Unified communications specialist Polycom has revamped its Choice Partner channel partner program to help drive customer engagement, and provide greater rebates to channel and distribution partners.
“The UC environment is evolving, and projects are more closely integrated into business systems,” said Gary Denham, managing director for Polycom ANZ, in an interview.
The reason for revamping the partner program was to ensure greater predictability around customer engagement, and to drive higher margins, said Denham.
“The focus around certification and tech requirements is a large part of what we are doing,” he said.
Providing an additional bulkhead for channel partners is a dedicated support team, called the Global Partner Response Team. In a sense, it’s essentially a partner helpline, designed to quickly and easily answer questions about customer engagement, technology matters and implementation.
“It’s so partners can get on and do business,” said Denham.
In terms of financial rewards, the revamped program has a two-pronged approach. The first is that there are rebates to solution advisors, a first for the Polycom partner model.
The second is the replacement of discounts for distributors with a rebate model.
Denham said the program, which has been up and running since the beginning of July this year, has been positively received by partners. In particular, the incentives around training have had a good response. “We were a bit muddy in that area in the past.”
Despite the new program, it’s been a rocky time at head office in the US for Polycom, with its chief executive, Andrew Miller, resigning amid questions about travel expense irregularities. Kevin Parker, a Polycom board member, has been named interim CEO while inquiries into the matter, and the search for a new chief executive, continue.
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