Novell cans "pointless" partner satisfaction survey

Vendor admits results of tri-annual customer satisfaction survey were not representative of partners' capabilities

Novell has axed its requirement for partners to carry out customer satisfaction surveys as part of a wider drive to simplify its engagement with partners.

The vendor, which split into three business units (Novell, NetIQ and SUSE) following the completion of its acquisition by Attachmate in April, will make a number of tweaks to its partner programme on 1 November 2011 and 1 April 2012.

Novell partners have traditionally been required to carry out three customer satisfaction surveys a year to retain their status, but this will be canned from November.

Talking to ChannelWeb, Ian McKay, director of EMEA channel and alliances for Novell, NetIQ and SUSE, said the core of the firm's partner strategy would remain in place but admitted the programme could be made more efficient.

"We are looking to simplify and to take away some layers," he said.

"While the customer satisfaction survey was good in theory, it was pointless in practice as the results could be manufactured. It was never representative of the kind of information we were looking for, so we have taken away that requirement completely and will find the information through the course of business planning with partners. That will be a better way to gauge how successful they have been."

Partner specialisations are currently grouped around products but McKay said the vendor will also scrap these in favour of new specialisations relating to the three business units.

However, McKay stressed the Novell partner programme would be marked by stability rather than change under the stewardship of new owner Attachmate – which is not known for its channel-friendly credentials.

"Prior to acquisition, one of the [attractions] for Attachmate during due diligence was Novell's channel and channel programme. Novell invested hugely in the channel and it definitely did not want to disrupt that," he said.

"On completion of the acquisition, we reached out very quickly not only to our customers but also to key channel partners with the message of ‘keep going'."

Mike Grant, chief executive at Novell Gold partner Perceptions, said: "Customer recommendations are a good idea but if you are made to do them too frequently it is just admin for the sake of it."