Australian compliance software maker, RuleBurst, is building a channel to accelerate customer reach.

The company has installed its first Asia-Pacific channel manager, Danny Mercer-Moore, to put together an official partner program. CEO, Surend Dayal, said the new framework would give partners access to training and accreditations for its governance and risk compliance management software. It will be launched later this month.

"Before, it was fairly opportunistic - we would target a customer area then look at integrators in that space. Now the process will be much more streamlined," Dayal said.

Mercer-Moore said partners would be divided into three camps: implementation, sales, and consultation. At the top end, implementation partners would need to have a high level of technical knowledge, including Microsoft and Novell skills.

He said RuleBurst hoped to attract tier-one players like BearingPoint and Accenture to this category.

Sales recruits would focus on the licensing side, Mercer-Moore said. At the other end, consultative partners would have a referring and influencing role. Ernst and Young and KPMG were potential examples.

In return for investment into training and certifications, RuleBurst would provide tool kits across all categories, a partner portal, marketing assistance and industry information, Mercer-Moore said.The partner program launch coincides with the release of RuleBurst's full-year figures to June 30. The company reported a 106 per cent increase in revenue to $14.8 million, with pre-tax profits of $5.03 million. Net profits reached $3.8 million.

Dayal said key customer wins included a $1.6 million, two-year deal with the Australian Department of Finance, in conjunction with channel partner, QSP.

It also picked up contracts with Air New Zealand and the UK Ministry of Defence. About 60 per cent of the vendor's total sales are made overseas.

Sales in the financial services sector had also significantly improved thanks to its acquisition of Australian firm, IQMS, in November.

Overall, channel partners generated about 20 per cent of RuleBurst's leads and were participating in about 50 per cent of customer rollouts, Dayal said.

"Up until now it's been about proving we can make money," he said. "But we are happy to give up revenue to partners because we see it as a way to grow our business more quickly. We can then focus on what we're good at, which is developing software."