Walking The Talk
There are two new lists: “Worldwide Ambassadors” and “Distribution Diplomats.” And we close with an essay about 12 execs whose actions in months to come just might land them in next year’s report.
You already know who’s accountable at your strategic vendor partners for calling the shots on channel issues. But do you know how far that accountability extends?
No matter the title a channel chief holds—whether it’s in sales or marketing or, more uniquely, partner advocacy—solution providers are looking much deeper than the company’s channel organization when assessing and choosing the vendors they represent. They’re scrutinizing broad rules of engagement, deal protection policies and, of course, sales compensation strategies. And they’re watching closely the words and actions from the executive suite and boardroom.
“It puts a whole different spin on it if it starts from the top down because there’s not going to be a disconnect, it’s not going to be schizophrenic. You can tell when people are just giving you lip service about being a channel company,” said Tom Gobeille, president and CEO of Network Computing Architects, a solution provider in Bellevue, Wash.
“The companies that understand the channel were launched with the channel strategy up front,” echoed Tim Hebert, CIO of Atrion Networking, an integrator in Warwick, R.I. “They’ve made the internal organization match the channel model. So I have channel managers looking to develop my staff, they’re looking to help bring to the table opportunities as much as we’re bringing opportunities to the table for them. … The other thing that I really look at in a company: Is this a company, the people that make up the company, an organization I can have a true partnership with?”
What does this mean, exactly? Consider the case of IBM, which realized it needed to reach into its partner organization to more effectively design and plan new product releases and now has a formal process to do so. This strategy was used to good effect by the company’s storage team to drive incremental market-share gains last year, said Denise Buonaiuto, vice president of global business partner sales in the IBM Systems and Technology Group, Armonk, N.Y.
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“If you develop and design for the channel, you will have all of the face-to-face stuff done. If you design for the face-to-face, you will only have 40 percent of the equation done. So, design up front for the channel, and you will get it right—out of the chute,” she said.
Since all companies live and die by sales, solution providers also say they find channel executives with sales backgrounds to be more sympathetic to their greater cause. “I think marketing isn’t necessarily getting out there, typically, and understanding what our perspective on life is,” said Phil Mogavero, president and CEO of Data Systems Worldwide, a network integrator in Woodland Hills, Calif. “They don’t understand what it’s like on our side of the road. Having sales does [help], because they go out on sales calls with us, they come to our businesses.”
Case in point: Veritas Software’s Windows Authorized Partner Program and the structure of its new deal-registration initiative, both launched last week, actually came from within the company’s enterprise sales organization, said Alan Geary, senior manager for partner programs at Veritas, Mountain View, Calif.
The vendor recognized that certain partners with expertise in Windows deployments were losing out on sales because they needed access to some products previously limited to the company’s Enterprise Authorized channel, Geary said. And when it came to deal registration, Veritas opted to put in place an up-front discount for qualified projects, which boosts the margin on which a solution provider’s salesperson will be compensated. “All these things were driven from our collaboration with sales,” Geary said.
The channel’s advice to those holding channel development positions no matter what the level: Listen, communicate and commit. Your partners are watching, and they want you to succeed. “It’s not the title, it’s the person. One person can make so much of a change or a difference as to whether or not a vendor is a good channel partner,” said John Breakey, CEO of Unis Lumin, a Cisco Systems partner in Toronto.
Who are these brave souls? In our biggest Channel Chiefs report ever, we’ve included our traditional survey of 50 leaders shaping policies in the United States. We’ve provided snapshot profiles on a half-dozen who face particularly intriguing challenges and added “Crosstown Rivals,” featuring six pairs of executives who will find themselves going head-to-head this year.