Welcome Darren Bibby with this guest post. Darren is IDC's Program Director for Software Partner, Channels and Alliances in my Software Business Solutions Group. Catch up with him on Twitter @darrenbibby.
It's been an interesting two weeks in the realm of partner strategy changes. We've seen both sides of the 'open versus controlled distribution' coin. On February 18, IBM announced that it was closing product distribution only to partners that became certified in each of its 14 product groups, save for some products that will remain in open distribution. This past week, Citrix announced that it was opening up product distribution to more partners. Where Citrix was before its announcement is where IBM will be after their controlled distribution initiative takes effect in October 2009.
At any other time, Citrix's announcement may have been simply lauded for its attempt to simplify a program in a time of increasingly complex partner programs. But with the IBM announcement still fresh, the desire to compare initiatives is just too strong to ignore.
Citrix used to mandate that a partner couldn't resell a product if it wasn't certified to sell it. Now, except for the XenApp line, any partner can sell any product, even if the partner is still working on certifications. As of October 1, 2009, for many of IBM's key products, a partner will now have to be certified to be able to resell a product.
Citrix seems to be making their decision for several reasons. Program simplification is obviously one key objective. The previous model proved to be complex at times and added friction to getting business done. In addition, Citrix has been acquiring companies and technologies, and its product portfolio has been morphing at a rapid pace. Policing its controlled distribution was becoming more and more difficult.
Allowing more partners, new and established, to sell more products is certainly a worthwhile outcome to Citrix's program changes. While encouraging certification, Citrix doesn't want it to be a barrier to selling.
It seems that managing a high number of exception requests of partners wanting to sell products they were not allowed to was another reason to open up distribution. This brings up the question of how many exception requests IBM will be getting, despite having a 'no exceptions' rule.
But IBM is making a bold move with its announcement, proclaiming that the future of its partner strategy is about its most value-added partners - something that Citrix can't claim with its own announcement. IBM realized that open distribution has meant a lowered street price for its software, and competition from volume resellers is discouraging value added partners to say the least. IBM's controlled distribution announcement is a major victory for hard working, truly value-added partners everywhere. My question is how this fantastic concept will play out in the real world. The probability of a good number of exception requests from partners is high in my mind.
So is there a theoretical 'best of both worlds' scenario here? Maybe. IBM could possibly learn from Citrix's strategy to make a program where it highly incents partners to certify, but still allows them to resell if they're not certified, even if at a meager discount. This might fix many of IBM's potential cases for exception, such as a VAR who is certified to sell two products, but not a third. And the extra margin and benefits of certification would still motivate partners to gain the skills needed for a great customer experience.
