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Avaya is adding sweeter rewards to many of its best known partner programs heading into 2013, as well as new programs for higher-tiered partners and strategic product sales, the company said Thursday during its Americas Executive Partner Forum in Cancun, Mexico.
An important measure of Avaya partner progress is the uptick in Avaya's overall sales through the channel as well as the rate at which partners are ascending to higher tiers, said Barat Dickman, senior director, global channel programs and go-to-market strategy. Avaya now sells 76 percent through the channel in the Americas, and compared to a year ago, there are 34 percent more Platinum partners, 20 percent more Gold partners and 16 percent more Silver partners, as well as a 14 percent increase in overall sales authorizations.
Recent months have included the addition of deal registration incentives for Avaya data networking products, and the referral program for Avaya's Live Connect cloud offering -- the first cloud-based compensation program from Avaya. In addition, more than 580 unique partner conferences are using Avaya's MarketLeaders marketing program, which is accessed by 63 percent of medaled Avaya partners, Dickman said.
[Related: Avaya To Partners: Attack The Midmarket, Upsell The Enterprise]
Avaya has 14 percent more sales and design specialists than the previous year, and it has issued 3 times as many services credentials since its fiscal 2011. That means the Avaya channel has greater competencies overall, Dickman explained.
Another key Avaya metric is how its lead generation efforts have benefited partners. Avaya is passing along 1.5 times the number of qualified "hot" leads to partners than it did a year ago, and 99.5 percent of all hot leads generated by Avaya are sent directly to channel partners. Overall, Avaya passed nearly 14,000 leads to Avaya partners in its fiscal 2012, way up from less than 5,400 in the previous year.
"We did what we said we would do," Dickman said, citing other statistics such as a 14 percent year-over-year increase in global customer satisfaction with the Avaya channel.
Avaya's 2013 financial incentives will continue to focus on what Dickman described as "aligning compensation dollars with rewarding outcomes."
