NEC revamps partner programme to boost unified comms sales

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 24 June 2009 08:01

Business IT - Technology

NEC Australia's unified communications group has set up a new partner accreditation programme designed to boost its unified communications business.

It says the new programme will provide partners with new levels of training, technical and sales support, and procedures and tools aimed at reducing the cost of sale and "ensuring the highest levels of customer service and satisfaction."

The announcement follows one in March of a restructure to focus on services, unified communications and display solutions, at a cost of more than 150 jobs. This was followed only a week ago by NEC Australia announcing that it hoped to grow its service revenues from 50 percent to 70 percent of total business earnings in the next five years.
 
The new accreditation programme will provide four tiers of accreditation: Elite, Prestige, Advanced and Affiliate. NEC will award accreditation depending on a partner's technical specialisations, such as application development or design expertise, and business competencies, such as service and support capabilities and customer satisfaction.
 
NEC says it expects the new programme to:
- promote customer loyalty and confidence in a partner's ability to deliver projects;
- reduce the business risk for NEC, partners and customers by ensuring that all partners are highly skilled to limit the chance of project failures;
- allow the most successful partners to get access to higher levels of support from NEC.
 
Bob Lanigan, general manager of NEC Australia's UC group, said that an effective and engaged channel community was key to the company's success. "This program is aimed at fostering that while in return, arming our partners with the very best tools and support for them to grow and become more profitable...[It] is all about ensuring that our partners have the capabilities in the market to address the latest emerging technologies and have the confidence and expertise to support NEC's offerings."

NEC currently has over 140 partners in the IP and telephony market and says it will accredit them all over the following months, and will be evaluating new partners that wish to join the programme.