Sybase partners admit competition is fierce as projects dry up

He said projects are getting delayed and people are taking longer to make decisions due to 'price pressure'.

"Projects are less and more people are trying to get the same business," he said.

Sybase launched its Partner Program at the event and said it has employed consulting firm Channel Enablers to help them gain best practice with its customers.

It has also revamped its online partner portal, e Learning service and is launching certificates by product class.

Stuart Fisher vice president channel sales and alliances APAC Sybase said with the new program, it wants to ensure it is the vendor of choice for partners in providing more value and giving them greater access to the company.

He said historically the company was very technology based but now wants to become more solution based.

We want to ensure we are a trusted partner in our business dealings, who we are recruiting and who we work with," he said.

The aim of the conference was to bring the channel up to speed with the Sybase technology, (IQ ASE, real time analytical reporting and transactions), and advising them on how to be productive and spend money wisely.

Adhar's company, based in North Ryde, Sydney, focuses on encryption solutions protecting sensitive data for large businesses such as banks, utility companies, the travel industry and manufacturers.

"Even though more people are trying to get the same project, it's an opportunity as well. The more value we can provide to a company the better the process," he said.

"Just knowing encryption technology and having to apply that. If we don't do it right our customer cannot decrypt their data."

Paul Francis of PBT Group Australia, a systems integrator, has been in an alliance partnership with Sybase for 5 years.

"Companies are very cautious at the moment and they are not making any long term commitments. Our organisation provides a service not a fixed product. To counter those challenges we are looking for ways to address that through the MIS health repository tool which we have configured to run with Sybase IQ to provide benefit in the healthcare industry," he said.

"Sybase IQ is a high powered performance database and is very quick for processing large amounts of data. Our technology tool is a management information system for data reporting to give real business intelligence and analytical value."

Fisher added, customers are telling us that they need better reporting tools, access to information, faster times to transact and security.

"With those four things we are addressing that with the products we are bringing to market through our Afaria (mobile enterprise business intelligence software) product," he said.

"Sybase is interested in talking to resellers in these areas of technical analytics and mobile enterprise to get to market quickly."