SGI Launches Plan To Double Its Sales Through Channel
The Mountain View, Calif.-based developer of servers, workstations and visualization systems currently gets about 30 percent of its revenue from the channel but wants to at least double that figure with solution providers that can expand its geographical reach, said Greg Estes, vice president of corporate marketing at SGI.
"We go after specific markets with a vertical focus centered around engineering and creative customers," Estes said. "We think we have an opportunity to expand our business faster than if we go direct."
SGI Takes Steps To Woo Partners
Multifaceted program aims to:
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>> Generate 60 percent of SGI's sales through channel
>> Give solution providers access to direct accounts
>> Promote new channel-ready products at attractive prices
Dave Gibson, the company's director of channels for North America, said SGI's new channel program includes a listing of about 200 to 250 named accounts. However, he said the company is not excluding the channel from such accounts.
Hope Hayes, president of Hanover, Md.-based solution provider Alliance Technology Group, said she is impressed by how willing SGI is to work with partners in its direct accounts. "We've been in accounts where a vendor was not in a particular department," she said. "Yet when we bring in an opportunity, then they say, 'Sorry, that's a direct account.' "
SGI is implementing a training and certification program and will allocate 2 percent of solution providers' sales to market development funds, Gibson said. The company is also offering POS, front-line and other services and an opportunity registration program.
SGI is backing up the program with channel-ready products including the Prism Deskside visualization system, priced from $8,500. "These products are priced more like volume products so customers do not have to go too deep to get approval to purchase," Gibson said.
Carmen Marchionni, president and CEO of Open Systems Solutions, a Yardley, Pa.-based solution provider, said SGI seems to be saying all the right things to the channel. Marchionni noted that Gibson was once SGI's top U.S. district sales manager before moving to the channel.
"The fact that they're pulling him out of line management and putting him in charge of the channel is significant," Marchionni said. "He's not just some marketing guy. He has credibility with management."