Western Digital Intros myWD Channel Program For Sales Through Disties

The myWD program represents a departure from how Western Digital approached the idea of building partner loyalty through distribution, said Ron Green, vice president of channel sales for the storage vendor.

"This is the first time we've gotten past the distributor with a real program," Green said. "We've been calling on the larger enterprise accounts and OEMs ourselves. For smaller partners, this is more like a frequent flyer program."

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myWD is replacing the company's previous selectWD program, which Green said did not have the ability to reach all channel partners who purchase Western Digital products, ranging from hard drives to its line of small business storage appliances.

The myWD program is a tiered program based on points resulting from sales of Western Digital products, each of which provides between 15 and 50 points. As partners sell more, they can advance to higher tiers where they qualify for bonus points. Those points can be redeemed for quarterly bonus checks, Green said. However, he declined to state the monetary value of redeemed points.

Partners at the entry bronze level are eligible for free on-line training in Western Digital products. At the silver level and gold levels, partners can access the myWD web site for marketing materials, and can take advantage of sales and marketing tools and demo product purchases. At the diamond level, partners receive priority technical support, Green said.