8x8 to measure more than revenue with Elevate enhancements

8x8 has enhanced its Elevate partner programme, with a focus on identifying and rewarding those that invest in the vendor and garner high levels of customer satisfaction.

The latest iteration of the programme, which was launched last June, is based on a points system that rewards partners that are certified, deliver quality experiences for customers, and keep an eye on their support capabilities with trained engineers.

Keith Jackson, vice-president of channel sales EMEA at 8x8, said the arrival of global channel chief Lisa Del Real early last year had accelerated a process to enhance the programme that emerged late last year. Meetings and consultations with a number of partners across the globe followed as the firm looked to develop something that would get the thumbs up from the channel.

“It’s not just who does the most revenue...but who’s actually taking the time to invest in 8x8, who’s doing consistent business, who’s getting more than just the bare minimum of engineers trained, and how do we reward them and know who’s focusing on our key products,” he said.

“We want to reward the guys that are actually investing technical and sales resources and going to learn what we do, but also actually winning customers consistently on that,” he added.

Jackson said it had previewed the changes over the past few weeks to partners of varying sizes and at both ends of the spectrum – those that traditionally would have benefitted from revenue based metrics and those that focus on boutique value – and the reception had been positive.

“The feedback across both of those economic models was that they really liked it as they’ve now got something that can differentiate themselves on,” he added “They’ve now got something tangible that is not just a logo on their website – they can actually go out and present why they’ve gotten to that tier for their chosen vertical.”

Partners are being given until September 2023 to line up behind the latest changes and make sure they have the points needed to remain or improve their programme tier position.

The vendor is also providing partners with monthly reports charting their progress, shining a light on the number of certified engineers, among other things, and providing business insights to spark further growth opportunities.

“It’s a single vision where the partner leaders will be able to look at and go, ‘Actually, if I get another three certified deployments, engineers, I get bonus points’,” he added.

Jackson said the policy of responding to partner feedback could be seen in its business, with the percentage of partner-driven revenues increasing, especially across EMEA, and that had been noted by the CEO and was increasingly being replicated in other territories.