FINAL WORD
Referrer/Influencer
This is the first step on the Epicor partner
path. These partners are engaged in key
markets and have the ability to recommend
Epicor technology and possibly influence a
target customer. A referral can take various
forms, but the most frequent is when a
partner has an opportunity it is not capable
of fulfilling. This could be for various
reasons, including the opportunity being
in the wrong vertical sector, the customer
preferring to work with Epicor directly, or
the partner’s specific technical know-how
not being relevant for the opportunity.
Authorised partner
An authorised partner has a key focus
on selling Epicor products and services.
The partner already has a customer base
and relationships in its geography, as
well as a strong pre-sales and sales team
available to penetrate their chosen vertical,
sector, country or region. The focus here
is on selling. An authorised partner has
the goal of reaching the highest level of
sales certification, as well as ensuring
that the basic technical knowledge and
requirements are met.
Certified partner
A certified partner is similar to an
authorised partner, but it has developed
its technical know-how and abilities,
including having the right Epicor
certifications in place to gain the support of
Epicor in generating services engagements.
At the same time, it can be used by Epicor
to deliver projects on our behalf. Generally,
it is seen that a certified partner can
provide a complete Epicor solution to
its customers. It tends to have multiple
capabilities in its business; it can resell and
influence; it can implement and provide
Level 1 and/or Level 2 support, or bundle
Epicor products with other products it
has in its portfolio. This path does require
higher levels of certification, as well as
completion of the full enablement plan,
and the partner must show it’s capable
of providing the complete solution as
outlined in the programme. As a result, the
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partner will be offered Epicor consulting
opportunities as and when they become
available and its services capability will be
endorsed by Epicor.
How do we calculate margins in this
new ‘value’ system? Partner margins
are dictated by the value the partner
brings to Epicor. The values have been
grouped into three key pillars: financial,
functional and technical. Each pillar is
designed to improve business process and
general cadence with Epicor. At the same
time, they bring a level of consistency in
expectation, which all leads to one thing:
helping the partners grow their business.
As an example, if each partner starts
out with a discount rate of, say, 15 per cent,
there will be an additional 15 per cent set
aside for mutually agreed-on yearly sales
targets (the key here is ‘mutually agreed’;
we want the partner to own the number
because that fosters buy-in). There is also
15 per cent set aside for KPIs. For this, we
work closely with each partner to draft a
joint business plan that identifies strengths
and weaknesses based on values in the
three pillars. Each KPI is then assigned
KPIs corresponding to a target discount
percentage and measured at the end of
every quarter. For example, we might
agree with a partner that it gets 1 per cent
for a number of leads it adds in a quarter
(functional KPI), or that it gets 5 per cent
if it maintains a number of certified Epicor
consultants (technical KPI). The goal is
to reward the partner for executing well
in areas it’s shown strength in, and to
incentivise it for improving in areas where
it may not be so proficient.
When we started rolling out this
programme to our partner network across
EMEA and APAC in September 2016,
not surprisingly, the first reaction was
one of concern. Some partners have been
with us for more than 20 years and were
used to the old way of interacting and
doing business with Epicor. So this new
programme was a change to the status quo
for them.
However, once we had the chance
to explain the value in the programme,
how being part of the programme would
challenge them and allow them to build
more robust and profitable businesses,
to become an integral part of the Epicor
ecosystem and, most importantly,
deliver best-in-class customer service,
the partners were eager to participate.
Partners that have joined us more
recently have been very excited about
the programme because they see it as a
differentiator from the other vendors,
giving them the chance to excel and do
what they do best.
The requirements for joining the new
programme, even for existing partners,
are very stringent, and this has made
onboarding partners quite a time-
consuming exercise. In addition, now that
word is out in the market, we have had
many new partners enquire about how they
can be part of the Epicor network.
We are trying to grow a more
sophisticated and powerful partner
ecosystem in which we focus on quality
over quantity. The expectation is to have
our partners offer a whole suite of services.
They should, in effect, be able to run
an Epicor business by themselves with
minimal touch. And what’s in it for them?
Well, the more they can do, the more
they make.
Our partners can help their customers
grow their businesses in a number of ways
but one thing is key: customer satisfaction.
Our partners, many of which are highly
specialised either by service or by sector
in which they operate, understand the
customers’ business challenges and
opportunities. Working with us and our
technology partners, they are able to offer a
solution that ensures the customer has the
right IT infrastructure to support and grow
its business.
For those partners interested in learning
more about this programme or finding
out how they can join the network,
please send an email with your company
profile to EMEAchannel@epicor.com or
channelapac@epicor.com, depending on
where you’re located.
Issue 06
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS