Oracle Resellers Back New 'Specialization' Channel Program

"I think it's a good idea. It will force people to focus," said Rod Mann, vice president of development at HCL EAI Services, part of Oracle channel partner HCL Technologies based in Noida, India. Mann was one of more than 1,500 channel partners attending the Oracle PartnerNetwork Forum Sunday, the partner portion of Oracle OpenWorld.

"I think it's excellent. It's pretty hard today to get noticed through the Oracle partner crowd," agreed Dominique Lenoir, sales and marketing manager at Era Consulting Group, a Verdun, Quebec-based supplier of implementation services for J.D. Edwards applications. "I think it will increase our exposure and, hopefully, our revenues."

Under the new Oracle PartnerNetwork Specializations program announced Sunday, channel partners will join one of four program tiers: remarketer, silver, gold or platinum. Gold partners will have the option of becoming certified in one or more specific Oracle technologies while joining the platinum tier will require being certified in at least five technologies or "specializations."

"We will offer specializations in every [technology] area Oracle goes to market," said Judson Althoff, senior vice president of worldwide alliances and channels, in a keynote speech Sunday. "Specialization is the key. The right level of competency, the right level of business acumen to meet the customers needs."

Indicating the amount of importance Oracle is attaching to the specialization program, Judson said a Gold partner with a specialization certification would be more likely to win a reseller deal within that technology area than a platinum-level partner that is not.

"A specialized partner, representing depth of skill in a given area of the product portfolio, is the right partner to select for the job, regardless of whether they may be gold or platinum," he said. "If, in fact, you are specialized in [a specific] area and a platinum partner is not, you will actually be preferred and recognized more so than that platinum partner."

Oracle executives are promoting the idea that specializations will make it easier for solution provider partners to stand out. Oracle will highlight the specializations in its solutions catalog and use the designations to help Oracle sales representatives recognize resellers with deep expertise.

One channel partner, who asked that he not be identified, welcomed the specialization idea in general but was skeptical about how well it would be executed. And he thought it could mean more work for resellers. "Any time they introduce these changes, there's a lot of overhead [for partners] to implement them," he said. He hopes the specializations add more focus to Oracle's online solution catalog, noting that he has never received new business through that system.

Althoff said the new program would begin Dec. 1. Partners will be grandfathered into their current program tiers and have one year to meet the new requirements. The company is not requiring channel partners to take education courses if they feel they can pass the certification requirements without them. "We fully expect that many of you will already be qualified in some of these specialization areas," Althoff said.

"Oracle continues to recognize the value our expertise brings," said Mark Anderson, an executive with OAC Services, a Campbell, Calif.-based solution provider that works with the Oracle E-Business Suite application set.

"It's all based on solutions," agreed Uwe Stein, director of software and solutions in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region for Azlan, a solution provider in Munich, Germany.

"I think the specialization is going to be very big for us," said Donald McNatty, president and director of business development for DRMcNatty & Associates in Mission Viejo, Calif., which works with Oracle's Primavera project management application. McNatty said it can be hard for a small company to stand out among Oracle resellers. "This gives us a path and a forum to do that."