Novell steps up efforts to win back channel

News Christine Horton 2009-12-04 16:21

Dan Veitkus says Novell "cut a lot of dead wood" from its

2009 has marked something of a sea-change in the way Novell does business through the channel. After a long period where it seemed the vendor’s channel relationships had firmly taken a back seat, this year the firm threw itself into winning back the hearts and minds of its resellers.

“As an organisation, we lost sight of the fact that a partner’s business is based on sales and margins,” explains Dan Veitkus, Novell’s VP, partners & channels for EMEA. “Our first priority was to become relevant to partners again.”

As a result, this year Novell (NOVL) instigated a series of initiatives and campaigns that focused on helping its partners improve their bottom line. “We needed to create a strong economic foundation and be serious about quality over quantity,” Veitkus told Channel Pro.

The management software specialist unveiled a new deal registration programme aimed at protecting partner opportunities, paying 10 percent rebates to partners on existing customer opportunities and 20 percent for new customers. Novell also introduced volume incentives, paying its Platinum and Gold partners additional rebates twice a year for reaching their sales thresholds.

“Between deal registration and volume incentives Novell will have paid $2m in rebates to partners across EMEA,” explains Veitkus, “and we have budgeted for more for next year.”

Novell has also waived charges for members of its ParnterNet programme – instead encouraging partners to take the money and reinvest into their Novell practices.

The company has even taken a hard line within its own organisation, pointing to a major change in the psychology of selling at Novell. For example, its internal sale force is compensated more significantly when working channel partners. “Some sales roles can’t achieve sales objectives unless working with Platinum and Gold partners,” says Veitkus.

“We are focused on driving opportunities with and through [our] partners – we couldn’t say that a year ago. This is now entrenched in the fabric of selling,” he reiterates.

Meanwhile, over the summer the vendor introduced specific campaigns for distributors, including a series of volume discounts and rebates, based not just on sales performance but their ability to recruit new resellers to Novell.