10 Worldwide Ambassadors

By CRN Staff

3:00 PM EST Fri. Mar. 04, 2005
From the March 07, 2005 issue of CRN

CISCO SYSTEMS	WHO: PAUL MOUNTFORD Senior Vice President, Worldwide Channels MOST SIGNIFICANT INNOVATION IN 2004: Implementation of a global deal- registration effort known as the Opportunity Incentive Program. AVERAGE NO. OF PARTNERS MET ON A MONTHLY BASIS: 18 BIGGEST DAY-TO-DAY WORRY: Increasing partner profitability and improving customer satisfaction. BIGGEST MISJUDGMENT/LESSON LEARNED: Underestimated how long it takes to successfully deploy a global channel program. ADVICE TO ANOTHER CHANNEL EXECUTIVE: ‘Listen to your partners, and take action on what you hear.’ REPORTS TO: Rick Justice Senior Vice President, Worldwide Field Operations
CITRIX SYSTEMS	WHO: ROSS BROWN Vice President, Worldwide Channels and Operations MOST SIGNIFICANT INNOVATION IN 2004: Launched Advisor Rewards, a project registration program that benefits value-selling partners. AVERAGE NO. OF PARTNERS MET ON A MONTHLY BASIS: 5 to 20 BIGGEST DAY-TO-DAY WORRY: Moving partners from a mind-set focused on viewing Citrix as a product they sell to viewing the technology as ‘a business I am in.’ BIGGEST MISJUDGMENT/LESSON LEARNED: The challenge of communicating program changes. ADVICE TO ANOTHER CHANNEL EXECUTIVE: ‘Watch total partner profitability—product profits, services profits and maintenance profits. This drives all other behaviors, such as competitive choices, investment in selling time, rep, productivity, etc.’REPORTS TO: John Burris Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Services
COMPUTER ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL	WHO: GARY QUINN Executive Vice President, Partner Advocacy MOST SIGNIFICANT INNOVATION IN 2004: Realigned partner program to better line up with customer segments. AVERAGE NO. OF PARTNERS MET ON A MONTHLY BASIS: ‘Hundreds each year’ BIGGEST DAY-TO-DAY WORRY: Optimizing CA’s internal structure to support growing indirect business. BIGGEST MISJUDGMENT/LESSON LEARNED: Not putting enough emphasis on training and certification from day one. ADVICE TO ANOTHER CHANNEL EXECUTIVE: ‘A successful channel business is driven by three factors: good people, alignment of vendor/partner goals and resources on a corporate and regional level and, ultimately, customer satisfaction.’ REPORTS TO: Jeff Clarke COO, CFO
EMC	WHO: GREGG AMBULOS Vice President, Global Channels MOST SIGNIFICANT INNOVATION IN 2004: Enhancements to the EMC Authorized Services Network, which helps partners deliver professional services on EMC platforms. AVERAGE NO. OF PARTNERS MET ON A MONTHLY BASIS: 25 BIGGEST DAY-TO-DAY WORRY: Training and sales competencies of partners. BIGGEST MISJUDGMENT/LESSON LEARNED: The amount of time it takes to change perceptions. ADVICE TO ANOTHER CHANNEL EXECUTIVE: ‘Prioritize and follow through on commitments.’ REPORTS TO: Bill Scannell Senior Vice President, North American Sales
HEWLETT-PACKARD	WHO: JIM MCDONNELL Senior Vice President, Worldwide Solution Partners Organization MOST SIGNIFICANT INNOVATION IN 2004: Pushed continuing evolution of PartnerOne program by listening to the needs of partners. AVERAGE NO. OF PARTNERS MET ON A MONTHLY BASIS: ‘Lots’ BIGGEST DAY-TO-DAY WORRY: Declined to answer. BIGGEST MISJUDGMENT/LESSON LEARNED: Declined to answer. ADVICE TO ANOTHER CHANNEL EXECUTIVE: Declined to answer. REPORTS TO: Vyomesh Joshi Executive Vice President, Imaging and Personal Systems Group
