Channel now bigger than direct for CA

Software vendor claims 57 per cent of revenue is touched by partners, smashing its 40 per cent goal

CA Technologies' channel business is now bigger than its direct arm, according to new chief executive Mike Gregoire, who promised to draw clear lines between the separate divisions.

Speaking to a collection of about 70 partners at its Partner for Impact summit in Berlin, Gregoire said his company had smashed its channel targets. He claimed last year's goal was for 40 per cent of its revenue to go through partners, but that the firm managed to get to 57 per cent – an achievement that prompted "a lot of jubilation" at CA.

One of the first things he set out in his keynote speech was his commitment to ensure clear divisions between its direct and channel business. He said partners were the path to winning new customers in what he called the competitive white space – a concept he was keen to refer back to throughout his address after citing it as a key priority for the firm.

"We have a big direct sales force," Gregoire conceded. "But we have a bigger partner network. The direct sales force has an appropriate place in our business, but our partnerships have an extraordinary part [to play] in our business. I want to make sure I am very clear about that moving forward."

In the address, he said gaining net-new accounts was his key focus and that only partners had the local expertise and knowledge for him to be successful in his goal.

"I do not think we can be successful with direct in a lot of different territories," he said.

"We are putting a lot more focus on partners. There are clear delineations of where we have a direct sales force. We really want to get out of having a direct and a partner sales force at the same account. It is a wasted opportunity. Both parties should be selling in different places, trying to grow our overall business."

Later on at the event in a press briefing, CA Technologies' vice president for partner sales in EMEA Andrea Dossena said one of the only situations in which a direct salesperson would get priority is if a relevant channel partner was not present in the desired location, for example.

Dossena added that the company's partner strategy is ready for its second stage. In the past, he said its partner strategy was based on three pillars: commitment, tenacity and trust, but that now it could add three new pillars to that: innovation, execution and speed.