Service check

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We are very strict on this certification because we rely on our resellers as an extension of ourselves. - Louis Helmbold, senior consultant at HP Procurve.

Keeping the partners happy and loyal is an ongoing process, and vendors constantly have to adjust and amend their offerings.

"If you want your partners or resellers to be committed to you then you need to be committed to them. We ensure that we give our partners the opportunity to make the sort of margins that will allow them to afford the right people and training, which allow them to deliver the right quality of service," says Dharmendra Parmar, general manager of marketing at FVC.

Gautier Humbert, business development manager for the Gulf countries at cabling vendor Ortronics agrees that loyalty comes from margins and consistent business. "We ask ourselves, are the partners happy with the product and service they are receiving from us, and are they able to make money? Ensuring loyalty is about making sure our partners are successful."

Hand-in-hand with margins come training as resellers crave the latest skills and knowledge to service users with.

"We have a program where we certify partners according to certain criteria. We have three levels of partners. The elite level for instance requires 24/7 call centre, adequate master accredited service engineers, sufficient accredited service engineers, as well as sales trained personnel. In this way we can equip our partners and train them effectively," says HP Procurve's Helmbold.

Vendors across the region are also investing in training facilities and partnerships with centres for higher learning. Juniper Networks has partnered with both their channel partners and key universities, as well as setting up a learning centre. "With the Juniper Networks higher learning centre program we endeavour to integrate the different elements of education, career development, academic education, and practical experience into a blueprint that is lucrative for IT individuals," explains Juniper's El-Khayat.

HP ProCurve has taken a similar approach. "What we have done is go to the Abu Dhabi Men's Higher College of Technology and give them the study material for our courses which they incorporate into their degrees and courses so when the students leave college they are skilled on the products," says Helmbold.

Although there is clearly an important reliance and even dependency on resellers, vendors must still source their feedback from the end-users as opposed to relying exclusively on that provided by the channel.

R&M is a big believer in personal contact, and technical director Eugene Botes relies on site visits and networking functions to maintain contact with clients, "When I inspect the site, I insist that the end-user be present so that they have the opportunity to share their insights and comments and I can address them."

There are a number of other methods employed including traditional surveys and call backs.

Trapeze Networks makes use of these methods as Zeidan confirms, "As soon as a deal is signed we engage the call centre to make sure the service level, the product level and service is correct. We have an end-user conference every year where we demonstrate the roadmap and generate feedback."

Facing the challenges

While vendors may have their partner roadmap drawn up and in operation, they still need to take into account the specific and often unique challenges of the region.

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