ShoreTel puts cloud and on-premise sales on even footing
New partner programme designed to provide parity across cloud, on-site and hybrid sales
Cloud and on-site sales have been given equal billing in ShoreTel's new partner programme, which the comms vendor claims offers resellers increased involvement in the delivery of cloud services.
The programme features a points-based reward system that provides parity across cloud, on-site and hybrid sales, and has four tiers, compared with 11 previously.
According to ShoreTel, points are primarily based on "selling activity", with a "conversion rate [that] differs between cloud and on-site deployment models". Points can also be earned by undertaking training beyond the minimum programme requirements. All this is taken into account when calculating resellers' certification status: Authorised; Silver; Gold; or Platinum.
"The programme totally de-risks the transition from premises to cloud and lets our partners migrate gradually and seamlessly," Adrian Hipkiss, managing director for EMEA told Channelnomics Europe. "It boils down to putting flexibility and choice first."
The launch of ShoreTel Connect, a new common platform for deployments, will give partners a more active role in the supporting their cloud customers and create incremental business opportunities for partner-provided value-added services. Sales of the platform began this week.
This will be supplemented with free additional training at the newly created Cloud Implementation Academy, intended to improve partner competency with less resource investment.
"Now, partners choose what to sell based on customer needs and are rewarded regardless of where they put their resources," said David Petts, senior vice president of worldwide sales.
"The programme enhancements complement the ShoreTel Connect platform by rewarding partners no matter which deployment model the customer selects."
Elsewhere, ShoreTel has improved opportunity registration rewards by 50 per cent and has extended its marketing development fund benefits to cloud.
The programme comes into effect on 1 November.
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