SAP Gets Ready To Roll With Expanding Partner Program
SAP this week unveiled plans to broaden the evolving program beyond the SMB market to encompass all of SAP's VAR, ISV and solution provider partners.
PartnerEdge, unveiled in mid-2005, is SAP's first formal partner program. Initially developed for partners focused on SAP's midmarket product lines, Business One and mySAP All-in-One, the program is now being expanded to cover all SAP partners. The adjustment will be a gradual one, introduced as old partner contracts expire and SAP replaces them with PartnerEdge contracts company executives said.
SAP began its PartnerEdge rollout in Asia-Pacific and Europe. The company has been working with North American partners this year to ready the program, and expects it to begin taking effect here in the first quarter of 2007.
"We're working with partners to map them in; they're signing [PartnerEdge] contracts now," said Donna Troy, SAP's executive vice president of global SME (small and medium enterprise) indirect channels. "We expect that process to finish by [March], when we'll have full global execution."
PartnerEdge introduces three partnership tiers: associate, silver and gold. Partners climb the ranks by amassing "value points," which include sales and revenue benchmarks as well as training, marketing and customer satisfaction targets. Partners in the program's top levels receive better discounting on SAP's software, more direct access to SAP's support resources, and other benefits, Troy said.
IMG Americas, a Kennett Square, Penn., solution provider that focuses exclusively on SAP, has seen its relationship with SAP improve dramatically since SAP began building PartnerEdge, said Larry Perlov, vice president of global SAP Business One accounts for IMG Americas. SAP is doing a better job across the board at providing training, support, marketing and administrative support to its channel partners, he said.
"We've been working with SAP since the early '90s. If you're new to the game, you're going to have some frustrations with SAP," Perlov said. "The micromarket -- companies with $10 million in revenue, three users -- is really new to them. But they hired some really good people with a lot of experience selling to the channel, and it's gotten much better. If I think back 18 to 20 months, it's been a huge improvement since then."
SAP's efforts are paying off in a bigger channel presence. It now has 200 U.S. partners for Business One and mySAP All-in-One, twice the number it had 18 months ago. Perlov said he's bumping into more partners than he used to, but so far, he regards the increasing channel density as a good thing. It's made it easier for him to find ISVs offering useful add-ons.
"SAP has done a lot of work managing the ecosystem," Perlov said. "The level of consistency they've put in place gives us the confidence that when we deal with a certified partner, there's a level of quality, and an escalation path if there's a problem."
One of SAP's new recruits is Real Solutions, a Chicago solution provider that historically worked with Microsoft products. In January, the firm added SAP's midmarket software to its lineup.
"We're just starting to generate some of the [value] points -- right now, we're at the associate level," said Dave Howe, Real Solutions' founder. "I haven't been in the program enough time to really say how it's working out, but it looks good and we're excited about it."
Howe particularly likes SAP's commitment to making training programs and materials available online. Being able to complete training requirements electronically is a big time and cost savings, he said.
So what are the areas in which partners would like to see SAP do better as it expands PartnerEdge? IMG Americas' Perlov said his biggest challenge is support: "We need the ability to have our customers' issues get taken care of, and not fall into a queue behind the large accounts."
Howe said SAP could still do more to spread the message that it's in the midmarket. Real Solutions battles customer perceptions that SAP is expensive, complex and only suited to large enterprises.
"Once they realize it's a different product set, they're very receptive," he said.