Certeon Creates New Partner Program
September 16, 2010
Burlington, Mass.-based Certeon, a software-based, hypervisor-agnostic, WAN optimization solution company, has recently taken steps to further embrace the channel with a restructuring of its partner program. The change is intended to help partners deliver high-performance, cost-effective WAN optimization to the virtualization, disaster recovery, and cloud computing markets.
Chief among the changes was the addition of Karl Soderlund, senior vice president of worldwide sales and business development, to head up the program. In just a few months on the job, Soderlund has replaced the company’s single-tier program with a tri-tiered structure offering silver, gold, and platinum levels, which partners attain by investing in Certeon’s sales and engineering training. Soderlund also developed a deal registration program to protect resellers and enable them to garner greater margins.
Deal registration is straightforward. “It’s a matter of going on to a link and filling out a one-page document regarding the opportunity,” says Soderlund. “We approve the opportunity and that it’s not registered by someone else, and that gives [the reseller] 90-day exclusivity with that customer to drive and close [the] business.” The deal registration program ties into Certeon’s new service tracking and alerting system, which enables partners to identify opportunities for recurring revenue. According to Soderlund, margins can be from “20 to 30 percent [with] a 15 to 20 percent differentiation from the competitor’s base.”
Sales and technical training is free and is offered in online or classroom formats. “Most of our competition,”—which Soderlund identifies as Riverbed and, to a certain extent, Cisco—“charges for this. We believe this should be free. We want to make sure we train [partners] well and get their skill sets up to the highest level.”
The company offers two certification levels: Certeon Network Associate, for basic knowledge of its aCelera software, and Certeon Network Professional, for more advanced training on all aCelera features and functionality. Not surprisingly, certified partners have a greater revenue potential.
Other program features include lead generation, special promotions, incentives, and market development funds. Certeon’s “Try and Buy” program helps resellers demonstrate the benefits of virtualized WAN optimization by enabling customers to see how the company’s aCelera solutions work in their own environment.
Certeon employs both inside and outside sales people. Inside Channel Account Managers, or ICAMs, act as a support system for the company’s channel partners. Outside sales people call on end users, but fulfill through the channel. By having these so-called “hybrid” sales reps, Certeon could choose to go direct. Soderlund, however, emphasizes the company’s position, saying, “We believe there is a tremendous amount of scale that we can get [by] going through the channel. So we’ll bring these deals to the channel.”