Imaging company Visioneer Inc. has announced a new channel program as part of its ongoing effort to its business product presence in the North American Market. But it hasn’t signed up any Canadian VARs yet.
“”While we may not be getting new VARs immediately in Canada, we are very open to them
and through our distributors who service the Canadian territory,”” said John Capurso, vice-president of enterprise marketing at Visioneer. Visioneer distributes its products through Ingram Micro, Tech Data, New Wave, Optical Laser and D&H in North America.
Called the Document Source Alliance (DSA) program, it offers certified Visioneer and Xerox VARs and system integrators sales support, product training, sales tools and marketing programs in return for integrating Visioneer and Xerox scanners into their customers’ document imaging solutions.
“”Visioneer has been growing its business and corporate product presence in the market,”” said Capurso. “”Before this time the product line did not have the right mix where VARs would participate with these types of products.
“”You can’t sell a $199 or $299 product through the VAR channel as your only product or your high-end product.””
Visioneer, which signed a licensing agreement with Xerox to sell its DocuMate series of workgroup scanners in 2003, has traditionally sold desktop and flatbed scanners aimed at the consumer market. The Strobe XP 200, for example, is one of Visioneer’s best-selling products under its own brand and is not available under the Xerox brand, said Capurso.
VARs, resellers and distributors can only purchase the Xerox scanners through Visioneer, not Xerox, he added.
To date, eight VARs in the U.S. have signed up for the program. The Xerox DocuMate 252 has been available to resellers since April, but Capurso said Visioneer wanted to wait a few months before making any channel announcements.
“”That would give us time to get the product in the market,”” he said. “”We felt September was the right time to announce this to the VAR channel.””
Program features include volume incentive rebates of up to five per cent quarterly depending on net sales volume; market development funds of up to five per cent for demand generation activities; sales lead referrals provided by Visioneer’s inside sales team; and a dedicated sales rep; sales incentive programs such as spiffs, rebates and prizes. (There are currently no corporate sales reps, however, in Canada.)
Some of the other benefits include an exclusive Web site, business development support and tools, discounted demo units of up to 50 per cent off list price and a free certification program.
La Jolla, Calif.-based VAR Hershey Technology has worked with Visioneer in the past and was one of the first companies to sign up.
“”From a consumer technology perspective, we’ve worked with Strobe products previously under the Visioneer name,”” said Neal Fischer, a principal with Hershey Technologies. “”At the enterprise level, it didn’t have any traction competing with Canon and Kodak.
“”Xerox brings more credibility to the business environment. Visioneer gives (Xerox) a cost effective solution that that organization hasn’t been successful at addressing.””
Resellers can visit www.visioneer.com to find out more info and apply.