Print.IT Reseller - issue 53

PRINT IT RESELLER.UK 27 Continued... PARTNER PROGRAMME market is diversifying hugely and we see opportunity either side of that traditional partner base,” Pittick said. He continued: “Our aim is to expand into different partner types and areas. For example, we see opportunity for growth in enterprise-level systems integrators – those that deliver fully managed outsourced IT services where print becomes a line item. Similarly the IT reseller community are interested in packaged tailored managed print solutions that they can deploy to SME or mid-market customers.” Tiers and benefits The new partner programme is built on a foundation of tiers and benefits that will offer real value to end customers, as well as partners. Essentially there will be four tiers to the programme and partners will enjoy a clear pathway to expand their business and unlock new benefits, whether they are existing partners looking to flourish in current and new markets, or new partners looking to develop their business with Canon. “This is a fundamental change for us as a business,” Pittick stated. “The Registered partner level is typically for on-boarding new partners who will then have the opportunity to progress through to Silver, Gold and Platinum.” He continued: “This is actually one of the key areas in the partner feedback. Previously our programme was probably too flat and didn’t offer much of a journey, partners didn’t have a clear line of progression. Furthermore, one of the issues for both our partners and their customers, was that it didn’t really provide the ability for customers to differentiate between partner types or expertise levels.” As with most partner programmes there is a revenue achievement element to the new scheme, but, Pittick says what’s very important for the end customer is partner accreditations that will assist end-user confidence in a partner’s expertise to deliver applications that will help their organisation grow, become more efficient and improve profitability. Under the new programme, the accreditations that partners can gain are based around the end-user applications as opposed to what traditionally would have been more product- centric accreditations. “So the new accreditations are more around things like document digitisation, managed print, document output, graphic arts and applications, as opposed to production print, office print, MFDs and wide format printers which historically would have been how the programme would operate,” he explained. New partner recruitment Canon is keen to expand its partner network and collaborate with print and IT resellers who have specific expertise. “We actually signed a new print reseller in Scotland last year, it was a geographical-based decision – the fact we didn’t have too many partners in Scotland and this is a well-established print reseller business was key. But we are also focusing on some of the other technologies within our portfolio, such as some of our information management and document solutions and are keen to engage with new businesses who are maybe more interested in looking at some of our software capabilities than our hardware,” Pittick said. Potential new partners would fall under two categories. Those who want to take Canon applications and technologies and sell them as packaged solutions around specific customer requirements like document management, accounts payable, invoice processing or digital mailroom. The second area is ISVs and SIs who already have the technology or application that they are selling to their customers but who might want an element of Canon technology that they can integrate into that solution. “That could be for example where an SI is already delivering an end to end accounts payable solution but has a particular interest in our document capture software, they may feel that it’s better than the technology they are currently using, and take it and embed it into their existing offer,” he explained. The new partner programme is built on a foundation of tiers and benefits that will offer real value to end customers, as well as partners James Pittick