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Newsletter Home > January, 2008
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Partnering Among Partners: Figuring Out the Angles
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The concept of partners working together to deliver "complete solutions" to end customers is not a new one. But the current expansion of advanced technologies is forcing partners to either find resources to grow their companies in multiple directions, or to specialize in certain technologies and partner with other channels to deliver other technologies. I predict issues around these types of alliances will emerge as a key focal point of 2008.
Security and unified communications are perhaps the most common technology areas that drive partners to work together. Although in many cases, partners find themselves working together for geographical reasons – such as a situation where a customer has a remote office that the preferred channel partner cannot adequately service.
This past fall, Presti Research & Consulting conducted a small survey of channel partners who have partnered together, to get a sense of what works, what doesn't' work, how they find the alliances, and how they managed them.
Based on 98 respondents representing a fairly equal distribution of VARs, integrators, and service providers, most of the partners use the alliances to enhance their service offerings and to expand into new geographies, as described above. The overwhelming majority had partnered more than 20 times, enjoyed a high level of success, and also had plans to repeat such partnering on an ongoing basis.
About 65 percent said that finding and assessing partners is the biggest challenge associated with using alliances as a business model. Key advice involved checking references, minimizing overlap, and setting clear expectations. But one piece of advice was far less tangible: "Choose partners with compatible business values."
Subsequent discussion with channel partners (some of whom also participated in the survey) yielded total agreement to this recommendation, though no one was able to fully articulate how to assess compatibility, or was even able to fully define the meaning of "compatible business values." The general consensus was that assessing this level of compatibility has more to do with gut feeling than with any empirical information or anything that can be directly asked.
There were multiple warnings against forming partnerships merely to avoid having to compete within the particular account – usually by cutting price. Such alliances were seen to merely hide the struggle for account control that would soon be going on behind the scenes. As one partner explained, "You're lucky when one of those deals is merely settled out of court."
There were two general schools of thought on how the partnerships are formed. Some of the channel partners went shopping for an alliance after a client's specific unmet need emerged. Others recognized the unmet need in advance, and formed an alliance to cover the eventual opportunity in advance. Both camps insisted their particular approach was the only successful way to go.
No doubt we'll be hearing a lot more about this issue through the remainder of 2008.
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Cisco SharedVue Program Hits a Million
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Cisco's syndicated content for channel partners has recently passed one million hits, as channel organizations increase their focus on end customer marketing.
While it's true that every successful business has to do at least some quantity of marketing, the advent of blogs, wikis, YouTube videos, podcasts, and other examples of the new marketing media have raised the stakes. These new arrivals are not just for the younger set anymore. They've expanded into the world of grown-ups, and into the business community-at-large.
This is not necessarily welcome news to VARs, integrators, and other members of the indirect sales channel – and especially those that are small, nimble, and don't necessarily have resources to spend beyond technology investment and otherwise keeping their customers happy.
So last August, Cisco rolled out an online distribution service from which channel partners can select articles and other content to be used on their web sites and similar marketing tools.
"Some of the partners need help building out a robust web site," said marketing programs manager, Melissa Blaisdell. "The second issue is that Cisco has a lot of information coming at the channel and we're always looking for ways to make it easier for them, and help them leverage cool stuff, build their brand, and create demand."
Known as "SharedVue," the
service is currently syndicating content on security, unified communications, mobility, core routing/switching, and managed services. The approach is more about business problems than deep technical information. Blaisdell added that different styles are available to match the partner's specific approach to its website and marketing communications.
In addition to providing content, the systems also features a dashboard that measures customer response to the individual campaigns. While Cisco receives aggregated information from those dashboards, Blaisdell said all customer-specific information stays within the partner's dashboard.
According to Cisco, approximately 400 partners are currently using SharedVue, with hits jumping 400% from October to November.
Avaya Names Trevor Gruenewald VP North America Sales Channel for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses
Avaya Inc. announced that Trevor Gruenewald has been named vice president, North America sales channel for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).
In his new role, Gruenewald will be responsible for market strategy and channel programs to support an estimated 2,000 Avaya resellers specializing in SMB sales and services.
Based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, Gruenewald has been with Avaya since its 2000 launch and formerly served as sales vice president for global demand generation. He also has worked in a variety of sales leadership capacities for both AT&T and Lucent Technologies.
Sprint Nextel Names Wireless Veteran Dan Hesse as President and CEO
The Sprint Nextel Board of Directors has named wireless executive Daniel R. Hesse, 54, as president and chief executive officer of the company, effective immediately. He previously was chairman, president and CEO of Embarq Corporation.
Hesse had been chairman and CEO since Embarq's inception in 2006. Prior to the formation of Embarq, he served as CEO of Sprint's Local Telecommunications Division for one year before the spin-off that created Embarq. Hesse previously has spent 23 years at AT&T, including serving between 1997 and 2000 as the president and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services, which was then the United States' largest wireless operator.
Hesse also has joined Sprint Nextel's board of directors.
Jan Frykhammar appointed Head of Ericsson's Business Unit Global Services
Jan Frykhammar has been appointed Senior Vice President and Head of Ericsson's Business Unit Global Services, effective as of January 1, 2008. Frykhammar was previously vice president, head of sales and business control within Global Services.
Jan Frykhammar joined Ericsson in 1991, and has held different managerial positions such as CFO in North America and Vice President, Finance within the global customer account Vodafone.
Jan Frykhammar was born in Stockholm in 1965 and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Economics degree from the University of Uppsala in Sweden.
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On The Other Hand - The Hole in Apple's iPhone Strategy
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By: Ken Presti
I yielded to temptation over the holiday season and picked up an iPhone – justifying on a number of levels, many of which made good business sense.
Apple very much has its sales/marketing act together, insofar as the sales reps I spoke to really knew the product backwards and forwards. The features were all properly highlighted, and there was a long line of accessories to choose from. Even the online provisioning tool was simple and easy to use.
They only forgot one thing – but a big thing it is!
In pulling together their exclusive arrangement with AT&T Mobility, they apparently didn't realize that customers in the Apple store might have questions about how the iPhone would impact the buyer's monthly phone bill, or if the AT&T customer's current plan would even support the iPhone. Apparently some plans are ineligible for the iPhone. He said it was a pretty rare occurrence, but I reminded myself this was a sales guy talking.
So after entering the Apple store fairly convinced I would buy the device, I found myself heading over to the AT&T store, which, coincidentally, happened to be across the street. The clerk at the AT&T store saw where I was coming from, and immediately knew what I wanted. I was kind of surprised he didn't ask to show me a Blackberry, or something sitting on one of his shelves, but he put my phone number into the computer and immediately came up with the rate information I was looking for.
I don't think he got a commission for the iPhone, but he was definitely instrumental in making the sale happen.
I have no idea why Apple didn't pull together an AT&T agency arrangement for their stores at the time they pulled their alliance together. I, for one, came back to purchase my iPhone. But I wonder how many people end up getting sidetracked and buy something else entirely.
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