It’s often said that education is a stepping stone towards success. According to MGE Office Protection Systems, there aren’t enough educated partners and customers in the IT industry. To help reverse this trend, the company has introduced its Energize Partner Program.
MGE, a provider of power protection systems based in Costa Mesa, Calif., launched its new partner program earlier this month. Designed for resellers of the company’s surge suppression, desktop and rack IT power protection solutions. MGE said it hopes with the program and its training, support and other resources partners will find it easier to sell the right solutions to their customers.
Curtiz Gangi, vice-president of North and South America at MGE Office Protection Systems, explains the goal of this new program.
“We wanted to energize the sales of our partners through a knowledge base to maximize the mindshare and communication with our VARs,” said Curtiz Gangi, MGE’s vice-president of North and South America. “There’s a huge gap in the VAR channel with respect to education. Our goal is to bridge the gap that currently exists.”
Before the launch of the Energize Partner Program, Gangi said there was no other cohesive program set in place for MGE’s partners, as programs were carried-out on an independent country by country basis.
MGE brought together its worldwide management organization to discuss the situation, said Gangi, and consider how best to manage and organize a structured program for its IT and commercial partners.
“Because the program is (now) the same in every country our partners are now getting the same information from a single source,” said Gangi.
Although the program has just rolled out, Grant Farrow, MGE’s channel sales manager for Canada, said he has already received positive feedback from partners.
“Before, customers would end up purchasing the wrong solutions,” Farrow said. “This new program saves a lot of those troubles since we focus on training. This is one of the things our partners like. They find us flexible and they like that we can react to their needs quicker.”
Members of the Energize program enjoy benefits such as product and on-site training, technical and sales support, a reseller Web site, volume discounts, as well as other tools to assist with sales and servicing customers.
Partners can take advantage of training sessions via webinars to learn about the different types of communications, management solutions and products that MGE provides.
“This helps VARs know exactly what they’re selling,” Gangi said. “Customers and partners want to understand what’s out there when they are looking for competitive alternatives.”
With the launch of this new program, Gangi said the company is committed to strong communications with its partners.
“This is something we’re committed to,” he said. “We’re here to support them and to support their growth in understanding and being able to sell solutions that work for customers, both from a budgetary and technology perspective.”
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