Adobe launches new initiatives for channel partners

The increased importance of the channels community can be gauged from the very fact the way the companies have stared to treat them. Now they are no longer treated merely as box pushers and hence many new initiatives to empower them have been launched. On the same lines, Adobe has come out with a number of initiatives for channel community so that they do not remain just box pushers but as solutions providers.

As part of the initiative, Adobe is developing champions among the channel partners, which means that in every partner organization it will develop an individual as an expert on Adobe products, which will help in increasing their reach in the market, according to Sandeep Mehrotra, Channel Account Manager, Adobe India. As part of the training program, the executive will have to appear for an online test. This will help him enhance his knowledge and skill sets about Adobe products.

Explaining the reason behind such initiatives, Mehrotra said, "We operate in a niche space and the products we offer are push products and not pull products. Therefore, it is important that our partners understand the products well and are able to address the problems of our customers accordingly. They should be able to demonstrate the products to the customers for the customer to understand how easy it is to adopt our technologies and improve their efficiency."

He added, "In today's environment, it is extremely important that the channels look at the products as solution to a customer's problems and not just a box. Every customer operates in a different environment and the solution has to be tailormade. Our training programs help our partners understand the products from a business perspective, understand the customer issues and then present a solution to the customer which meets their requirements."

He further said, "We have regularly conducted training sessions for our channel partners. But the initiative to create Adobe champion has recently started. We conducted training session in Bangalore and Chennai in this quarter and will soon be doing the same in Delhi, Mumbai as well."

According to Mehrotra, the response that the company has received from the channels was overwhelming. "Our partners act as an extended arm of Adobe sales team, which helps in increasing our reach in the market."

The other initiatives that Adobe is taking for the reseller community is to keep its partners updated on the Adobe technologies and solutions as they are its extension in the market and hence its critical to keep them updated.

"To have their mindshare we have incentives schemes for the partners sales people. In addition to that they get access to our extranet where they can get any information on Adobe products. Whenever there is a new product launch we send them the channel kits consisting of all the product details and also demos, which they give to the customers," Mehrotra pointed out.

When asked about the roadmap ahead for Adobe, Mehrotra said, "India is a big market and holds a lot of potential for
Adobe. The initiative will give a fillip to Adobe's sales effort and increase our reach in the market. They would be able to identify the new segments and present our solutions to these new segments. It would also help in moving them from a box selling approach to a solution in a box approach."

Karma Negi