Infor defines direct vs channel stomping grounds

World´s third largest enterprise software vendor draws up clear limits on where its direct sales team can play as part of channel assault

Business application software vendor Infor is introducing formal limits on which end users its direct sales teams can target.

Infor used the backdrop of its EMEA channel conference near Lisbon (pictured) to outline plans to double its channel revenues over three years.

The private equity-backed firm - which claims to be the world's third-largest enterprise applications outfit - currently generates about a quarter of its licence sales through the channel. The figure is slightly lower in the UK (20 per cent), where it inherited most of its 25 partners from its 2006 acquisition of Systems Union.

Tim Szabronski, Infor´s regional vice president of channel sales for UK, Middle East and Africa, said the introduction of a formal document laying out which accounts its direct sales can target would be crucial to its channel recruitment plans.

"We are putting in very clear rules of demarcation between direct and indirect," he said. "This will mean that partners can invest in a market with the knowledge that we won´t take the deal away, which is always an issue in countries like the UK where there is a direct and indirect business."

Szabronski stressed that the strategy is backed by Infor chief executive Charles Phillips and would be strictly enforced. A matrix outlining the floor under which its direct sales team cannot play in each product family and country will be sent to partners in the coming days.

"If a lead comes into the company, marketing will follow these rules and allocate it to either direct or channel accordingly," he said.

Infor is aming to recruit 10 new UK partners in its current fiscal year. It will also look to widen its footprint by introducing existing partners to other areas of its portfolio such as performance management, enterprise asset management and ERP.

They will enjoy access to MDF, training and discounts through Infor Partner Network, Infor´s first tiered partner programme which launched earlier this year. The vendor is particularly short of partners in the north of England, the Midlands and Scotland, said Szabronski.

"Our perfect partner does everything from selling the software to implementing and supporting it," he said. "They will typically be owner managed with 10-50 employees."

Infor's private equity backer Golden Gate Capital recently snapped up rival ERP vendor Lawson for about $2bn (£1.3bn).

Lawson partners were also present at the summit but Golden Gate is currently keeping the two firms separate, barring some integration at a product level through the recent launch of Infor10.

David Singh, sales and marketing director at Infor partner Sapphire Systems - which came from the Systems Union side - said: "What´s exciting with Infor is the breadth of offering it has. The new technologies, like Infor 10, allow people like us to branch out into areas we´ve not been in before.

"We don´t deal in that larger enterprise market but Lawson adds a lot of weight to the company and it can now compete head on with the likes of SAP and Oracle at that level."