2003 Channel Chiefs: 41-50

By CRN Staff

12:17 PM EDT Mon. Oct. 20, 2003
From the October 20, 2003 issue of CRN

41	GLEN MCLAUGHLIN, Vice President, North America Sales, Linksys WHY? Although Linksys is now part of Cisco Systems, McLaughlin is leading a separate channel program,one he plans to extend early next year with additional components for VARs. PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: 100% for 12 months ended June 30, 2003 CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: Will grow in line with revenue growth, approximately 15%. TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 9,000 ELITE PARTNERS: NA RECRUITING TRENDS: Overall reseller ranks are growing. VAR program planned for early next year aims to recruit 500 elite members. AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 3 to 5 GOALS: Sustain double-digit growth and successfully launch new program. REPORTS TO: Janie Tsao, Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Business Development
42	TOM PETTIGREW, Vice President, Global Channels and Emerging Markets, F5 Networks WHY? Pettigrew has concentrated on getting in front of partners and encouraging deeper loyalty. He has given partners the selling tools they have asked for through programs such as StrongBox, which provides customizable evaluation units. PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: 90% through fiscal year 2003, which ended in September, up from 80% the previous year. CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: Increase planned. TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 250 (U.S.) ELITE PARTNERS: 75 Gold Advantage partners RECRUITING TRENDS: Membership in Gold tier has tripled year-over-year. AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: Frequently on the road meeting with partners. GOALS: Increase overall depth and quality of existing partner base. REPORTS TO: John McAdam, President, CEO
43	TIFFANI BOVA, n the past year, Bova has encouraged the creation of new partner support teams for billing, technical support and customer care. WHY? 25% to 30% of shared hosting revenue; in dedicated hosting, 50% of the servers are managed by partners, totaling 40% of the revenue. These numbers are up 5% and 10%, respectively. PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: 30% to 40% of overall corporate marketing budget. CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: 8,000 TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 5% of partner base RECRUITING TRENDS: NA AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: More than 30 partners per month. GOALS: Provide products, programs and support to help Interland's indirect channel players grow their business. REPORTS TO: Joel Kocher, Chairman, CEO
44	GREG VAN ACKER, Vice President, U.S. Channel Sales, Oki Data WHY? Invested in both sides of the indirect sales equation by empowering resellers while simultaneously incenting internal sales team,all managed within a customized reseller Web site. PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: 74% for fiscal year ended March 2003 CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: NA TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 3,000-plus ELITE PARTNERS: 34% of total RECRUITING TRENDS: Both sets of partners are trending higher. AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: Team meets with 300. GOALS: Continue partner growth with focus on color market; hopes to claim 20% of the color market by the end of 2005, up from 4.7% for quarter ended June 2004. REPORTS TO: Stew Krentzman, CEO
45	FRANK FARESE, Senior Vice President, Business Partner and Software Sales, Lucent Technologies WHY? Led by Farese, Lucent has been overhauling its partner programs to emphasize accreditation and technical skills. Has seen revenue per partner and partner satisfaction rise. PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: NA CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: NA TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 40 (U.S.) ELITE PARTNERS: 20 (U.S.) RECRUITING TRENDS: Overall ranks have declined in past 12 months. AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 1 to 2 GOALS: "The Business Partner organization has clear objectives to continue to grow revenue by double-digit rates, to continue to refine our partner roster, continue to increase partner satisfaction and continue to have those partners complete the accreditation process. However, our most pressing goal and a key objective to support the overall Lucent strategy is to have a significant breakthrough win in a new market." REPORTS TO: Bob Warstler, President, Global Sales
46	CHRIS EASTON, Director, Application Partner and Market Development, Progress Software WHY? Progress has been one of the most aggressive developers when it comes to generating programs that support its closest ISVs. PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: Doesn't report that number, but in 2002 Progress ASPs and ISVs sold an estimated $2 billion in application licenses. CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: Increased investment planned. TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 2,000 Application partners ELITE PARTNERS: 200 have completed the Partner Empowerment program, which represents the developer's most strategic partners RECRUITING TRENDS: Stable year-over-year. AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 3 GOALS: Double the number of partners in high-focus groups. REPORTS TO: Bob Palumbo, Vice President, Worldwide Marketing
47	MICHAEL MERSCH, North American Channel Sales Manager, VMWare WHY? Launched authorized channel program, the VIP Network, which formalizes the next "vital" step in the virtual server company's evolution. PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: 50% in current quarter, has grown at a rate of roughly 25% per quarter for the past six quarters. CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: NA TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 300 in the VMware VIP Network ELITE PARTNERS: 101 (U.S.) enterprise-class members RECRUITING TRENDS: Number of partners has increased significantly; company plans new program level next February. AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 5 GOALS: Meet increasing revenue goals, nurture relationships with the most committed of the top-tier reseller partners and establish a channel advisory council. REPORTS TO: Kirk Bowman, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Field Operations
48	CHARLES ILL, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales, BEA Systems WHY? BEA forged deeper relationships with some existing partners including Accenture, Hewlett-Packard and Documentum. Challenge will be to retain smaller strategic partners concerned over program turmoil of the past two years. PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: Approximately 40% for fiscal year 2003 ended January 2003. CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: No change in investment. TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 1,500 in BEA Star Partner Program, including systems integrators, ISVs and OEMs. ELITE PARTNERS: 50 RECRUITING TRENDS: Flat AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 2 to 3 GOALS: "Our goal is to increase technology design wins with our top 50 ISV and [systems integrator] partners in order to grow co-sell and resell revenue." REPORTS TO: Alfred Chuang, Chairman, CEO and Founder
49	TONY BARBAGALLO, Vice President, Worldwide Marketing, Dantz WHY? Decided to convert to a purely indirect sales model last year, and his team has recruited more than 500 partners since August 2002. His decision not to tier according to revenue has helped many small partners attain its most elite levels. PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: An estimated 72% of revenue will flow through partners this year, compared with 46% last year. CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: 10% of total revenue; 12% of total revenue planned for 2004 TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 500 ELITE PARTNERS: 100 vRECRUITING TRENDS: Ranks on the rise. AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: At least 1 GOALS: Develop an influencer or agent program to reward solution providers that have driven sales without actually selling product. REPORTS TO: Larry Zulch, CEO
50	ZUL ABBANY, Vice President, Alliance Development, SAS WHY? Restricted reseller relationships that put partners in bidding wars. Set up an incubation program to experiment with unproven solution providers and is putting in place a scorecard to help measure the effectiveness of partners and share best practices. PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE HANDLED BY U.S. CHANNEL: SAS uses a "sell-with" model in which alliance members team with SAS employees to close deals. This year, revenue from those activities is projected to grow 25%. CHANNEL PROGRAM BUDGET: NA TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTNERS: 143 ELITE PARTNERS: 13 RECRUITING TRENDS: Partner ranks have decreased slightly this year. AVERAGE # OF PARTNERS MET ON A WEEKLY BASIS: 2 to 4 GOALS: Drive revenue with partners. Focus more on building alliances proactively from the top down strategically, as opposed to forging relationships opportunistically. REPORTS TO: Jim Goodnight, President, CEO

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