Citrix flags partner program changes for 2020

Citrix has announced training on a revised partner program that aims to improve partner profitability.

The networking vendor will conduct a staged launch of new rebates, training, a new enablement platform and a revised status system throughout 2020.

Citrix ANZ channels director Brian McColm told CRN the vendor's efforts won't end this year.

“The changes that we are making this year is to help make partners more profitable to do business with [Citrix],” he said.

“A lot of our rebates are for front-end and what typically happens is it goes to the streets and the end-customer, which can have an impact on partner profitability. What we’ve done is we’ve taken that drive element and the element of adding value and pay a rebate that will go to the partner’s bottom line.”

A new program called “accelerate” pays partners to take customers onto the cloud and also pay partners in the back end for helping the customers.

“We’re also giving them access to the toolsets that we use, some intellectual property that can help make a customer successful,” McColm added.

Citrix will also convert its four specialisations (virtualisation, mobility management, networking for data centre and networking for apps and mobile security) to just two that align to workspace and networking, with the aim of making it simpler for partners.

There will also be a new status where partners will rebrand their specialisations and use that branding in the market to show their knowledge and who they are.

Some new training will be launched in Q2 2020 (April to June). McColm said this will help partners achieve new status levels, and reward those that get there sooner.

The vendor also launched a new enablement platform called SalesIQ. Designed to help partners get up to speed with its technology, it is also available on mobile devices to increase access to the platform.

“SalesIQ is a fantastic platform to get up to speed on who we are and what we do with a lot of presentation material, technical material,” McColm said.

“The platform’s mobility allows me to have an intelligent conversation with the next person I’m going to meet so I understand a program’s requirements, the key aspects of the products and solutions and more.”