Johannesburg, 18 Jan 2016
SAS, the leader in analytics, has revamped its global partner programme to drive value and improve return on investment for both partners and clients.
The new programme came into effect on 1 January 2016, following 18 months of extensive consultations with partners and external council across the globe. Focus areas include leveraging partners' domain expertise to benefit clients, formalising the skills development process around specialisation, certification and competency paths, and offering new marketing and enablement benefits to partners.
"Technology innovation is accelerating at a rapid pace, and we realised that we need to be flexible to meet the changing needs of our partners and clients. We acknowledge and appreciate the value that partners bring to our business and wanted to offer partners additional value that drives ROI, and in turn creates value for their clients," says Steven Harris, regional alliance director for SAS Middle East & Africa.
The SAS Partner Program is tiered and offers a new channel Go-To-Market Model. This includes a Reseller Model, an OEM Model and a Managed Analytical Services Model (MASP), which allows partners to offer customers managed software and analytic services solutions.
"The new programme offers flexibility in terms of how partners engage with us and creates a platform for future growth. The more we help our partners build their skills and expertise, the more value they can add to their customers," said Harris.
He explains that in addition to expanding how SAS works with its partners, the SAS Partner Program includes a set of new credentials and competency badges that partners can achieve for key SAS products and technologies. SAS is also rolling out specialisations in key solutions areas like customer intelligence, fraud and risk. Partners also have access to expanded training options that include online resources, a demo centre and sales enablement tools that give them the information they need to be more agile and responsive in supporting customer requirements.
According to Harris, SAS has created a value-based programme that encourages partners to differentiate themselves by demonstrating their capabilities in SAS technologies and solutions. Over the next three months, SAS will host regional and local events, as well as one-on-one meetings with partners to brief them on the process going forward.
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