CA hunts for more SMB and storage VARs

Vendor hopes to double its SMB partner count in the next year as its renewal rate increases to about 80 per cent

CA Technologies is looking to ramp up its SMB reseller base and further penetrate the storage VAR market.

The vendor, which hopes to double its number of SMB partners within the next year, also claimed its managed service provider (MSP) programme is growing, despite initial confusion over how to monetise the utility-style billing system.

The CA MSP Licensing Programme, which targets VARs offering data protection software, was launched in 2010, and updated to offer a pay-as-you-go payment option at the end of last year.

Chris Ross, CA vice president of channel sales in EMEA, said that despite strong initial interest in the MSP offering, the vendor had to overcome resellers' confusion about the new pricing structure.

He said: "We launched just as the hype around MSPs was kicking off. Everyone knew how to sell Office365; it was a straightforward software package sell.

"The new challenge was how to package it all into monthly billing. We [thought we] should be hyper-flexible; it is best to keep as close to the [pricing] model that end users use so that VARs are not caught in the middle."

He added that as the pricing structure has become clearer, the move away from "lumpy licensing" has been noticed and has helped drive the effort to recruit more SMBs and storage VARs.

He said: "We are focused on driving the transition for resellers as they figure out how to be a cloud player."

The vendor has added a dedicated team to work on partner renewals, which Ross claimed has helped drive the partner renewal rate from 50 per cent to about 80 per cent.

VAR Bechtle has been a CA reseller for the past 18 months, and software manager Richard Gibbons said working with the vendor has been a positive experience.

"About seven years ago, we worked with CA and the partnership sort of fizzled out. But since we renewed more recently, it has been much better.

"There is more focus on giving our sales staff the tools and information they need, and it is much easier to work with now in that respect," he added.