Tandberg tiers up its old image
Storage vendor adds tiered accreditation to partner programme
As part of a channel overhaul, storage vendor Tandberg Data is adding tiered accreditation to its partner programme and is looking to establish better communication with its resellers.
The company, which is traditionally associated with tape, also wants its resellers to promote its other offerings, such as network attached storage.
"The intention is to provide different levels of support depending on commitment," said Albrecht Hestermann, general manager sales at Tandberg.
Under the new plan, the three levels of accreditation will be awarded on the basis of quarterly sales targets. A top-level Gold partner, which will receive direct support from Tandberg, will be expected to turn over £20,000 of the vendor's kit per quarter.
Silver partners will also receive direct support, while lower-tier VARs will be offered a service package that includes 48-hour replacement units as well as test and evaluation units.
Separately, Hestermann said the company wants to limit the number of resellers it works with to improve focus.
"We currently work with 10 resellers in the London area, because it has the biggest demand, but we want 20 to 30 to become partners in the UK as a whole," he said.
He added that the firm wants to work more closely with resellers, "to increase know-how among customers and partners".
Mark Fox, Tandberg Data product manager at distributor Ideal, said the vendor offers a full range of storage and backup products but is not well recognised for this.
"The new partner programme will help it get information across to its resellers," he said. "We will be increasing our own focus on Tandberg."