Channel called to accountants
Organisation offers to pair VARs with accountancy partners
An organisation dedicated to pairing accountants and VARs in the SME space is offering resellers a ready-made market in the lucrative 'micro business' space.
Set up last August, the Independent Association of Accountants Information Technology Consultants (IAAITC) is looking for more than 100 resellers to act as 'hubs' for Norwegian CRM/ ERP vendor Mamut, which is launching in the UK for the first time. It is targeting small firms with between one and 50 PCs.
"There are more than two million of these micro-businesses in the UK, and most large vendors' products don't scale down enough for them, which is where Mamut fits in," said David Reynolds, chief executive of the IAAITC.
He added that the organisation is confident of cracking this "untapped" market with the help of the channel.
"In most cases accountants are the trusted advisors of these firms, so the idea is for our accountant members to do the pre-consultancy work and then partner with resellers, which will install the infrastructure and provide support," Reynolds said.
"Each reseller will work with between 10 and 50 accountancy firms, depending on the size of the region they operate in."
He added that the IAAITC is working on similar schemes with other vendors.
Alan Moody, regional director at Mamut, said: "We know that a lot of firms launch in the UK and expect resellers to come to them, but we hope by approaching it differently and offering the channel a guaranteed market, we can attract the right partners."
Jacquie Malpass, business marketing manager at vendor Evesham, is also backing the scheme. "Mamut's product is one of the most exciting I have seen for a long time and it is Microsoft-compatible," she said.
"Resellers are being offered a ready-made sales package as well as guaranteed business in a sought-after market."