CA To Launch Partner Portals, Advisory Council

Computer Associates International

The plan for the new resources, available to members of CA's Solution Provider Program, is part of a stepped-up effort to show solution providers there is value in partnering with CA, said Russell Artzt, executive vice president of CA, Islandia, N.Y., speaking to solution providers during a keynote address.

"We want the synergy of our partnerships with you to provide more value than if we were doing it separately," Artzt said.

CA is now putting more emphasis on building customer relationships, a strategy that includes solution provider partners as well, Artzt said.

"Everything we're saying about improving our customer relationships applies to our partners, because we look at partners as an extension of our customers," he said.

During CA's fourth fiscal quarter, the vendor plans to unveil a partner extranet, which will provide specialized content to solution providers, such as account information, marketing templates and product road maps, said Stacy Leader, vice president at CA.

In October, CA plans to unveil a portal for developers called DeveloperConnect. The new portal will be an extension of CustomerConnect, CA's self-service customer support portal, Leader said.

In addition, CA plans to launch a new partner advisory council, which will represent a cross-section of CA solution provider partners, Leader said.

"It will allow us to continually work with partners to innovate our partner program and make sure it is fitting our partners' needs," Leader said.

The council will likely include 12 partners and become self-electing after the first year, she said.

Leader did not specify when CA plans to launch the council.

CA has also grown the number of certified solutions available from partners under the CA Smart certification program to about 200, up from 30 when the program launched at last year's CA World in July.

One solution provider attending CA World said he is impressed with the attention CA is lavishing on its partner community.

"I see more emphasis on CA trying to use channel partners to get more business, which is good for us," said Jim Wurster, business development manager at CPU International, a New York solution provider. "The CA Smart program allows us to build solutions that focus on our type of client," he said.