Lacking In In Partner Services, NetApp Vows Amends

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Network Appliance is vowing to fix a major sore spot with its channel partners -- the way it delivers professional services -- with an on-going vamp of the business culminating with the opening up of services to all partners early next year.

NetApp is also doing targeted recruiting of new channel partners, looking for those who work with other vendors but might be interested in adding the company as a vendor partner.

The company's professional services policies have cost the vendor much goodwill among its channel partners, and caused the company to barely lose out to its storage arch-rivals EMC and Hewlett-Packard in the VARBusiness Annual Report Card this Fall, said Leonard Iventosch, vice president of global channels at NetApp.

That lack of services commitment to the channel has hurt partners, said one major NetApp solution provider who asked to not be identified.

"Their professional services people have been competing with VARs for the last four years," the solution provider said. "We've been almost in direct competition. We have four fully certified engineers who every time they turn around they see NetApp selling services direct. So it's good news if things are changing."

Things are indeed changing, Iventosch said.

Since the ARC loss, which was unveiled at CMP's Xchange 2007 conference in late August, NetApp has had a complete change in attitude towards services, Iventosch said.

"My boss's boss, Ed Deenihan, [executive vice president for NetApp's global services] makes the decision about who to hire to do what," he said. "Now he is hiring people to help build the channel partners' services rather than deliver our own services. That's a very important change."

NetApp has also changed its compensation plans so that field sales managers' comp goals no longer include attached services, Iventosch said.

"Also, our professional services organization was paid on how much professional services were sold, either direct or via partners," he said. "Now they're paid on the total sales district performance, not just on services revenue. So we've eliminated conflict."

NetApp is also modifying its Technical Partner Advisor (TPA) program, Iventosch said. It was originally focused completely on pre-sales and solutions design services, but has been changed so that 40 percent of its focus is now on all services.

"The idea is, most of our partners have pre-sales and post-sales services," he said. "They don't get paid on pre-sales. But they want more revenue from post-sales services. So our TPAs are working more with partners on post-sales services."

The TPAs currently work direct with the top 10 to 20 go-to-market partners in each sales direct, with the rest of the partners expected to work with their distributors Arrow and Avnet to engage NetApp's direct sales service engineers, sales reps, and professional services personnel to deliver services, said Iventosch.

Next: NetApp implements Installation Accreditation Program For Partners

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