Unify, the communications software and services firm, now has a new channel partner programme designed to support its moves from hardware to services and software. It intends to rewards partners for being more specialised and building business in key verticals, which is Europe means more mid-market and addressing security issues in that segment, says Thomas Veit (below), SVP of Channels for EMEA who was appointed earlier in the year from Avaya. He wants the company to be known for being “very easy to do business with”.
Unify was previously known to the channel under the brand Siemens Enterprise Communications and had a relatively casual relationship with channels because of the parent. He now says he wants 45% of revenues through the channel within the next two years, up from 25%. "Our goal is to continue building a strong partner network with our existing partners, but also grow through new partners with a strong knowledge of software and hardware offerings."
Unify is investing in channel support in Europe and will aim to work with partners to pull business through and will use its own resources to encourage customers to approach its channels. As well as transitioning the current partner base to the new programme by January 1st, 2015, it wants to get the message out. As well as holding events and webinars, it is engaged in digital and social media to spread information to key audiences.
Unify is also making more of its UC portfolio available to the channel. This portfolio includes OpenScape Voice and OpenScape 4000 for enterprises, and OpenScape Business for commercial, which has been scaled to accommodate more than 1000 users. Additionally, the framework should make it makes it easy for new products and solutions to be added in the future, he says.
Unify's partner plan has adopted some core principles:
Profit predictability to build trust and drive alignment
Incentives that provide opportunities for increased profits and fast ROI
Rewarding investment by offering specialisation level discounts
Improved differentiation to highlight depth of expertise and/or specialisation.
Streamlined processes to accelerate faster time to business
A commitment to partner and customer satisfaction
