Samsung Electronics has increased its investment in the channel with new solution provider training and demand generation programs. The vendor has created an enhanced training portal for quicker access to courses on mobility, professional display and SSD solutions. The updated program will also have a marketing concierge service and this service will be available to all channel partners.
The new channel program will be called the STEP Channel Partner Program and it has been redone for mobility, professional display and SSD solutions. STEP stands for Samsung Team of Empowered Partners and it will have a philosophy of driving greater demand, and services. Samsung’s latest advancements for partners include an enhanced Training and Certification program, an expansion of its Marketing Concierge support, and a new channel program dedicated to accelerating mobile-first strategies.
Kevin Gilroy, Executive Vice President and GM of Samsung, said channel partners are a critical extension of Samsung’s sales force and the company continually invest in enablement. Today’s advancements are set to raise channel training, demand generation and mobility initiatives to a new level, providing partners with resources to gain deeper knowledge on Samsung solutions, and position themselves as go-to experts across vertical industries.
Samsung’s STEP channel program is based on four key areas:
- Increasing demand through partners,
- Accelerating knowledge transfer,
- Driving partner profitability and
- Simplifying platforms.
The strategy behind this round of channel investment for Samsung is for the new training and certification program to be made available to all Samsung channel partners through an the Samsung Business Academy (SBA) Web portal. The vendor believes this will enable users to use a dashboard to track training. This program is structured in a 3-tier format–Sales Specialist, Expert, and Master–enabling partners to become certified on Samsung’s enterprise mobility, professional display and SSD solutions, including third-party accreditations.
The program includes:
- Samsung Knox security reseller authorization through achievement of a Mobility sales specialist certification.
- Accreditation with third party industry educational and trade associations, including InfoComm, which counts towards 1.5 CTS Certification renewal credits.
- Vertical training modules for building expertise in mobility and IT across industries.
- Ability to promote one’s business as a certified expert in Samsung products and solutions, upon training completion.
The second aspect of Samsung’s channel investment strategy centres around marketing concierge support for all registered partners, regardless of size. Previously only available to Samsung’s largest partners (Gold & Platinum), marketing concierge support now provides all partners access to third-party marketing platforms that provide tactical expertise for co-branded campaigns, reporting, and access to automated tools for online and social media marketing strategies. This is part of Samsung’s Marketing Hub, a one-stop shop for marketing resources for partners that builds awareness and demand fulfillment of Samsung solutions.
Samsung said that over the year, the Hub has doubled email sends and tripled social media posts by its partners.