EDITOR’S COMMENT
16
I
t’s important to understand just how big
an investment a partner programme or a
certification level is from the perspective
of a partner company. If you quantify the
effort, resources and expenditure, it all
adds up to considerable dollar cost per year.
Vendors should therefore try and make their
programmes as streamlined as possible
while ensuring that the partner receives the
best possible support, benefits and training.
Today, to advance through almost any
vendor’s partner programme, a channel
partner must achieve a certain level of
certification. A typical channel player
partners with a number of vendors.
When the course material for the many
certifications have large areas of overlap,
then the training fails to justify the large
amounts of time and money invested into it.
Vendors should therefore work to fine-tune
their training and certification programmes
to make them truly beneficial for partners
rather than just another revenue stream.
An analogy I like to draw about
certifications provided by vendors is that
of languages and dialects. Certifications in
the same technology are like the dialects
of the same language. For example, if an
engineer is certified by Cisco, it means
principles. Now, if
this engineer were to
n
sit for a certification
Be
rn
er,
from a different
CEO
at H
elp AG
network vendor, he
would again have to
undergo the same training – resulting in precious time being wasted.
What vendors must do is assist their partners by making sure
their programmes are to the point; are relevant; and add actual
value to partners’ skill sets. What would appeal to channel partners
is the ability to cross-utilise our vendor certifications so that the
resources are only expected to bridge the specific technology gaps
between vendor products rather than undergoing the entire training
from scratch.
Customer satisfaction should also be made a focus of any
partner programme as ultimately, this is the main measure of
success. After a partner has carried out a large-scale deployment,
it would greatly help if the vendor gains an understanding of
whether the products have been deployed according to the best
practices of the vendor; if the customer was happy with the
implementation; and if they found it easy to work with the partner.
So, apart from just trainings and certifications, actually looking into
project implementation and getting feedback regarding the way
the partner implemented the project should be made a vital part
in establishing what status/tier within the programme the channel
partner is awarded.
STEPHAN BERNER, CEO AT HELP AG
that this individual
has undergone a
significant amount
of training and
therefore has a fairly
deep understanding
of the underlying
networking
THE KEY TO
IMPROVING
YOUR CHANNEL
STRATEGY VIA
YOUR PARTNER
PROGRAMME
What vendors must do is assist
their partners by making sure their
programmes are to the point; are
relevant; and add actual value to
partners’ skill sets.