Intel to roll out new partner program

At the Intel Solutions Summit that was held in Sanya, China, Intel announced their plan to have a new channel partner program. The new classification, which will be effective from July 1, 2006 will do away with the emphasis on unit selling and will focus more on the solutions provided by the partners. 

In the new scheme of things Intel has decided to do away with the existing ranks of GID, IPP, ITR and in its place will come Premium, Associate and Registered partners. Explaining the move Sophia Chew, Intel's VP and GM - Sales and Marketing Group, Reseller Channel Operation said, “We are moving away from the number of units that a partner sells. Sales will no longer be a criterion, as we at Intel believe that for the market to evolve, partners need to look beyond sales and towards solutions. So the new program will emphasize on the kind of solution that the partner is providing, the level of complexity that the solution has and the impact that it ultimately makes.”

Though the new partner grids will be announced only on July 1, work is already underway to make a smooth transition in the channel programs. Throwing light on this Chew said, “We have already communicated certain the pre-requisites to our partners that will help us in further classification. The final list will be unveiled on July 1. Also from now on training will be an integral part of our partner program.”

Commenting on the new partner program Marcus Low, Director-APAC Reseller Channel Operation, Intel said, “Channel is very important for us to be able to reach out completely in emerging market.”

The main criterion according to Intel for judging partners under the new scheme will be revenue, technical strength, marketing capability, training and financial strength. 

Talking about the approximate number of partner's who will make it to the new program Low added, “Based on the current buying behavior in the APAC region approximately we are expecting about 400 Premier, 10,000 Associate and 34,000 Registered partners. But the final figures we will only come to know once the program is unveiled. We are now looking to focus on the commitment levels that partners show towards evolving solutions than just selling.”

The initiative of new partner classification is an off-shot of Intel's focus on Common Building Blocks (CBB), which will help in achieving standardization at the component level. The idea behind the CBB is to allow the partners to provide products, which are easily interchangeable and upgradeable. For this the company has identified seven basic components which include optical disk drives, customizable notebook panels, LCD panels, HDDs, battery packs, power adapters and keyboards. The CBB will thus help partners build customizable notebooks, wherein the components are compatible across a wide spectrum. 

So is it the end of the road for box-pushers as far as Intel is concerned? Refuting the theory Chew explained, “We will work with both the resellers and solution providers. But ultimately for the industry to become more robust people have to start thinking in terms of solutions. Earlier we would give them the product to sell and we would grow together. But now with the CBB we are transitioning from products to entire package/solutions. So while the volume might not be high but if the complexities are varied and they need support from Intel at different levels then the rating of the partner will automatically go high for us. However, that does not mean that we will have a single rule to judge people, it will vary from case to case basis.”

Explaining the importance of importance of CBB for partners Low said, “With CBB we will enable channel partners to move into the mobile group. CBBs will help reduce downtime and make mobile PC ownership a comfortable experience for the customer. Standardization will help partners reduce inventory and improve the overall quality of service.”