24 March 2008
by Paul Kunert
RSA has overhauled its partner programme, lowering general discounts and raising rebates for new business but some have complained this could drive resellers to rival vendors.
The changes to the EMEA SecurWorld Partner Programme include lowering discounts to distributors — and therefore resellers — as Sphinx and Computerlinks margins fall in line with Bell Micro.
The restructuring of reseller rewards also include a doubling of the five per cent of list price rebate for partners that drum up new business (upgrades and license) for the Secure ID range and enVison.
"We are really focused on net new name customer acquisition and expanding the use of our technology within existing customers," said Miles Rippon, area vice president of EMEA channels at RSA.
As newer technology, the enVision range required greater investment in certifications from partners. Rippon said the programme as it stood did not protect that investment from the top level partners.
The resulting change is that entry-level registered partners can no longer sell enVision unless they have at least reached the second tier Access accreditation by training two staff or ten per cent of their security division on RSA.
"This removes the threat of opportunistic resellers damaging partners that have invested in skills" said Rippon. RSA has also shifted five per cent of the back-end deal registration rebate to MDF.
The changes have not gone down well with everyone and Mark Hatton, managing direct at Sphinx, said he had mixed feelings.
"For partners that focus on and generate incremental new-name business it’s very positive. But it is an unfortunate consequence that distribution will make less margin out of the programme," he said.
There were very little changes to Bell Micro’s deal with RSA said Duncan Hume, security general manager at the distributor.
Channel sources said the drop in discounts was significant:"You could see RSA’s volumes drop as resellers seek more lucrative partners."
