SAP's Sotnick Prepares To Face Channel

Sotnick, until Friday the vice president of Americas Partner Sales for Veritas, was scheduled to fly to Miami Monday for SAP's Sales Kickoff Meeting, where the entire SAP sales organization has the opportunity to meet with U.S. channel partners for SAP's Business One and mySAP All-in-One application suites.

As the new head of the SAP America's SMB effort, Sotnick now oversees SAP's U.S. channel initiatives into the midmarket. SAP's partners can sell its two SMB offerings to companies with up to $250 million in annual revenue. Its task now is convincing smaller customers to even consider SAP's software.

"I agree that's a challenge, but SAP is extremely well prepared to meet and succeed against that challenge," Sotnick told CRN. "This is a phenomenal opportunity for me, as SAP is among the best-regarded brands in enterprise applications. I see an opportunity to leverage the channel relationships I've built up over my career as it intersects with SAP's movements into the midmarket."

In his new position, Sotnick reports to John Nugent, executive vice president of sales for SAP America. He will also work closely with Donna Troy, who heads up the entire global channel effort for the Germany-based company.

Veritas executives Friday announced Sotnick's departure internally in a memo signed by Mike Coney, senior vice president of Americas Field Operations at the Mountain View, Calif.-based company.

Sotnick described his move as unrelated to Veritas' recent acquisition by Symantec, saying he had been in negotiations with SAP for many months.