Barracuda revises channel programme to increase simplicity

Dell Might have trade marked its Simple, predictable and profitable channel programme moniker but the ambition to make things simpler is not just restricted to the hardware giant.

Barracuda has spent the last few days talking to its partners, around 5,500 across Europe, in Monte Carlo as it outlines a revised channel programme that should remove a lot of complexity.

The tiers have been reduced from four to three, multiple discounts stripped down to just a couple of options and getting certifications has become a lot more straightforward.

Given the history of the firm moving from hardware to the virtual world and software the number of different programmes and discounts that partners had to navigate was sizeable.

"We haven't refreshed our programme for quite some time," said Chris Ross, senior vice president, international sales at Barracuda, "We have gone from selling hardware appliances to virtual to online SaaS solutions and the channel programmes have morphed and developed with that and it had become complex. We have done what could we do to make the programme simpler."

The vendor is now segmenting partners into authorised, preferred and premier, having dropped the registered tier.

"We have made the steps to make these levels clear so partners can understand what they have to do to achieve that level," said Ross.

On the discount side the firm is offering one discount for non-registered deals and another for those that are logged on the deal reg system.

Other highlights include a refreshed partner portal, with the chance to track certification levels, and further promotion of the Barracuda Campus to get more resellers trained up.

Ross said that the first beneficiaries of the revised partner programme would be those that were already working with the vendor but it was open to the latest move stirring further interest in the channel.

"One of our strategies is continuing to attract more resellers. we are always actively looking for partners," he said.

"The simplification will help our partners. They are pretty resourceful and have been doing a lot of business, but this will make it easier and we want to be one of the easiest vendors to work with," he added.