Last year Kroll Ontrack assigned a person to be its Toronto-based Canadian representative to push its PowerControls mailbox recovery software for Microsoft Exchange to organizations and sign up channel partners here.
Today the company has signed exactly one channel partner, the Canadian branch of a U.S.-based solutions provider.
That tepid response is partly the reason why the Minnesota-based firm, known for its Ontrack data recovery services, has revamped the PowerControls partner program in an attempt revitalize its North American channel and sign up more VARs.
“We’re really trying to build our channel,” said Christina Pritchett, who oversaw the overhaul of the program and is now the company’s strategic accounts manager.Although the company hasn’t set a target number of VARs it wants to sign here, 12 months from now she’d like to see 20 partners on the list.
One of the problems was that there was no structure to the old partner system, she said.
It saw all PowerControls channel partners treated the same, with a set monthly quota to achieve if they wanted to benefit from product discounts for that month. Product training was available, but not mandatory, while sales tools were offered only on request.
That changed this week with the announcement of a three-tier program with more bells and whistles.
All VARs will enter as Silver partners and be required to take sales training in the first ear. They’ll also have to hit what Pritchett called a “fair and reasonable” annual sales target that’s been set low enough to attract channel partners. However, she wouldn’t reveal what it is.
To move up to Gold or Platinum levels, and higher product discounts, higher annual sales targets.
Responding to requests from existing partners, online and onsite sales and technical training have been increased.
“We’re almost treating them as our employees,” said Pritchett, “giving them the training and the skills they need to position the product properly.
“If we’re giving them the right tools and training them on how to speak to the customer on the technical level they need to, that will be the key to close out a lot of the inquiries that they’re getting.”
PowerControls, now on version 4.2, allows administrators to search, copy and restore individual mailbox items from any previous full backup, un-mounted databases and Information Store files. Pricing starts at US$950 for 100 mailboxes.
“We’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg,” in terms of the number of partners,” Pritchett said.
“This product has been on the market for four years,” she said, mostly sold direct by Ontrack. “Now that we really understand the product, who’s attracted to it, how to sell it, I think we’re really at a point where we can confidently go into that reseller channel and be able to do well.”“We have been able to allocate resources to really grow this program and we’re really hoping it will pay off for us and the resellers.”
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