Mercator Rethinks Partnerships

Over the past year, the integration software vendor has cut its number of partners,including systems integrators, VARs and IT vendors,to 40 from nearly 150, said Jill Donohoe, senior vice president of global alliances and corporate development at Mercator, based here.

Most partners had become "distant relatives," or had fallen short of expectations in terms of revenue or lead generation, Donohoe said.

"When Roy King came on board as Mercator's CEO [in January 2001, his goal was to focus the company on the things that drive its core business," said Donohoe. "And when we looked at our partners, only a minority were key to driving our business forward."

Mercator has been pursuing new alliances that could extend its vertical-market and technology reach.

Mercator has since been rebuilding its partner program by revitalizing underperforming alliances and pursuing new ones that could extend the company's vertical-market and technology reach and expertise, she said.

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Within the past month, Mercator has inked deals with integrators Sogeti USA, Accenture and Logica France. Other partners include KPMG Consulting, IBM Global Services and EDS.

"Our channel partner requirements revolve around [annual revenue, a committed number of consultants trained on Mercator technology and qualified leads generated," Donohoe said. "Those are the things that qualify a partnership for us."

Sogeti USA, a start-up IT consulting unit of Cap Gemini, is just the type of partner Mercator seeks, and the feeling is mutual for Dan Leslie, business development manager at Sogeti USA, Dayton, Ohio.

"We see some clear opportunities in the EAI, health-care and financial-services spaces," Leslie said. "So we see a real connection with Mercator."

Mercator's core verticals are financial services, health care, manufacturing, retail and distribution, said Donohoe. In those markets, the company provides enterprises with integration solutions in areas such as ERP, HIPAA compliance and straight-through processing.

Mercator is now working to branch out into other segments, such as CRM, knowledge management and Web services, and also plans to target the SMB space, Donohoe said. To that end, the company aims to derive 50 percent of its revenue via the channel, up from 30 percent. "Small and midsize customers are a part of our future strategy," she said. "They will largely be an indirect sell for us."