Technical Support Partner Program

Best Practices

Andreas Gast

Director – Partner Management

Global Enterprise Support Services

Symantec Corporation

2

Background

• The Presenter

– 25 Years In Enterprise Technology

• Sales, Marketing, Channels, and Services

• Symantec Corporation

• Active in and a supporter of SSPA

• 2008 SSPA Lifetime Achievement Award

• 2008 SSPA Star Award for Excellence in

Partner Management

• 10+ Years in Support Partner Programs

SUPPORT PARTNER PROGRAM

BENCHMARKING AND

BEST PRACTICES

4

Support Partner Program Benchmarking• Benchmarked 12 (5 HW, 7 SW) vendor support partner programs & mapped

• Y Axis = 2 measures (Scale, Performance, & Channel Feedback)

– Financials (CY 2008)

• Size (Rev & Employees), Rev/Employee, Net Profit Margin, ROA, and ROE

– CRN Channel Ratings (CY 2008)

• Annual Report Card (ARC) = 18 criteria, used weighted

average Total Score (100 Point Scale)

• Channel Affinity Index = Partners rating of engagement,

value, etc. of Mfg’s (1,000 Point Scale)

• X Axis = Support Partner Program (Program Completeness)

– 13 Criteria, including:

• General: Program levels, products supported, number of support partners in the program

• Requirements: # of trained Partner Technical Support Engineers, Training & Certification,

Training Delivery & Cost, other criteria for support partner selection

• On-boarding: Contracts, enrollment process, timeframe, etc.

• Benefits: Compensation, tools, training, etc.

• Metrics: Auditing (frequency), Case Closure, CSAT, etc.

• Reporting & Automation: Metrics, CSAT, on-boarding documentation, etc.

• Normalized all scores to a 10 Point Scale

5

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Support Partner Program

Best Practice Components # 1

Program Area Best PracticeNumber

Of Vendors

Products Supported All Products Five

Number of Partners in Program

> 10,000 Support Enabled Partners Globally. The next closest has over 4,000. Excluding these two, the average number of support partners for the rest of the vendors is 176

One

Number of Trained Technical Support Engineers (TSE)

Four per product with four major product groups covered, equating to up to 16 TSE's maximum

One

Training & CertificationsExtensive industry recognized certifications with four levels, plus, support specific partner training

Four

Training DeliveryeLearning, vLearning & vLabs, Webcasts, and Instructor Led Training classes to prep for certifications, plus multiple technical supportspecific training options

One

7

Support Partner Program

Best Practice Components # 2

Program Area Best PracticeNumber

Of Vendors

Additional Support Partner Requirements

24x7x365 Support, Case Tracking & Reporting, Initial & Ongoing Partner Audits, Support Lab, Maintenance Renewals, Technology Life Cycle Methodology

One

Partner Compensation

Additional upfront discount on Support Services provided, plus a backend rebate tied to case closure rates and confirmed CSAT reporting. Range of total compensation is from 25% to 50%

Two

Metrics and Auditing

Quarterly reviews with support channel partner manager. Support partners back-end rebate is tied to meeting or exceeding a case closure rate of 80% and a specific CSAT target rate. Review problem cases and escalations

One

Customer SatisfactionSupport Partners are required to provide customers for quarterly CSAT Survey's (via Thirds Party), which is part of their overall scorecard tied to rebates

One

8

Support Partner Program

Best Practice Components # 3

Program Area Best PracticeNumber

Of Vendors

Reporting AutomationSemi Automated Reporting to create necessarymetrics, reports, and scorecards. Need additional automation and efficiency in this area

One

Support Case Logging => 85% of cases are logged on-line (web or email) Three

Tools

Support Partner's have access to a wide variety of web enabled tools that they can offer customers, plus a robust KM system, and differentiated access to the broader Partner Portal

Two

Other BenefitsSupport Channel or Partner Account Manager, allof the traditional premium level partner program benefits (including MDF)

Three

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Customer’s Technology Life Cycle

