Push-pull strategy gets results at Allied Telesyn
Networking vendor says new 'push-pull' channel strategy is starting to reap rewards
Networking vendor Allied Telesyn admits that it previously could have been more active in the UK channel, but said its new 'push-pull' strategy is starting to pay off.
The company has signed over 600 resellers to its UK partner programme since its launch in July 2002.
Adrian Hurel, UK head at Allied, said: "In the past we focused purely on distribution to push products into the channel without working directly with resellers or creating demand.
"But now we work with resellers and distributors, and do demand creation with our 'pull' model. We see the UK as the biggest possible market in EMEA and we are focusing more on pulling business through the market."
Allied works with a total of 4,500 resellers through its distributors Micro Peripherals, Open-PSL, Acal and Computer 2000. Last week it opened a new UK office in Reading to deal with additional support and sales.
Hurel said that UK sales for the first quarter of this year were 50 per cent higher than the same period in 2002.
But Keith Humphreys, an analyst at EuroLAN Research, insisted that the vendor still has work to do on improving its brand in the UK.
"Allied still ducks under the radar and I am sure its reseller partners would appreciate more direct marketing from it," he said.
But he added: "It has a focused channel strategy and its product offering is good, with a viable alternative to companies such as 3Com."
Allied is also actively pushing its chip and Pin technology that offers the retail sector a router and software for secure credit card transactions.
Retail chain Co-op has recently bought 1,000 of these products through reseller Interconnect.