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31 Aug 2006
Symbol Technologies has claimed its indirect business has rocketed, as the mobility vendor continues to strengthen its channel management team.
Viv Francis, former EMEA channel manager at security vendor Check Point (CRN, 31 July), officially assumed her role as UK channel manager at Symbol last week.
Francis will be joined by Symbol’s most recent channel management recruit Sanford Preizler. He will assume the role of vice-president of worldwide channels. Previously, Preizler was vice-president of worldwide Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) sales at Symbol.
Earlier in the year, Symbol announced it was looking for more UK ISVs to join the ISV partner programme it launched in November 2005 (CRN, 15 May).
Following his appointment, Preizler said: “Symbol’s PartnerSelect channel programme is already strong. Our percentage of business through the channel grew from 45 to 75 per cent in the past three years.”
Preizler added that he is dedicated to driving further business through the vendor’s partner network.
Terry Palmer, director of EMEA channels operations at Symbol, told CRN: “For the past three-and-half to four years we have been driving our channel sales. We saw that we needed to develop our sales and we did not believe going direct would give us the growth we wanted.”
Palmer added that in Europe, Symbol’s channel sales are nearing 90 per cent, with a 3,000-strong partner community.
“We are very proud of what we have achieved and our European partner community is slowly increasing,” he said. “However, we do not want to overdo things. We still want a value-driven channel.”
Palmer said Preizler’s appointment is great news for Symbol and that he will drive more RFID sales through the channel.
He added: “Francis coming on board is a positive move. She has a great track record.”
Ralph Donohue, managing director of Symbol partner Paradigm Distribution, said: “Demand for Symbol’s products is going up. For the past three to four years Symbol has been dedicated to driving business through the channel.
“It is no mean feat for a company the size of Symbol to shift its indirect business from 45 to 75 per cent.”
Donohue added that Paradigm has 660 resellers, with 250 Symbol VARs that have given the distributor positive feedback about the Symbol product.
“We are constantly looking for more resellers to take on the Symbol product,” he said.
Pierre Lams, co-founder at Symbol VAR Handheld PCs, said: “Historically, we have been a Symbol reseller but we have not done a lot of Symbol business in the past couple of years. There has been more demand for wireless PDAs from the likes of O2 and Orange.”
Lams added that Symbol is still a market leader and was not surprised to hear it has recruited further VARs to work with.
“Symbol is still a good company,” he said. “We have a positive view of the Symbol product.”
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