Xerox to 'double down on channel' as its reseller community shifts

Print vendor's global channel strategy lead tells CRN that acquisitions and reseller recruitment drives are in the reckoning

Xerox is keeping its options open by touting a series of strategies to grow its global channel presence.

Aqua Porter, global channel strategy lead at Xerox, told CRN that its overall plan is to continue to invest in the channel.

"That may take the form of acquisitions, it make take the form of recruiting and training partners, it might involve investments in our infrastructure," she said.

"All those things are on the table and we are making decisions every day on where is the best place to invest the dollars we have to grow our channel. Xerox is doubling down on the channel."

Porter said Xerox's chief commercial officer, Kevin Warren, has said publicly that the channel is where the firm is "going to win".

"We are going to become an end-to-end channel company. Xerox is investing in the channel, we are committed to the channel, and we are going to do whatever we need to do to ensure we are positioning ourselves as winning with the channel," she claimed.

Porter said Xerox is "intentionally extending" itself to recruit partners that may not have worked with the vendor in the past.

"Our print-centric dealers and channel partners have been the mainstay of our business, but we are seeing the IT-centric resellers now get interested in Xerox and have us as part of their solutions portfolio. So we are making strides to recruit IT-centric resellers and VARs, and make sure we have offers that are compelling to them."

Porter said the firm has created a "partner relationship platform" that has built up over the past three years to "enable our channel partners and to empower our channel managers".

"Our buyers are changing their patterns and an overwhelming majority of the space where we can continue to drive revenue comes from the SMB sector, which is where the indirect sector has a huge foothold. We need to be able to recruit and retain channel partners who are embedded in the SMB space," added Porter.

"The partner relationship tool provides a one-stop shop for our channel partners, who have access to tools, resources and pricing, access to news and systems. This is a global platform and we never had anything like that in the business before. It was a huge investment for us in order to support our channel partners."