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23 Oct 2009
Barracuda Networks hopes to kill off the infighting that has dogged its channel with the launch of its first deal registration programme.
The security appliance vendor’s newly appointed vice president of channels, Michael Hughes, spent the summer canvassing face-to-face feedback from 60 partners in Europe.
In response, Barracuda has overhauled its local partner programme - slicing resellers into three tiers and introducing financial incentives for partners that have invested in the sale. Resellers will nominate a distributor when registering deals.
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“A consistent complaint was that VARs and distributors were competing with each other for the same customer,” said Hughes. “There was lots of infighting.”
About 20 to 25 UK partners are in the top Diamond tier, with 1,000 split between Platinum and Authorised.
Combining standard and deal registration discounts, Diamond partners will net 30 per cent off list prices, Platinum partners 23 per cent and Authorised resellers 17 per cent. Diamond partners must sell more than £25,000 a quarter and have two trained engineers and one trained sales employee. They will receive most of the 25,000 leads Barracuda distributes annually.
“Partners find our products have an average sales cycle of 31 days, so if they get a lead they close it quickly,” he explained. “The guys that invest in us and get trained should earn a healthy margin and turn a quick sale.”
In the long term, Barracuda will bring in specialist certifications for each of its ten appliances, Hughes said.
James McKee, security manager at Barracuda Diamond partner Qual, said the deal registration programme was “long overdue”. “This will make sure committed partners such as us are rewarded for the effort they put into winning business,” he said
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