imtmphoto - Fotolia
Lifesize outlines channel commitment
Lifesize talks channel investment after breaking through the $100 million mark in bookings
Videoconferencing and collaboration firm Lifesize has reaffirmed its commitment to partners to following the re-launch of its channel programme earlier this year.
“We are hundred percent focused on the channel,” newly-appointed VP for the UK and EIRE, Jens Lauridsen, told Microscope. “Our biggest areas of investment in terms of sales capacity have been first and foremost the UK, then Europe as a whole,” he says, adding that EMEA is Lifesize’s biggest market. “It's more than 40 percent of our business, and it continues to expand for us as we move forward.”
The Austin-based vendor announced in April it has surpassed $100 million in bookings with an 80 percent annual growth rate over the last four years. It has 1500 partners globally, and out of the 200 signed up in the UK, around 50 are currently “very active”, says Lauridsen.
“Many of our competitors have a model where the partner is really a lead generation vehicle, and they participate in the initial sale, and that’s it, or they participate at a much lower level. For us, the partners are a key part of the ongoing service to the customer and the expansion opportunity over time for both of us,” adds Michael Helmbrecht, COO of Lifesize.
“Our partners fully participate not just in the initial sale, but in customer upgrades and expansion, which is such a key part of the financial proposition for our partners and for us, as well as for renewals.”
The re-designed partner programme includes greater financial rewards for distribution to find net new partners. In addition, it now incentivises partners to compete not against one another, but against themselves and their own historical performance.
Lifesize also says it has invested in internal support teams for the channel and is set to host its first global partner conference in Austin, Texas in November.
According to MarketsandMarkets, the global enterprise collaboration market is expected to reach $60 billion by 2023. The vendor’s own research indicates that’s age of video communication at work has increased for 48 percent of US firms, compared to two years ago, highlighting a shift toward collaboration.
