Tough Avaya eyes grey market clean-up
Vendor pulls no punches at annual EMEA partner get-together
Jeremy Butt: We do not want to spend on people that are going backwards or are not loyal
Avaya was in bullish mood at its EMEA partner conference this week, vowing to get tough on the grey market and on partners not meeting channel programme requirements.
At the event in Barcelona, vice president of worldwide channels Jeremy Butt revealed the vendor has less partners now than it did when its first global channel programme was launched in February. Avaya is committed to imposing the same requirements on partners across the board, he asserted.
“We are going to get more aggressive,” said Butt. “If you do not meet the threshold, we will not give you the badge.”
Currently, the vendor´s channel programme assesses partners on both revenue and technical expertise. Within three years, this will move to an entirely competency-based model.
New specialisations to be launched in Avaya´s fiscal 2011 include video- and data-based badges centred on the former Nortel portfolio. An applications specialisation will be launched in FY12.
Avaya is also rolling out a new services programme this year, which Butt claimed has been needed for several years. Next year will see the introduction of customer satisfaction surveys as part of the partner programme, while loyalty rebates will also be introduced.
Entitlements to market development funds are also to be scrapped in FY12, with all cash handed out on a discretionary basis.
“We do not want to spend on people that are going backwards or are not loyal,” said Butt.
The channel chief also spoke out vehemently against the grey market, which he said had increasingly become an issue for the channel over recent months. One culprit that had left a paper trail had been “brought to its knees” by Avaya, said Butt, after the vendor worked to claim back $250,000.
“There are companies operating on the edges of our business that are stealing from me and you,” he added. “We are going to get a lot more aggressive about going after these grey marketeers.”
Steve Walker, managing director of Platinum Partner IP Integration, claimed his firm was in danger of losing its top-tier status purely on account of its size.
“We are in the first tier in terms of competency and are encouraged that, by FY13, the channel will be back to a competency-based model.”