Aussie-born ISV reveals full-blown partner program

Independent software vendor Nintex has used the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference to reveal that it has added tiers to its increasingly sophisticated partner program.

The move sees Australian-born Nintex evolve as a true global, channel vendor, a journey that begun when it was spun out of Melbourne-based Microsoft partner OBS and sold to private equity.

Nintex produces a workflow automation tool that "automates processes on and between today's most used enterprise content management systems and collaboration platforms".

The company – which now claims more than 1,100 partners and 5,000 customers – boosted its channel credentials when it hired Microsoft's senior director of cloud partner strategy, Josh Waldo, to run its channel business last October.

"Over the better half of a decade, I have learned a lot about the do's and don'ts of driving a successful channel," said Waldo.

He told CRN that he had tried to bring partner program experience from Microsoft to fast-growing Nintex, with the mission made easier as Nintex had been channel-first from the get-go.

"In terms of the smaller software partners, most of them start direct then start to 'back into' a channel. Nintex has a huge advantage in starting as a channel-driven business. When you start as a channel-driven business it is much easier to stay partner-centric."

The new Nintex program also includes elements such as training and certifications, marketing assets, and a new partner portal.

One of Microsoft's loudest messages for its hundreds of thousands of partners is to get away from transactional sales and project services and instead focus on managed services and especially "apps and IP".

Nintex is a clear-cut example of a company doing just that, making the journey from reselling and deploying Microsoft software into establishing itself as a true vendor.

It's not alone as an example of Australians taking this thinking to the world stage. Live Tiles is another ISV demo-ing at WPC; it was born out of another Melbourne-based Sharepoint specialist, nSynergy, now owned by Rhipe.

Aonther fledgling example can be seen with Brisbane-based partner CloudFirst, which has been getting a lot of attention for its Franchise First offering – an Office 365 package tailored specifically for the franchise sector.

Steven Kiernan is a guest of Microsoft at Worldwide Partner Conference.