Docucorp set to bolster business with indirect sales partnerships
Vendor looking to take on two or three UK partners
Document management vendor Docucorp is branching out in the channel as it morphs from a 100 per cent direct vendor in the UK.
The firm, which has seen success in verticals such as financial services and insurance, is looking to take on two or three partners in the UK, and is also keen to expand into other territories such as South Africa, the Middle East and Benelux.
Tracey Robinson, EMEA vice president at Docucorp, told CRN: “Up until now we have concentrated on our direct sales team to get some blue chip clients under our belt. That has gone very well, but now we need more feet on the street and decided that we needed a complementary partner channel.”
Robinson said the firm, which is currently working on specific product bundles to offer through its channel base, is looking for quality partners rather than a large number, which must already have an established presence in key vertical markets.
Docucorp will provide full certification training for resellers, she added, either at the firm’s UK headquarters or on the resellers’ premises and it will help with joint marketing initiatives. The vendor will also provide full support to partners on the first few installs.
“Our partners will have to invest a lot in terms of time and money for education in Docucorp,” she said. “But in return we will reward them with the biggest discounts and margins in the document management industry.”
Clive Longbottom, service director at analyst firm Quocirca, said: “Document management has been an area where there has been big changes going on and there are precious few standalone providers left. EMC acquired Documentum and IBM has acquired FileNet recently, but document management has remained for the few rather than the many because of the cost and complexity. Now there is more of a move towards information lifecycle management which controls managemen t of the asset at the earliest stage possible.”
Longbottom said a very focused view of the channel is the right way forward for a firm such as Docucorp, with the strategy of a few vertically-focused partners being the best way to cover the market.