David Elliott has spent almost two decades in the channel both in Australia and in Asia. He has been a channel manager for several vendors, managing distribution and channel staff for the likes of Nortel, McAfee, EMC and Avaya. His latest challenge is to manage wi-fi specialist Aruba Networks’ partner program out of Sydney.
Partners
“Across Australia and New Zealand, we transact through around 220 partners every year. They range from large companies down to mid-market and SMB partners, because we have solutions that reach into each of those segments. We’ve grown our business in Australia in excess of 50 percent year-on-year and many of the partners have enjoyed the benefits of that growth. We’re 100 percent channel – so if we grow, our partners grow.”
Program
“Our program is called Partner Edge, and has your typical authorised silver, gold, platinum tiers. We’re currently in the process of integrating elements and benefits of partner programs from other parts of the world into Australia and New Zealand. These changes are in the form of rebates and training incentives to get their partners educated.
We’re running a whole lot of training right now. We’ve gone right around the country to every major capital city, plus Wellington and Auckland, offering training to our partners. That’s a benefit that has been prominent in the US, which we’ve taken on in Australia and New Zealand. With all the elements put together it’s about having incentives in place for partners that grow in the areas that we want them to grow in and, more importantly, in areas they want to grow in.”
Awards and events
“I don’t believe we have awards at the moment. That’s something we really should be looking at, to be honest. In December, we are having an Asia-Pacific partner conference in Shanghai called Atmosphere. And in the same month, we’re having a global event being held for both for our partners and customers called Airheads. Airheads really brings together a community of people who specialise in understanding wi-fi technology and all the associated applications. We run these events twice a year in three parts of the world: North America, Europe and now in the Asia-Pacific.”
Lessons learned
“The big one for anybody that’s running a channel is to be consistent, transparent and predictable. Like any partnership, if people know how you’re going to react to a particular situation and that you will be open and transparent with them regardless of what the news is, you build trust.
The other one is building programs. A lot of vendors build programs in silence. So in North America they build this great program and roll it out but it really hasn’t taken in consideration the market dynamics or what the partners are experiencing in different parts of the globe. Because what works in North America may not work in India, Australia or New Zealand, and too often I think vendors miss that.
And talking to your partners – having forums like the one we’re having in Shanghai where we’re actually listening to our partners, understand what their drivers are and tweaking the programs to help them.”
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