Aastra releases new partner program

Communications vendor, Aastra, is set to launch a new channel program to simplify a swathe of internal processes for partners.

Aastra bought Ericsson’s enterprise PBX division in 2008. The new partner program reflects the integration of the acquisition into the vendor’s business.

It had previously inherited a lot of Ericsson’s complicated documentation and processes for signing up partners. This has been significantly reduced and streamlined, Aastra channel manager, Tony Warhurst, said.

“It allows partners to set themselves up and be seen as an Aastra partner in a short period of time,” he said. “From there we can put forward what our expectations of the partner is and what we can do to help them ramp up their business.”

As the channel program has yet to officially launch, Warhurst could not go into too much detail but said it would involve support services including sales and technical training.

Aastra’s biggest partner is Telstra and a majority of the vendor’s partners stem from that relationship. But the telecommunications industry has changed and Aastra is looking for partners that have a variety of skillsets.

Anixter and Lan1 are both Aastra distributors.

“A lot of traditional Aastra partners were just traditional PABX partners on the telco side,” Warhurst said. “Nowadays people want help with video, WiFi and so on.

“We want to bring it all together and we want to identify partners that can offer a one stop shop experience to customers.”

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