Channel pressure forces Intel changes

Millions in marketing money went unclaimed by resellers

Intel has modified its Intel Inside programme after admitting that millions of pounds of marketing spending has been left unclaimed by resellers.

The Intel Inside programme allows resellers to collect points for every processor they sell, which are then converted to money for marketing.

But following pressure from resellers the programme has been broadened beyond print advertising.

Nigel Towel, reseller customer marketing manager at Intel, admitted that millions of pounds remained unclaimed.

"A mismatch existed between what resellers were doing with their market creation activities and what Intel was prepared to pay for," he said.

Intel said the changes will remedy this problem. "We have moved the goalposts and we are now prepared to pay for more [types of advertising]."

Gordon Davies, commercial director at reseller Compusys, said it had been difficult for resellers to get these resources because Intel only released funds for print advertising, which is not favoured by most resellers.

"The channel has been lobbying Intel to make changes to this approach and the fact that it has broadened the scheme is good news," he said. "In the past resellers that [collected] points could not spend them because they were not doing print advertising."

Davies said change is still a slow process at Intel. "Some key people at Intel are really on the ball about these things but the problem is [that] for them to change anything seems to take for ever."

Intel is also planning to increase the number of resellers in its EMEA channel by 10,000 through the introduction of its entry-level reseller programme to this channel.

Over 30 per cent of Intel's total processor sales now go through the channel and the vendor wants to reach 30,000 resellers through its EMEA channel programmes.

To this end it will integrate the reseller programme into its EMEA operation to offer new entrants training and support.

Davies said the move will enable more partners to work with Intel and also benefit existing resellers. "This will add differentiation between resellers that are closely aligned with Intel's objectives and those that are just shifting processors."