Epicor pledges to boost channel to half overall business

ERP vendor wants to grow indirect revenue from 20 to 50 per cent of total

ERP software vendor Epicor has pledged to embrace the channel and achieve a 50-50 split between direct and indirect sales by 2020, CRN sister publication Channelnomics Europe reports.

According to the company's senior director of international channels Hesham El Komy, the firm currently puts 20 per cent of its total revenue through the channel, with the remaining 80 per cent going direct to the customer.

The 50-50 commitment comes after El Komy launched a new partner programme across EMEA and APAC, which promises its channel partners margins of up to 45 per cent through selling Epicor's products.

El Komy told Channelnomics Europe that the programme splits Epicor partners into two categories: Authorised and Certified. The channel director said that Authorised partners are not required to obtain certifications, but act as basic resellers. Certified partners, meanwhile, are expected to be able to offer level-one and -two technical support.

"Most programmes have a tiered approach, they use silver, gold, or platinum, or a similar system. What you find is, the bigger partners are the ones that gain the most benefit and the smaller partner struggles along and are left with the smaller opportunities and is not given the opportunity to grow," he said.

"Instead, our model focuses on value where organisations give back to us. Marketing is considered a value, so is having technology resources and salespeople. I believe our partner programme takes away the size element of being a reseller. We can have a small reseller in Poland, for example, that has the ability to provide solutions for a niche market and have expertise in specific verticals, and still be rewarded."

According to El Komy, Certified Epicor partners are not expected to provide a set number of accredited engineers.

"This is something I see as a big change. We do not ask our Certified partners to have five to ten people certified at the same time. The type of companies we tend to work with might not have that number of technical resources. What we ask for is 50 to 75 per cent of their technical resources - however many they might have - to be up to date."

El Komy said both Authorised and Certified resellers are given an entry-level 15 per cent margin for selling Epicor products, but this can reach as high as 45 per cent if revenue targets are met.

"Each partner is subject to a quarterly review process where we set revenue targets. We say: 'We think you have the potential to reach $150,000 in revenue in the following quarter, if you hit $100,000 we will give you 15 per cent more margin, if you over achieve we will add [even] more on'," he said.

Epicor has around 100 resellers in EMEA according to El Komy. After joining in February last year, the channel director claims he cut 40 per cent of its total partner count in the region.

"We were over distributed. I went on a termination spree very early on in my appointment. I did not want to have inactive partners. One good partner is much more valuable than 10 run-of-the-mill partners," he said.

Founded in 1972 in Austin, Texas, Epicor claims to have more than 20,000 customers in 150 countries worldwide. The firm offers customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning software.