EMC to beef up partner support with regional staff

Potential move hailed as positive step for smaller partners

EMC is considering boosting its channel support by drafting in regional account management staff to aid resellers.

From 1 January next year, EMC is overhauling its partner programme, with the Velocity name set to be axed and a new "Olympic medal" tiering structure on the cards.

As part of the restructure, the storage giant is considering complementing its existing vertically aligned account management resources with regional account managers, according to the word on the street.

The move is expected to further support small and medium-sized resellers, which the vendor has been keen to do recently. It signed up with Azlan in May to bolster its SMB presence, and removed revenue requirements to achieve its accreditations in its most recent Velocity programme tweak in February.

Brett Edgecombe, managing director at Bath-based 101 Data Solutions, said he believed the potential move would be a positive step for SMB resellers.

"The point is that people need people. Having a presence in the market and winning mind share with sales and business management is about having a regular presence and consistency of engagement," he said.

"It is absolutely great for SMB partners, it's about people meeting people and understanding the knowledge of what we do and our business direction, and having EMC as part of that strategy."

EMC declined to comment.