Episerver searches for resellers

Web content management vendor looks to strengthen UK partner base with new signings

Searching: Episerver is looking for new reseller partners in the UK

Web Content Management system vendor Episerver is expanding its channel partner programme in the UK. The Swedish vendor claimed it can offer resellers a system
that is cheaper to manage and quicker to install, while offering a fuller range of applications.

By removing the complexity from web content management, Episerver's reseller partners can save their clients money – and keep more margin for themselves, argued Neal Perry, managing director of Episerver.

Better still, by making systems easier to maintain and configure themselves, he said, they can empower users to make their own changes to a system, rather than having to call in a developer.

"We offer really simple methods of designing a system, so that much of the work can be done by the people who manage content on a daily basis," he added. "Clients will stay loyal to any reseller who can remove the drudgery from their lives, and help them to complete their jobs quicker."

The Reading based UK office currently has 46 resellers in the UK, including new media agencies such as Fortune Cookie and Agency.com. At the other end of the
scale, it has traditional system integrator partners such as Leeds-based Ioko.

"Enterprise content management systems are a mess. But we specialize in one area, web content management systems, and maximize its usability. Then we offer interfaces into all the other elements of enterprise content, such as SAP, Salesforce.com and Microsoft's CommerceServer," said Perry.

As well as knowing how to create interfaces with the above applications, they other major requirement would be .Net skills. Partners with a background in offering
Vignette, Stellent and Reddot would all be welcome. "You can go into existing customers of Vignette, Stellent and Microsoft and give them a system which is a lot easier to maintain and quicker to develop," added Perry.

As the content management market becomes more competitive, with prices falling, it is harder for resellers and integrators to make margin, argued Perry. "If you can find a development system that saves you time and money, you can protect your margins and maintain customer loyalty," he said.

Mark Edgington, technical director at interactive agency Syzygy, confirmed that the product saves time for resellers and their clients. “We have a number of customers that use EPiServer. We recommend it because it is the most user-friendly, intuitive CMS system we know of. It lets people with little or no technical expertise to manage the content on their own websites.”