IBM	WHO: DONN ATKINS General Manager, IBM Global Business Partners MOST SIGNIFICANT INNOVATION IN 2004: The PartnerJam discussion forum, a weeklong online event that brought together several hundred IBM Business Partners with more than 100 IBM executives. AVERAGE NO. OF PARTNERS MET ON A MONTHLY BASIS: 15 to 50 BIGGEST DAY-TO-DAY WORRY: Partner profitability. BIGGEST MISJUDGMENT/LESSON LEARNED: Ongoing program simplifications haven’t gone far enough; need to involve more IBM colleagues to accomplish this. ADVICE TO ANOTHER CHANNEL EXECUTIVE: ‘No matter how well you think you may be doing in the channel, there is always room for improvement because your competitors do not stand still and your business partners have many vendor choices.’ REPORTS TO: Doug Elix Senior Vice President and Group Executive, IBM Sales and Distribution
JUNIPER NETWORKS	WHO: TUSHAR KOTHARI Vice President, Worldwide Channels MOST SIGNIFICANT INNOVATION IN 2004: Spearheaded development of J-Partner program and aggressive channel outreach. AVERAGE NO. OF PARTNERS MET ON A MONTHLY BASIS: 10 BIGGEST DAY-TO-DAY WORRY: Helping partners scale their organization’s skills. BIGGEST MISJUDGMENT/LESSON LEARNED: Momentum. ADVICE TO ANOTHER CHANNEL EXECUTIVE: ‘Build partner programs that can bring sustainable profits to the channel over the long term.’ REPORTS TO: Jim Dolce Executive Vice President, Field Operations
MICROSOFT	WHO: ALLISON WATSON Vice President, Worldwide Partner Sales and Marketing MOST SIGNIFICANT INNOVATION IN 2004: Re-engineered channel efforts to raise the profit potential of Microsoft’s partner community, including competency-based approach to tiering; dedicated $1.7 billion to investments in the partner channel. AVERAGE NO. OF PARTNERS MET ON A MONTHLY BASIS: 50 BIGGEST DAY-TO-DAY WORRY: Balancing partners’ need for increased technical expertise with the industry’s move to verticalization. BIGGEST MISJUDGMENT/LESSON LEARNED: Underestimated how to support the groundswell of interest in the new global partner program. ADVICE TO ANOTHER CHANNEL EXECUTIVE: ‘Communicating your business (the business of the channel) internally within your company and externally with your customers and partners— using the voice of the partner—is a continual and required part of the channel exec’s job.’ REPORTS TO: Orlando Ayala Group Vice President, Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners
SAP AG	WHO: DONNA TROY Senior Vice President, Global SMB MOST SIGNIFICANT INNOVATION IN 2004: Set up a system of differentiated value for partners according to the value they deliver; also introduced e-learning courses to improve sales training and reduce out-of-territory expenses for partners. AVERAGE NO. OF PARTNERS MET ON A MONTHLY BASIS: In five months, met with more than 300 partners BIGGEST DAY-TO-DAY WORRY: Coverage and reach. BIGGEST MISJUDGMENT/LESSON LEARNED: ‘I haven’t been here long enough to make any “big” mistakes. Give me time and ask me next year.’ ADVICE TO ANOTHER CHANNEL EXECUTIVE: ‘Focus on the win-win scenario. Understand the root causes vs. the symptoms. Everyone needs to make money in the game.’ REPORTS TO: Leo Apotheker President, Global Field Operations
SYMANTEC	WHO: ALLYSON SEELINGER Vice President, Global Channel Sales and Strategy MOST SIGNIFICANT INNOVATION IN 2004: Developed market-specific initiatives and resources to improve the vendor’s ‘hit rate’ in various geographies. AVERAGE NO. OF PARTNERS MET ON A MONTHLY BASIS: ‘Dozens’ BIGGEST DAY-TO-DAY WORRY: Ensuring that the program contains all the elements needed for partners to be successful. BIGGEST MISJUDGMENT/LESSON LEARNED: Underestimated how pockets of uncertainty within the partner base can negatively impact a company’s entire channel. ADVICE TO ANOTHER CHANNEL EXECUTIVE: ‘Make sure you keep an accurate pulse on your partner community and don’t be afraid to have the hard discussions—both internally and externally—that promise to move a program forward, benefiting your partners and the company.’ REPORTS TO: Tom Kendra Senior Vice President, Sales

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