Qlik Adds 'Influencer' Track To Its Channel Program, Steps Up Incentives For Committed Partners

Business analytics software developer Qlik is launching a significant expansion of its Qlik Partner Program, developing tracks for consulting and service provider "influencer" partners and partners who resell or host Qlik cloud services.

The company is also overhauling the makeup of its partner tiers for resellers and other partner types, creating a series of specializations and offering bigger discounts and more market development funds for partners that reach higher tiers. Many of the changes become operational this week.

The changes have been in the works for more than a year, following the early 2016 hiring of former VMware channel marketing executive Toni Adams to be Qlik's channel chief.

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"I found a partner program that was essentially one-size-fits-all," said Adams, senior vice president of Qlik's global partner organization, in an interview. The program did not account for the broader range of partners with different business models Qlik is increasingly working with, Adams said, and did not significantly distinguish between partners who invested a great deal in the Qlik relationship and those with more limited dealings.

"We are trying to evolve into a more partner-led environment," Adams said. "We want this program to be simple, predictable and profitable for [partners]."

In addition to its existing "Resell" track for VARs, Qlik has created a partner track called "Influence" for consulting, systems integration and service providers who work with the vendor's Qlik Sense and QlikView software, influence customer buying decisions, but don't resell the product.

Under development for launch later this year is a "Manage" track for solution providers and MSPs who either sell or work with Qlik's cloud services or host Qlik's software. Adams said that track's components are being vetted with partners and more details will be disclosed at the company's annual Qlik Qonnections conference next month.

Adams said the different tracks reflect the different ways businesses are buying and consuming Qlik's software – and the different types of channel partners that meet those needs. Another trend is the increasing influence of line-of-business managers in business analytics software purchasing decisions.

Partners, according to Adams, can belong to multiple tracks.

Each track has three tiers: Authorized, Select and Elite. Some of the requirements, incentives and rewards for the tiers differ among the tracks.

For the Resell track, for example, partners will earn bigger discounts (based on sales targets) as they move up the tiers. Select and Elite partners are also eligible for "sales performance discounts" by going beyond simply finding deals to driving value-added sales and technical activities and closing sales opportunities. Select and Elite partners also get deal protection (reimbursements for early investments partners make in opportunities later booked directly through Qlik or a competing partner) and market development funding, among other incentives.

The idea is to skew profitability toward partners who not only sell Qlik products, Adams said, but those who implement and support them and better enable customers. "It's really an incentive for our partners to move up," the channel chief said.

Authorized partners in the Influence track earn finder's fees, paid as a percentage of deal rebates, while Select partners earn finder's fees or partner investment funds and Elite partners earn the latter.

Eligibility requirements for the program include certifications for QlikView and Qlik Sense and other core competencies. Membership in higher tiers is based on sales performance and specializations (at least one for the Select tier and two for Elite) in vertical, functional and technical areas.

The company has created 16 specializations in such verticals as retail, health care and banking; in functional areas such as sales and marketing; and in technical specialties such as Internet of Things and mobile computing. Adams said another 30 or more are in the pipeline.

The new specialties are of particular interest to David Fields, a principal at Solve, a solution provider and consulting firm that works with Qlik, Microsoft and other vendors. The solution provider does a large percentage of its business analytics work with Qlik software, especially in a number of verticals including manufacturing, health care, consumer packaged goods, insurance and financial services, among others.

Qlik's recognition of that expertise would be a boon for Solve, Fields said. "It's the ability to differentiate ourselves in specializations where we've done a lot of work," he said. Fields also praised Qlik for its partner support – the company has been a Qlik partner since 2009 – and the vendor's product.

Qlik recently debuted a new partner portal with a launch pad to help partners get started with the enhanced partner program.

"A lot of effort has been invested in making our partners feel comfortable with – and confident about – the new program," Adams said.