NTT/Verio Outlines Partner Program Changes

NTT/Verio

The new commission structure pays partners more money up front vs. an old model of recurring monthly commissions only.

If a partner lands a hosting deal worth $10,000 a month in recurring revenue, for example, that partner will receive $20,000 for the value of that annual contract, with some of that payment received up front, said Craig Schlagbaum, vice president of channel sales and enterprise hosting at NTT/Verio.

Phase one of a new partner extranet is due out in September as well, with basic information such as pricing, contract terms and conditions, and SLA guarantees, according to the company.

A more interactive version that would give partners realtime access to NTT/Verio's provisioning systems is due out by the end of this year, Schlagbaum said.

A channel integration strategy designed to eliminate conflict between partners' sales forces and NTT/Verio's direct sales force is now in place, he said. Direct-sales employees are compensated when they involve a partner.

"We religiously worked with our partners to put something in place that was meaningful to them given the current challenges in this space," said Schlagbaum. "The program was developed by the solution providers for the solution providers, and we will continue to rely on them to debug the program."