Program Overhaul

A major channel program overhaul is under way at Trend Micro, with changes expected to take effect by February.

The security vendor is cutting the ranks of its Premium partners to 41 from about 70 in an effort to align itself with partners bringing in new business as it rolls out a slew of new products, Trend Micro executives said. A number of Premium partners, and partners in general, were relying on renewal licenses and not developing new sales, they said.

Existing Premium partners say losing Premium status may rankle some partners.

"We just made the changes, and those that didn't make the cut haven't absorbed it yet," said Nancy Reynolds, director of Trend Micro's national channel program. "They weren't meeting their goals, but I would certainly take calls from them."

The vendor plans to introduce a three-tier certification program next month. Premium partners, which receive priority access to field sales and support, must generate at least $500,000 in new sales each year and achieve level-two certification to earn that designation.

Trend Micro is also moving to a discount structure in which all partners in each status category receive the same discounts; incentives are tied to generating new business. Premium partners receive a higher discount than a new category of partners called Corporate resellers. Cupertino, Calif.-based Trend Micro would not disclose the actual discount structure.

Several Premium partners said the overall changes were positive and necessary.

"If we make a significant investment in training and sales, we want to be rewarded, and one way of doing that is limiting the field of players," said Dave Chittum, vice president and general manager of services at Cornerstone Systems, a Premium partner in Irvine, Calif. "Trend [Micro] has some lofty sales goals for 2004 and 2005 and needs partners that perform to get them there."

Another major program change will require partners to begin buying products from distributors Ingram Micro, Tech Data, Synnex and Interworks next month.

Trend Micro's Reynolds: Some Premium partners were not making their goals.

Although Chittum generally backs the program changes, the introduction of the new Corporate reseller program concerns him. "Corporate resellers are not in the business of adding value to a solution, so my concern is that they'll be able to come into deals with a lower price point than we can," he said. "Still, we get a little advantage on the discount."

The remaining Associate-level partners, of which there are a few thousand, will now rely mainly on distributors for support, but they do still have the option to call on Trend Micro's inside sales force. Associate partners are not required to become certified, and they can negotiate their discounts with the distributors.

"Some partners will be disappointed that they can no longer deal direct with Trend [Micro] to get product or priority support, but Trend [Micro], like all the security vendors in this space, is trying to maximize their resources and figure out how to best cover the partners that are doing well," said Bill O'Brien, principal at Commercium Technology, Rumson, N.J.

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