Oracle talks up benefits of specialisation

Vendor's EMEA channel chief Stein Surlien claims specialised resellers can triple their revenues

Software giant Oracle has hailed the success of its channel specialisation programme, claiming that 100 partners a week are participating in it.

The vendor has been encouraging partners for several years to pick areas within its product portfolio in which to specialise.

As a result, the company now boasts around 1,000 specialised partners across EMEA that have a choice of 60 competency areas.

These specialisations are geared towards driving sales of the company's products across four areas: database, systems and storage, middleware and applications.

Speaking to ChannelWeb, Stein Surlien, senior vice president for EMEA alliances and channels at Oracle, said business intelligence, middleware and database applications were proving the most popular areas for specialising partners.

"It has been slow to start because it takes time for partners to work out where they want to specialise, and then build competencies and pass tests," explained Surlien.

"But it is picking up pace and we are seeing about 100 partners a week taking up these specialisations. We plan to add other areas that they can specialise in as things move forwards."

Partners that embark on specialisation usually see their revenues "double or triple", added Surlien, which is their reward for forging closer ties with the vendor.

"We see some very good proof points when partners specialise," he said. "We support those partners with business plans and invest in them to fill any gaps they have in their implementation, pre- and post-sales teams."

The company's integration with Sun Microsystems, which it acquired two years ago, is now complete and running smoothly, he added.

"We had to change the [Sun] business model because it was not making money," added Surlien. "In that process, there were some pain points, but we have put that behind us now and are building a solid foundation."