DUBLIN, IRELAND – Enterprise mobility management vendor SOTI has had a busy week. Along with announcing the commercial availability of the new SOTI ONE Platform at its annual user conference, SOTI Sync, it also unveiled its revamped partner program, which will come into effect on January 1, 2019.
“It’s about three things,” said vice-president of global sales, Rob Auld. “Simplification, integration, and co-investment.”
Where the old program offered discounts based on total revenue, no guaranteed MDF, and no strategic plays, Auld said that the new offering focuses on new and add-on business, provides a simplified MDF program and improved technical and product training, and has streamlined processes to ease doing business with the company. It will offer a broad range of training programs, selling tools and the support partners need to get up and running fast, including demo licenses, a proof-of-concept program, co-branded collateral, field marketing support, and a partner portal.
Rob Auld, vice-president of global sales. Courtesy Soti.
SOTI plans to meet with every Platinum and Gold partner over the next few months and provide each with its targets and a market play. Silver and Bronze partners will be contacted by the inside sales team to schedule meetings; the goal, Auld said, is to move everybody up a level.
“We win when they win,” he said.
Yesterday at #SOTISYNC18, we announced our annual Partner Awards at @GuinnessIreland in Dublin, Ireland to celebrate the incredible achievements of SOTI’s top channel performers. Check out the list of this year’s winners here: https://t.co/3Mb0JJdU2U pic.twitter.com/SxsVMvtdLv
— SOTI Inc. (@SOTI_Inc) October 3, 2018
He believes that sales of the SOTI ONE Platform will also drive hardware sales for partners as customers start to build apps that eliminate paper in favour of doing things on a mobile device. And since every user of an app developed in the SOTI Snap rapid app development environment needs a Snap license, there are additional software opportunities as well.
At its launch No. 1, the SOTI ONE Platform will include MobiControl, SOTI Snap for rapid app development, the SOTI Assist help desk designed for mobility support (SOTI CEO Carl Rodrigues insists that it contains all of the components necessary to be a general-purpose help desk as well), plus enterprise support. Two more elements, SOTI Insight (business intelligence) and SOTI Connect (to manage IoT devices) will be added to the suite over time; release dates have not yet been determined. The company is still evaluating pricing, but Auld says that existing customers will probably get preferential treatment.
Eventually, he said, there will be a marketplace in which customers and partners, as well as SOTI, will be able to share Snap apps. He sees a partner revenue opportunity in building and maintaining apps, as well as in acting as a managed service provider. “There is,” mused analyst David Krebs, EVP at VDC Research, “an interesting opportunity for SOTI in the MSP space.”
“We’re actively searching for new opportunities in retail, as well as in healthcare and logistics,” Auld said. “SOTI ONE will bring tremendous value to customers.”
SOTI will present webinars on the updated Altitude Partner program to run through the details on November 20, 2018 at 10 a.m. ET and 2 p.m. ET. Partners can register here.