Shailendra Shukla
Director Sales - Enterprise Channel & System
Integration, APC by Schneider Electric
Geographic expansion is a natural business process, which is ongoing in nature. Before entering any new market, APC does its survey. Shaliendra Shukla informs, "Currently, our channel marketing and distribution focus is vast. In the Enterprise segment, we are working with large SIs on multiple projects across the country, some of them being turnkey data center projects. With the backing of the Schneider Electric energy management portfolio, we can deliver up to 30% savings and give our customers maximum advantage of our combined excellence in the fields of power, IT, industry, and building."
Over the years, they have been able to build a strong channel base of around 7,500 partners in India, thanks to brand strengthening initiatives like schemes, profits, trainings, certifications, opportunity sharing and many other such incentives. "It is up to the partner on how much he wants to advance and how much he wants to succeed," he quips.
Strategies for Channel programme execution:
At APC, it is believed that, in order to keep channel partners motivated, it is important to expand their horizon and expertise with offering a larger segment to tap into, offer sustainable opportunities with clarity in policies and consistently share new business opportunities with good margins. Besides these, some of the key initiatives partners value the most and look forward to are long-term growth potential in opportunities, demand generation support from the vendor, skill set development and availability of tools and enablers to win in the marketplace.
"We ensure that our channel base is empowered to grow their business by giving them a wide and reliable product portfolio, right training and prompt sales service backup. A three-tier escalation system starting with front end service team, a regional technical support and a national ‘tiger’ team ensures adherence to SLAs," shares Shukla.
What is more important is to communicate product advantages to the partner and aid him with the necessary training and selling tools. Besides the weekly channel training programmes, APC has even launched a nation-wide channel partner programme where the core strength/business environment of a partner is aligned to APC's product portfolio. "What this means is that a partner is trained on a product portfolio that he is comfortable with and then quickly upgraded to sell higher capacity offerings," he added.
Ideal channel policy:
Customers have multiple options to choose from and are being very prudent in their purchases. This makes it increasingly important for the channels to build customer relationship and ensure satisfied customers by making both the pre- and post-sales experience enriching. Thus, an ideal channel policy should include channel profitability, channel training and skill set development, channel account presence and capabilities in terms of manpower, project support, service, etc., providing of tools and other enablers to win at the marketplace and lead sharing mechanism.
"We have formulated special and holistic annual programmes like the Inner Circle Club, Managed Partner Programme, Elite Datacenter Programme and High Power Partners Programme which are also over and above other short-term schemes and programmes. Our strategies are aligned to providing TEETH (Training, Engagement, Enablement, Tools and Hold) for Channel across all programmes," adds Shukla.
Channel partners are under continuous pressure for incubating and grooming new business avenues. Thus, they have begun to see value in managed services and remote management services which help them with annuity- based income. APC has some very compelling propositions in these spaces and these are also key focus areas for APC in India. Customers today rely on solution providers who anticipate and prevent problems before they occur. We offer our partners continuing education, training and support to position them to succeed in the marketplace.
Syeda Beenish
beenish@varindia.com
