driving IBM's aggressive push to broaden the reach for its middleware, especially through programs such as Value Advantage Plus, which simplifies IBM's discount structure, and ISV Advantage, which supports select midmarket ISVs.
PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: Roughly three-quarters of IBM's SMB revenue is handled by partners, software sales aren't broken out.
CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: $500 million are being invested as part of SMB Advantage.
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 69,700 ISVs worldwide plus 19,726 solution providers who are part of PartnerWorld for Software
ELITE PARTNERS: 701 Premier members
RECRUITING TRENDS: Software partner ranks have grown 18% to 38% year-over-year, depending on the region of the world.
AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: Talks to Business Partners every day, speaks with top ISV and software solution providers two to three times a month.
GOALS: Provide a consistent relationship for partners.
REPORTS TO: Marc Dupaquier, vice president of marketing, IBM Software Group
17DAN VERTREES, Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise Partners -- Americas, Hewlett-Packard
WHY? Opted to overhaul HP Integrated Partner distribution program, but postponed rollout when it became clear that changes might impact fourth-quarter sales.
PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: Two-thirds of HP Americas revenue
CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: Continued incremental investment planned in demand creation programs
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 21,000 (U.S.)
ELITE PARTNERS: Several hundred in Platinum and Gold levels
RECRUITING TRENDS: Overall number is flat, but participation in elite levels has grown
AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: Dozens
GOALS: "The short of it is increase revenue and market share, with a laser focus on the mid-market. I am responsible for system integrators and the ISV community and want HP to be their primary alliance partner."
REPORTS TO: Jim Milton, Americas Managing Director and Senior Vice President Enterprise Systems Group
18JEFF VOLPE, Vice President, Sales, Americas, ViewSonic
WHY? Historically a major champion of the channel, ViewSonic continued to innovate this year with programs including Lease , which helps partners extend their credit options on solutions including ViewSonic products.
PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: 99%
CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: Double-digit growth in investment planned.
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: NA
ELITE PARTNERS: NA
RECRUITING TRENDS: Total number of partners grew 10% year-over-year, while ranks of top-tier partners remained flat.
AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 6
GOALS: Continue expansion and segmentation of reseller base. Develop deeper customer intimacy.
REPORTS TO: James Chu, Chairman, CEO
19GREGG AMBULOUS, Vice President, Global Channels, EMC
WHY? The storage giant rolled out its first multitiered program and online configurator last summer.
PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: One-third
CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: Increase planned.
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 300 Velocity Partners
ELITE PARTNERS: NA
RECRUITING TRENDS: NA
AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 10
GOALS: Educate partners about EMC's information life-cycle management vision and capabilities. Provide additional training.
REPORTS TO: Bill Scannell, Senior Vice President, Global Sales
20REY ROQUE, Vice President, Marketing, Digital Information Technology Division, Samsung Electronics
WHY? Along with his sales counterpart Kirk Maier, Roque is an internal and external advocate for the vendor's push into value-added and commercial channels.
PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: 100%
CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: Investment shifting to VARs and solution providers.
TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 13,300
ELITE PARTNERS: 124
RECRUITING TRENDS: Both sets of partners have increased year-over-year.
AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 2 to 5 on a face-to-face basis; 5 to 12 including phone calls; more than 25 including e-mail.
GOALS: Establish the Samsung Power Partner Program across display, printer and storage categories to extend resellers' reach.
REPORTS TO: T.H. Kim, President, Digital Information Technology

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