Masergy Adds New Levels To Channel Partner Program
Masergy’s channel program has grown tremendously over the past three years, with a 35 percent increase in channel partner revenue over the past year alone, according to John Dumbleton, Masergy’s senior vice president of business development. With that growth, he said, the company also noticed significant stratification among its partners.
“It just made logical sense that our channel program should reflect that stratification,” he said. Dumbleton said the Plano, Texas-based Masergy has been investing significant resources in its channel program and wanted to reward and motivate its best sellers.
Already Masergy has identified nine partners that qualified for its Platinum Partner status (including Agent Alliance members) and 10 that qualified for Gold status, with several more predicted to meet requirements by the end of the fiscal year.
Besides higher commissions and spiffs, Masergy’s Gold and Platinum partners will access added benefits, such as customized joint-marketing strategies, special events, and co-branded case studies. Platinum partners will be able to take advantage of a customized incentives program by working with Masergy to build the incentives programs that work best for their company.
Avant Communications, which qualified for Platinum status with $1.2 million in Masergy sales during the last fiscal year ending in July, is planning to take advantage of those added benefits.
Avant’s CEO, Ian Kieninger, said its new partnership status would solidify Avant’s relationship with Masergy and help plan for “a more secure long term future together.”
“From the beginning Masergy has been and is one of the few service providers who drive a majority of their revenue through their channel partners,” Kieninger said. “We appreciate and support this strategy as it fits very well into our model.”
Speaking to concerns surrounding Masergy’s abandoned IPO plans of last February and its recent acquisition by private equity firm ABRY, Kieninger said he’s not worried.
“As of late is seems many of the best valuations reside in private money, which makes ABRY a good move,” he said. “I think the additional capital and support will only make Masergy stronger and grow faster.”
And Dumbleton said the recent acquisition won’t change Masergy’s increased focus on strengthening its channel partnerships.
“ABRY sees the channel as a strength,” he said.