Channel Chief Jumps From Alcatel-Lucent To SunGard
However, Sorice isn't the only member of Alcatel-Lucent's top management team to jump ship recently. On July 29th, Serge Tchuruk, non-executive chairman, and CEO Pat Russo both announced plans to step down. Sorice was already installed in his new position at SunGard.
Alcatel acquired Lucent in 2006. Shortly after the acquisition Sorice, who had been working in the channel sales space for Lucent for 10 years, was given the responsibilities of merging the two companies' partner programs.
Once the merger was completed, Sorice was given the reins of the North American partner program, where he led the program and expanded its size.
"It isn't often you get to be in the middle of merging two multimillion dollar companies," said Sorice. "I learned a lot."
Mike Costello, chief operating officer for Morse Communications, and a VAR who has been with Alcatel since 2001, witnessed the merger first hand. As the merger was taking place and leadership roles were changing in Alcatel-Lucent, Costello didn't notice any changes to the partner program that were detrimental. In fact, after Sorice took control of the channel program, Costello believes his contact and experiences with the company only got better.
"We actually got in touch with the sales force," said Costello. "Because Alcatel bought a data company, they were mostly a direct touch sales organization. They didn't understand how to work with partners."
However, once Sorice began managing the channel program, Costello began to notice a change in the interactions between the sales force and himself. The improved interactions boiled down to the fact that Sorice had been working directly with the sales force at Alcatel-Lucent and explaining the role VARs play in the sales process.
"Essentially, and#91;Soriceand#93; made the sales representatives understand what the partner program is about -- that we're here to help not get in the way," said Costello.
At SunGard, Sorice envisions taking a similar role, playing the educator and building on the small infrastructure that already exists. Sorice acknowledges that SunGard's partner program is small, consisting of a small number of large firms, a few dozen partners in the midmarket and "an extensive referral network."
Over the next 10 to 24 months, Sorice plans on expanding the partner program by offering VARs more value out of the program and by signing what he calls "quality partners." Rather than just going for sheer numbers to expand the reach of the company, Sorice plans on targeting VARs specifically positioned to sell and integrate SunGard's products into customer shops " while offering the disaster recovery services that will bring revenue to the partner.
"I need to find more partners that can help me add more value to customers," said Sorice. "We offer a set of solutions that is services based. Those solutions allow our partners to offer information availability solutions."
Even though Sorice has worked in the channel sales space and was the channel chief at Alcatel-Lucent, he doesn't envision SunGard adopting a 100 percent channel-focused sales effort. Instead, SunGard plans to use the channel to compliment their direct sales team.
However, Sorice acknowledges that there can be some tension between the channel and company that also uses a direct sales force -- such as vendors pulling big sales from partners. But by implementing transparency and continuing on the path he implemented when leading Alcatel-Lucent's channel program, Sorice thinks that both a direct sales force and a robust channel partner program can coexist to ultimately expand the reach of SunGard.
"We will work with the channel to weave it in to the current model, which is mostly direct. We're going to compliment sales with the channel," said Sorice. "I've been in places where it hasn't been clear or transparent because partners don't know where they stand. I want to mitigate that up front. We'll be leveraging partners to extend our reach."
Costello had firsthand experience with Sorice combining a direct sales force with a growing channel program after the Alcatel-Lucent merger, and believes that SunGard has picked the right man for the job. By setting up meetings between channel partners and direct sales, a relationship was fostered that allowed each side to understand why the other was important to the overall business.
"We had partner meetings and#91;with Soriceand#93; that brought the direct sales staff in," said Costello. "We'd all have a team learning experience that helped foster the relationship between us and the sales staff."
Still, some partners have been burned by vendors that have stepped in and pulled the rug out from under them when a big revenue opportunity falls into their lap. Sorice, for his part, acknowledges that this happens to partners from time to time, but is committed to not letting it happen at SunGard during his watch.
"I'm not going to build a program that says SunGard will get the big juicy sales and turn the little ones to the channel," said Sorice. "That being said, I know about channel conflict. I'll be doing as much as I can to proactively mitigate that conflict by working with sales team, some of whom will be living and breathing with the regional folks."
Costello believes that Sorice will be as good as his word, noting that Alcatel-Lucent never tried to steal a large sale away before or after Sorice's tenure.
"Alcatel doesn't do that," said Costello. "I've done big installs for them and they've come to me and asked me to do installations for them."