Vendor names aspect resellers should be 'constantly thinking about'
Jackie Horn, Kodak Alaris' worldwide director of channel marketing, information management business
Describe your company in five words or fewer.
Information, capture, ecosystem, digital transformation
Tell us about how your channel program works.
The Alaris Partner Program consists of three tiers: Elite, Premiere and Registered, with membership at each level determined by a number of criteria, including annual revenue, certified sales staff, accredited technical resources and whether the partner offers a Kodak Alaris service. Premiere partners receive additional benefits, including marketing tools and partnership commitment incentives, while Elite partners are able to tap into comprehensive sales and marketing resources, expanded rewards and partnership commitment incentives.
Through our recently revamped program, partners receive increased financial incentives (which are determined by membership tiers and level of commitment), improved administration tools and a range of new marketing opportunities to help expand their offerings, connect with customers and grow their business.
As part of the relaunch we also overhauled our partner portal. The new portal provides a centralised location where partners can access deal registrations, co-branded marketing collateral and automation tools and can request business development funds.
What do you think is the most challenging trend in the channel today?
In a rapidly changing marketplace, VARs, distributors and solution providers are looking for new ways to beat increased competition. They must overcome challenges with perceived commoditization and customers buying through more channels than they have in the past.
If you had to give your channel partners one piece of advice, what would it be?
One piece of advice for partners is to constantly be thinking about what else they can be doing for their customers to help them evolve and grow their businesses.
Organisations can become too focused on their own inner workings and ignore customer needs, which can lead to missed opportunities for growth. By leading with a customer-centric strategy, channel partners can ensure they are always looking at the business from the perspective of the customer and taking advantage of each opportunity to fulfil unmet customer needs.
What are the three most important things partners need from vendors to be successful?
It's important that channel partners work with vendors that enable them to:
- Expand their portfolio to offer the latest technology to help their customers address both current and future needs
- Easily connect with customers through comprehensive sales and marketing resources
- Rapidly grow profitable revenue with a lucrative channel program that includes best-in-class sales tools, training and incentives
What is your favorite conference location?
Nashville, Tennessee. It is easy to get to, and there is so much to do during your free time.
What IT trends do you expect to see dying out over the next 18 months to two years?
One IT trend that is on the decline is buying 'point solutions' that address a single business challenge but don't fit into an organisation's existing IT ecosystem. Today's businesses need systems that don't take a lot of time and resources to configure, that can integrate seamlessly into their current IT stack and that communicate with other subsystems to drive unified visibility across the entire platform and produce better insights.