Verizon Australia shoots for 80% sales via new channel

Network and cloud vendor Verizon has launched a new partner program in Australia, declaring that it wants to funnel “70 to 80 percent” of sales through the channel within 12 months.

“My target for Australia is that same time next year I would like our indirect partner business to count for about 70 to 80 percent of our business,” Verizon Asia-Pacific managing director for enterprise Australia, Japan and Korea, David Kim told CRN.

“That’s a bold statement in that we’re just launching [the partner program], but we see this as a significant market.”

Verizon, best known in Australia as a giant US telco, has provided mobile security, cloud, networking, Internet of Things and communications solutions both directly and to large multinational integrators in the past. However, a broader partner program was first launched in the USA in 2012 - a channel that has now grown to more than 1,300 partners.

The partner program was then rolled out to Europe in 2014, with the Australian version launched this week.

“I think there’s an opportunity for partners to leverage our relationships with existing clients,” Kim said, referring to Verizon’s existing base of direct clientele. “And maybe even expand that into the state and federal government sectors.”

Kim told CRN that the vendor intends to hire state-based channel managers to run the partner program, as well as “building a [partner program] team across three cities: Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.”

The Verizon partner program will have four tiers – member, silver, gold and platinum – with Sydney service provider DX Solutions announced as a foundation member.

“The combination of Verizon’s product capabilities and our market leading reputation, products and services, means we are able to offer a very compelling value proposition,” said DX Solutions managing director Peter Yialas.

Last month, Verizon shut down its public cloud platform after intense competitive pressure from the likes of AWS and Microsoft. The New York-headquartered vendor has more than 177,700 employees across the world.