Hyperion Launches New SolutionsNet Partner Program
Dubbed SolutionsNet, the program promises targeted sales and marketing support for participating partners that offer tested, referenceable solutions.
Operating informally for much of this year, SolutionsNet includes 20 partners offering 60 solutions. The program is intended to expand Hyperion's presence in industries and departments beyond financial services, the company's mainstay. All enrolled solutions are tested by Hyperion and must have at least one client using them.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Hyperion expects to add up to five solutions each quarter and aims to have about 50 partners enrolled by June.
"One of the largest benefits [for participants] is having their SolutionsNet-validated vertical solution promoted to our sales force through Webcasts, sales tools and training," said Mercedes Ellison, Hyperion's vice president of global partner sales. "We make our sales force aware that these solutions are tried-and-true and that partners are there to co-sell with them, and we give partners exposure to our customer base."
For now, SolutionsNet's benefits stop at marketing and awareness. Hyperion isn't offering participants added margin or other financial incentives.
Still, services firm Answerthink, an early participant, thinks the program will prove to be worthwhile. All software vendors like to talk grandly about how they focus on solutions, not applications, but Hyperion is finally starting to walk the walk, said Arthur Forbus, senior director of business development at Answerthink.
"They've been talking about solutions for years, but over the last six months, I've seen more action on sales and lead generation," Forbus said. "I'm hoping this is the genesis, where they're excited to put some focus there."
Hyperion is enticing its direct-sales force to work with SolutionsNet offerings by continuing to pay sales staffers commissions on the Hyperion component of sales into named accounts, even as it also compensates VARs for the sale, said Tom Phelps, executive vice president of Palladium, a solutions provider in Lincoln, Mass.
Some of the new support Hyperion is offering SolutionsNet participants includes a more prominent presence at its Web site and events. That has translated to several dozen leads and a few new sales for Palladium, Phelps said.
"The feedback I've given them is just 'more program support.' There's more they could do on the compensation aspect, and we've been promoting more outreach to non-named accounts," Phelps said. "They've been very generous in what they've done to date, but there's always more that can be done."
Initial SolutionsNet offerings target industries including manufacturing, health care, pharmaceuticals and retail. "Over the last couple of years, there's been a mantra here that partners equals solutions," Ellison said. "We've made the determined decision that we're going to leverage our partner community, who have the domain expertise across verticals, to help us solve customer problems using our technology."
Hyperion, which competes with Cognos and Business Objects in the BI market, is considered a candidate for merger-and-acquisition activity, either buying small vendors to increase its scale or being sold to a larger suitor.
After a rocky start early in the year with its System 9 product cycle, Hyperion seems to have regained its footing. Answerthink's Forbus said his business has been brisk: "Hyperion is clicking on a lot of cylinders these days."