To make it an easier company for partners to do business with, San Rafael, Calif.-based Autodesk Inc. this month launched its Partner Portal to also help partners increase their capacities and capabilities with Autodesk solutions.
Today, the software vendor, which specializes in 2D and 3D software solutions for the manufacturing, building and construction and media and entertainment markets, flows 85 per cent of its sales through channel partners. Brad Pollack, senior product manager for Autodesk’s Partner Portal, said currently, the company has 1,700 partners in total worldwide. Here in Canada, the company has 23 channel partners, with plans to expand this even further.
Before introducing Partner Portal, Autodesk had its One Team Web (OTW) offering available to partners. On April 13, the company announced Partner Portal, which is the replacement offering for OTW. Based on partner feedback, Pollack said that partners found OTW to be too complicated and time-consuming to use.
“After spending time with our partners, we learned that it was difficult for our partners to find the right information on OTW,” Pollack said. “Many applications were dispersed across sites and we realized we had to bring all of this information onto one central gateway for our partners. We want partners to be able to get onto the site and get what they need in three clicks or less so they can get back to work.”
On the new site, partners can use Autodesk’s new sales and marketing tools-finder to find resources that are relevant to them and to also aid them through the entire sales cycle. Partners can also take advantage of the Events Publisher on the Partner Portal, which lets partners advertise their events on Autodesk’s Web site.
Pollack says the Partner Portal is also personalized for each partner based on a unique user name and password. The site is catered to meet a partner’s preference and is also tailored to provide information and resources based on what the partner’s authorized to sell.
“We’re always looking for new partners who are committed to the same level of customer service that we are,” Pollack said. “We see this site as an investment in our partners moving forward because we want to make sure our partners are successful, especially during these tough times.”
