Hand-holding 101

It&'s in the vendor&'s self-interest, of course, to get people to become part of its Authorized Services Network. But apparently solution providers think it&'s in their self-interest, too. According to EMC VP Channel Marketing John Koury, the number of partners who are part of the network tripled in 2005. He thinks every EMC partner should want this designation on their card. This isn&'t your average take-lots-of-tests process, though. One cool aspect of the program is that solution providers are assigned mentors that work with engineers the field until they pass muster. Then they&'re free to go it alone.

This got me to thinking about a recent conversation I had with Mike Lambert, vice president of sales and marketing for Amentra, an IT consulting company in Richmond, Va., with about 100 employees that makes mentoring part of every engagement. "We&'re replacing the old days of taking a class and mixing the model," Lambert says. Rather than keeping its customers&' internal IT staff at arms length during new technology deployment, Amentra is inclusive, in essence thinking of them as part of its own team. Along the way, internal staff members receive appropriate training and coaching about any new technologies or best practices with which they may not already be familiar, he says. Amentra&'s unique proposition is that its clients need ultimately to be in control of their own IT destinies, even while relying on third-party consultants for implementation and business advice at some phase along the way. Later, when the project is complete, the hand-off is simpler, leaving the consultant to work on new, high-margin projects. “This is not a big-bang approach,” Lambert says.

What&'s more, by leveraging internal staff at its customers, Amentra doesn&'t have to take on a lot of its own full-time employees.

Here&'s a little more background on the company. Its projects mainly focus on enterprise integration, portal development, business intelligence and business process management.

What&'s your approach to mentoring and training your clients? I always appreciate reasoned feedback at [email protected].