Ceryx, a Toronto-based messaging research and development company, is aiming to attract more bilingual partners through the implementation of its ThinOffice channel partner program.
Gus Harsfai, president and CEO of Ceryx, said since its launch last fall, the ThinOffice program has been growing its reseller base by leaps and bounds on a monthly basis. As a Microsoft gold certified partner, Ceryx created this program for resellers of its hosted Microsoft Exchange infrastructure, an e-mail solution geared towards businesses of any size. The program gives members access to support services such as marketing materials, sales and support resources and customer administration services, just to name a few.
“Through the program, we teach [partners] how to sell the product and we also teach them about the kind of customers to look for,” Harsfai said. “Every month we’re signing up many partners but we’re being selective about who we will help out.”
Ceryx’s ThinOffice partner program consists of two tiered-levels at no charge. The first is the Basic Program that is catered towards partners who serve customers primarily in the small to medium sized business range. Included in this program are training and certification services for sales and support staff, as well as access to other support tools.
The Premier Program, which is for partners who deal with medium to large sized businesses, includes lead referrals and volume discount opportunities in addition to the features that are also included in the ThinOffice Basic Program.
“We’re looking out for ourselves and our partners,” Harsfai said. “Our partners need to focus on customer relationships and they need to understand their customer needs. As software and services start to become more prevalent in the industry, customer relationships become the single most important aspect.”
Depending on the type of program a partner is in and depending on suggested pricing, margins from Ceryx can range anywhere between 25 to 45 per cent.
Along with attractive margins and sales support, Ceryx also offers its partners access to training in one of two ways. Sales training can either be viewed live on the Web, or training sessions can be downloaded online.
This fall will mark the Ceryx ThinOffice program’s one year anniversary, Harsfai said. “Our system is rock solid. For us, it’s not an annual thing to create new partner programs. It’s working right now, but of course if there’s a better way of doing this, we can always change [the program] later.”
With offices located in both Toronto and New York, Harsfai said its presence in North America is substantial, but it still needs to improve in Canada especially with bi-lingual partners.
“Ceryx has most of the areas covered quite nicely,” Harsfai said. “But we’re actively seeking more bilingual partners in Canada today. We plan on attracting these partners through direct contact, referrals and also with Microsoft’s help.”
