Nortel reviews partner ranks

Nortel has cut its local nForce partner ranks in an effort to provide a sharper focus on more successful resellers in the market.

A/NZ SMB sales leader, Martin Hatcher, claimed that by trimming down the number of nForce partners, Nortel channel account managers can work more closely with resellers to develop skill sets more intensely. The vendor has had upwards of 100 partners recognised under its nForce program in recent years. Those who don’t meet nForce criteria will become uncertified resellers.

“We want to get that down to around 70 partners in the nForce program nationally,” Hatcher said. “By scaling back the number of partners that we do have, we can spend more face time selling.”

To help enhance nForce partners’ efforts in the market, Hatcher hinted that the vendor was in the process of fine tuning several new channel initiatives. The vendor expects to double its SMB business this year and Hatcher highlighted data networking as one of the most opportunistic areas in the market.

Hatcher said it had chosen its top nForce partners based on revenue.

No performance targets have been set for nForce partners, but this would be considered when the new streamlined program was in place, he said.

“Some partners haven’t spent so much as a dollar with Nortel since they signed up,” Hatcher said. “The changes are necessary because there are many partners that have shown their commitment to Nortel and they would benefit from more one-on-one time with Nortel's account managers.”

Earlier this year, Nortel hired new account managers, Luke Power in NSW and Peter Schmidt in Victoria.