OpenText opens marketing wallet to all partners
New MDF pot open to smaller partners looking to grow within enterprise information management giant's partner ecosystem
Enterprise information management (EIM) vendor OpenText is making marketing cash available to all its partners for the first time as part of a wider channel push.
Talking to CRN, OpenText chief marketing officer Adam Howatson revealed the NASDAQ-listed outfit has more than doubled its investment in the channel in its current financial year after creating a new MDF pot and loyalty and referral programmes for partners.
Howatson urged SI, reseller and referral partners to get on board with the vendor, whose software is designed to manage all unstructured information in an enterprise, from documents to EDI integration and SMS.
"We are the leading vendor in the EIM space with the largest breadth of technology, and this year the partner investment we are making from a dollar perspective is increasing by hundreds of percentage points," he said.
OpenText has launched a new partner programme designed to bring all the partner schemes it has inherited through assorted bolt-on acquisitions under one banner. It encompasses reseller, service provider and technology partners and sees all partners are tiered as Silver, Gold or Platinum.
As part of the new programme, a new market development fund scheme will see the vendor match partner marketing spend on approved business plans, Howatson said.
"We are open to creativity," he explained. "If a partner comes to us with an idea to invest in pay-per-click or social advertising, or high-value networking events for customers, we will match them dollar for dollar on approved cases. Before, we had specific agreements with some of the larger SIs and it was based on the existing commercial success of a relationship. This year, it's a broader development fund programme so it's more accessible to smaller partners who are looking to grow within our ecosystem."
A loyalty programme, as well as a referral scheme offering a cut to new partners who bring in net-new opportunities to OpenText, have also been introduced.
Howatson listed EMC and IBM – through FileNet – as among OpenText's main competitors, claiming OpenText is the largest independent player, with revenues last year of $1.9bn (£1.2bn).
"Partners influence about 40 per cent of our revenue. That's in the range of some of our contemporaries but we are looking for the opportunity to grow that as an organisation," he said.
"The partner programme has also been moved to OpenText marketing, meaning the entire programme – including the MDF – is backed by corporate marketing this year."