Oki Data Launches New Channel Alliance

The plan will initially roll out with about 30 upper tier solution providers before becoming a broader operation in September, they said. The company's top executive said Oki Data is seeking to cement its place in the top tier of document hardware companies in the channel, and has opted to entirely rewrite its approach as if it were just beginning to do business in the channel.

"Our salespeople are running with it now," said Stewart Krentzman, CEO of Mount Laurel, N.J.-based Oki Data. "We are probably more excited about it than we thought we would be based on some of the solution provider reaction some of our people have received to the program."

The company is calling the new channel compensation structure "ProfitOps." It is rolling it out at the same time other competitors have increased their focus on sales through solution providers. For example, earlier this year Xerox launched a new channel initiative that opens its entire lineup of office products to IT solution providers as the Stamford, Conn.-based company seeks to grow sales in the midmarket.

Under the alliance's architecture, Oki Data solution providers that qualify for the "Elite" tier of the program would develop a 21-month business plan, jointly, with the vendor. On hardware sales, the vendor would receive a 12 percent upfront payment and, on consumable sales, a 3 percent payment, said Jackie Paralis, Oki Data's senior marketing manager for channel development.

For second-tier partners, the vendor and solution providers will work out a 12-month business plan and Oki Data will pay a 12 percent commission upfront on hardware sales, Paralis said. The financial incentives are about double the amount solution providers had previously received in terms of margin and soft dollars.

"It's just a fresh look at doing business in 2007, rather than the way we did it five years ago," Krentzman said.

The business plan element to ProfitOps includes a joint review of the solution provider's go-to-market strategy, as well as technical competence, marketing needs and sales goals. Paralis said the process takes about six to eight hours. In addition, she said, the vendor and solution providers will each work on defining points of strategy in areas where Oki Data believes it can offer differentiation in the market place, including managed services, device consolidation, dot matrix migration, print imaging and document workflow solutions.

One solution provider said his company began talking with Oki Data about the plan last week, and it was still in discussions on the business plan and ramifications for his business. Others who had not yet been briefed were withholding judgment; the company has, though, scored points with solution providers on its previously aggressive hardware margins as well as its direct interaction with channel partners.

Det Breymann, CEO of Mars Office Services, an Anaheim, Calif.-based solution provider and Oki Data partner, said he had not yet been briefed by Oki Data on the new compensation plan and channel structure.

"They've been wonderful," Breymann said. "We've had a rep on and off over the years, and she'll bend over backward to help us with anything we need. We've been very pleased with them."

He said that while technical assistance from Oki Data has at times been less than optimal, the company's technology was strong.

"Today, Oki has one of the best color products on the market -- it certainly outshines HP and Samsung in performance," Breymann said.