CRN Interview: Sanjay Kumar, Computer Associates

CRN: What was your reaction when you reviewed the channel program your team had put together?

KUMAR: Well, I knew they were working on this. They had come to me and talked to me about some changes they wanted to make. As you probably know, from the time George [Kafkarkou, senior vice president of worldwide channel operations] came in here, I've given them a pretty good amount of room to go do some things in the channel, because it is really important for us to get this right. We've tried it a couple of times--in some areas we've been successful, in some areas we haven't--and we've gotten kind of the more successful people in the company who have gotten in right in some geographies to come over here and do it for North America and grow a worldwide plan. So when they came to us and said they want to kind of drive more demand through partners, they want to put some back-end technology together to share leads, put a program together to essentially incent partners to effectively attempt to do more with CA across product areas, I liked it, and I gave them some guidelines about some things. I was more interested in some things I didn't think would make sense. For example, I didn't want to introduce any kind of conflict by adjusting the plan. I wanted to make sure there was a no-conflict model. That was important to us. I also wanted to make sure that somehow we didn't take the focus away from storage, because I want to make sure I get that right, and that was an important thing. I also told them that we have to design something that, how do I say it, that is capable of kind of taking on other products, so don't design something just for storage that we'll have to redesign when we want to go to something else. So I'm pretty pleased with what they've done. I mean, I've gone through a few reviews of that, we've distributed it to a few people and they like it.

CRN: Do you have a time frame that you'll give this program to work?

KUMAR: The best indicator of progress, positive or negative, is what partners tell you after six months. In three months, if the partners understand it, I think you're doing the right thing. In six months, if you're not seeing business move in the direction the program wants it to move, then I think there is a problem.

CRN: At last year's CA World conference, you issued a challenge to partners to put forth the effort to connect with the direct-sales force . . .

KUMAR: Yup.

CRN: . . . and at that time you were expecting that channel-preferred model [for CA's BrightStor enterprise storage products] to really boost overall channel sales . . .

KUMAR: Yup.

CRN: . . . but that actually didn't happen. They were down 9 percent. Did the channel drop the ball there?

KUMAR: Well, I think two things happened there. No. 1, there are a number of partners who took us on the challenge and took us up on the program . . . and I think they were successful. . . . The mistake that we made was that we weren't sophisticated enough to distinguish between those that wanted to just dabble and those that were serious about it, so we put a lot of time and effort into trying to cultivate every single person, because we really want this thing to work, and some came and picked off a deal or two . . . but in reality they were what I call one-deal shoppers. . . . The second [mistake] I think we've corrected before this with our new Customer Interaction Center in Tampa, Fla., and the distribution of leads and the way we manage those things. . . . There's a follow-through both on the CA direct side and on the channel partner side as well. I think it's a much more sophisticated way of working, because last year we generated all these leads, we farmed them out and we didn't have a logical follow-through process.

CRN: Can you talk about the decision to keep North American direct sales under a separate executive and not combine it with channel sales under one person, which is the model you adopted in Europe?

KUMAR: In North America, I think the issue is two things: One, the channel organization is large, or larger, in terms of scale than Europe. . . . And I think the most important reason to keep it separate is focus. . . . The folks sit down the hall from each other, literally, so there's a high degree of interaction at the management level, but we decided as a management team that getting George to focus relentlessly on the channel and to worry about that, and to have somebody like Gary [Quinn, executive vice president of sales and field operations] supervising it who's not dragged in the day-to-day business of running a big North American direct-sales organization, was the right thing to do. I think for the foreseeable future it will stay that way. I think it allows us to make the changes we're making. It gives us the ability to look at the channel as an important part of the business. I am not looking for it to be in some way subservient to the direct-sales organization. I've been really clear about that for the last few years, and this is our way of saying it's important.

CRN: What will your main message be to partners attending CA World?

KUMAR: Well, the things that are working, we are keeping and building on. The things that are not working, we have listened to you and we are changing. We're leveraging the strengths of CA for the benefit of the partner, which are the new business model and the diversified product portfolio. For those that are really looking to engage, I think the rewards can be very substantial, in the products that we have today, and some of the things we are rolling out at CA World. I think partners will really like some of the stuff. . . . I will also say, to be fair, that we will be much more discriminating in terms of focusing on getting partners to follow up. I can't afford to give everybody a lead and have people pick and choose. That does not mean that I'm not going to give leads to partners. That's not the message. The message is that we want partners to respond, and if they're not going to respond to a lead, tell us so we can give it to another partner. I'm committed to giving it to people, but I want to give it to people that are going to follow up and build long-term relationships with CA.