Meet the Channel Manager: CommVault

Justin Cooper started at CommVault in November after a 14-year stint at EMC. His last position was EMC Asia Pacific & Japan director of global alliances. Cooper is now CommVault’s Australia & New Zealand director of channel and alliances. The data management vendor conducts “100 percent of its Australian business through the channel”. Internationally, the publicly-listed company reported annual revenues of US$586.3 million last month and is headquartered in New Jersey, US.

Programs

“Our partner program is currently being expanded and enhanced to take us into the next generation. The enhancement is targeted particularly at VARs, although it does cover other types like service, distribution and OEM partners. We are re-tiering our partners at the moment. There are three levels: gold and platinum with direct linkage to us; and authorised resellers that go through distribution. There has also been millions of dollars of investment in improving the partner portal.”

Disties

“We have just signed Nextgen Distribution as a distributor for both Australia and New Zealand. Ingram Micro distributes in New Zealand, too. We have other Australian distributors but I think there will be some consolidation among them after the reform of the partner program.”

Awards

“After we are finished with the re-tiering, towards the end of the financial year, we will look to recognise our partners.”

Lessons learned

“In the past we were too opportunity driven – channel relationships were managed tactically. But I now have a remit to build framework – we now want to get more strategic with the channel. We want a strong pipeline of opportunities that we can collectively work on and close.”

Looking ahead

“We want to bunker down with a smaller number of partners and protect their investment. The goal is to have five or six platinum VAR partners and 12 to 15 gold VAR partners. We want to mirror the partner’s investment with resources and training devoted back to them. We’re a lean organisation and don’t have the capacity for hundreds of partners. We want partners aligned with our vision. We have a goal to grow at double-digit rates and significantly faster than the market average and our competitors.”