Support Partner Programs & Enablement, partof a vendors life cycle model with customers

* Technology Adoption Life Cycle Source: Moore, Crossing the Chasm

Product Life Cycle

10

Service Partner Selection - Landscape

Sell Productand Servicesand Deliver

Services

Sell Productbut notServices

Sell Services but not Product and

do DeliverServices

Don’t sell Product or

Services but DeliverServices

GlobalStrategic Partners

Sell Product and Services

but don’t Deliver Services

Direct Marketers

Technical Support Partners

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Service Partner Selection - Criteria

Alignment

Footprint

Competence

• Strategic

• Financial

• Market Share

• Life Cycle

• Geographic

• Language

• Cultural

• Technical Support Practice

• People & Processes

• Infrastructure- NOC, Systems, Lab …

• Complimentary Solutions

12

Support Partner Program

Best Practices Recap

• Integrated approach to support partners

– A key component of GTM and channel strategy

– Product & Service Life Cycle enablement

– Comprehensive Ingredients:

Identify

• Partners:- Current, or- New

• Needs by:- GEO- Technology- Service(s)

Enable

• Training

• Certification

• Processes

• Tools

• Metrics

• CSAT

Compensate

• Split Comp- Front & BackEnd

• Tie to CSAT &Metrics

• Equitable ROI

• Value AddedServices

Manage

• Dedicated Support Partner Team

• Metrics

• CSAT

• Audits

• Ease of Engagement

Automate

• Processes

• Reporting

• Metrics

Seek …Efficiency and Effectiveness!

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Support Partner Program

Best Practices Recap (Continued)

• Support Partners

– One Part of a Support

Delivery Model

Excellence (being “Great”) In:

1. Insource Technical Support

2. Outsource Technical Support

3. Web Enabled Self Help

4. Support Partner Enablement

Customer & Partner

Satisfaction“Great Support”

Insource Support

Outsource Support

Web Self Help

Support Partners

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Support Partner Program

Best Practices Recap (Continued)

• Technical Support & Services

– One Part of a Lifecycle

Delivery Model

Excellence (being “Great”) In:

1. Research & Design, Mfg.

2. Sales, Channels & Marketing

3. General Administration

4. Services

– Consulting, Education, & Support

Customer & Partner

Satisfaction“Great

Experience”

R & D

& Mfg.

Sales &Mktg.

GA

Services

15

Relationship Balance…

ROI… Partnership Priorities

Partners *

1. Product Quality

& Reliability

2. Revenue & Profit

3. Ease of Engagement

4. Service & Support

– With Vendors

– Services Attachment

Opportunity

Vendors[Increase]

1. Market Share

2. Profitability

3. Customer SAT

4. Partner SAT

5. Value

* Source: CRN, What Makes Winners Tick, Oct. 2008http://www.crn.com/it-channel/211200394 [Emphasis Added]

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ROI & Metrics

• Measuring SupportPartnership ROI– Product & Service Rev

• Growth Q/Q & Y/Y

– Case Closure

– Renewal Rates

– CSAT

– Cost Per Case (CPC)

– Intangibles• Multi-vendor Support

• Customer Intimacy

• Cultural / Language

• On-site support

• …

• Metrics– Baseline

– Simple

– Consistent (Scorecard)

– Agreed with Leadership

• Measurement Areas– CSAT & PSAT

– Case Closure vs.

Escalations

– First Contact Closure Rate

– Case Resolution Time

– Renewals

– …

CONCLUSIONS &

CALL TO ACTION

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Leadership Companies ROI

• Benefits to the leadership companies include:

– Verifiable CSAT impacts

– Higher Channel Survey Ratings (CRN)

– High level of case deflection (> 80%)

– Lower Cases per $M of Total Revenue (>1X to 5X)

– Contribution to a demonstrated higher:

• Net Profit Margin

• Return on Assets (ROA)

• Return on Equity (ROE)>3 X vs. peer companies

THANK YOU!