SAP Throws Its Commitment To The Channel Into Question
As a former courtroom reporter and now a veteran jury foreman, I know a few things about why being truthful and building trust is of paramount importance. It&'s not only important when you are sitting on the witness stand, it&'s darn important when you are building a solution provider network.
In fact, the column I wrote about trust two weeks ago generated a great deal of e-mail in my box.
So why doesn&'t SAP, a company that has brought in some true channel veterans, understand this simple concept and pledge true support? Before I answer that question, let&'s take a look at what the company did this week.
First, SAP came out and said it is lifting the ceiling for accounts where the channel can participate to $1 billion, up from a measly $200 million. That&'s a good thing. It also said, through its capable worldwide channel veteran Donna Troy, who runs small and midsize business initiatives, that SAP sales reps will be paid the same commission regardless of whether or not a sale goes direct or through the channel. That is also good, although I would rather see the commission be larger for sales through partners.
On both counts, congratulations. But then, during the same week, SAP holds a bicoastal product rollout and announces a new hosted CRM product, targeted at enterprise and midmarket companies, that it will not let the channel sell.
Yes, you read that line correctly. Out of one side of its mouth, SAP tells us that it wants more sales through the value-added channel, changes the compensation structure of its direct sales force to be channel-neutral and raises the size of the companies where it wants the channel engaged. Out of the other side, it says it won&'t let you sell the newly crafted MySAP CRM.
This move does anything but build trust among the company&'s solution provider channel at a time when SAP is pledging to enforce a stronger play for partners.
Senior-level managers at SAP clearly don&'t understand the solution provider market. Bringing in veteran channel managers isn&'t enough to build a channel. A successful channel cannot be built without the full support of the management team—from the CEO on down. But last week when Germany-based SAP made the announcement of the hosted product in America, it didn&'t even have a channel executive on the call.
So let&'s consider the ridiculous position SAP has put its channel partners in. Say a VAR is engaged with a customer that it has serviced for months or years, it really doesn&'t matter. This solution provider has won the trust of the customer by performing well on past projects, some of which have included SAP&'s BusinessOne product. Now, the solution provider identifies an opportunity to sell a hosted CRM solution to its customer. Does SAP really expect the partner to turn the business over and walk away?
That&'s not going to happen. What will happen is the partner will sell a competitive product. Tell me how that helps SAP.
Does SAP think CRM has no place in a business less than $1 billion in size? I doubt it.
This is one of those things that can&'t be easily explained, so what results is the company&'s true commitment to the channel is being thrown into question. The only thing I can suggest is that SAP President of the Americas Bill McDermott read my column about trust from two weeks ago plus my 12 steps necessary for a successful channel program and then move to put this new product into the hands of the channel.
Make something happen. I can be reached at (781) 839-1202 or via e-mail at [email protected].