The Internet Solution has launched a channel programme it hopes will bring it business outside its target market.
IS is looking for 20 to 30 channel partners and is promising them a sure thing. "You will become profitable incredibly quickly," MD Derek Wilcocks told attendees at the launch of the programme.
IS already pays once-off referral fees to those who bring in business and supplies bandwidth to several second tier providers. The new programme, in contrast, will use IS branding and a direct connection, but the partner will handle all customer contact.
"We can`t be all things to all people," Wilcocks says. "We need to focus on our own business and worth with other companies. That is what this is all about."
The new channel will focus on small and medium businesses, with a headcount of less than 50. Wilcocks says most big companies are connected now, and while that business stream dries up, small companies are being forced to improve their own connections. "They are increasingly finding that a dial-up connection is not enough," he says.
By "unbundling" its packages, IS thinks it can make leased-line connections cost-attractive to smaller companies. Non-essential security and round-the-clock support services will be dropped to lower prices.
But IS is not geared for that kind of business. "We are used to working with corporates, which have their own IT departments. We are not geared to go into someone`s network and work on their own systems." So the company plans to attract partners, who can either bundle connectivity with other network services or simply resell it. And the partner will be responsible for customer contact.
"The concept is that the customer connects direct to IS, but the sale and ongoing revenue stays with the partner," Wilcocks says.
Partners will get a base minimum 10% discount on standard IS rates. That could reach 25% with a current maximum of a 15% rebate if certain quarterly targets are met.
In return, IS is looking for partners with a solid business reputation. "We are attaching our branding to this, so we will be very careful who we let in," Wilcocks says. Prospective partners will have to be credit-worthy and must have been in business for at least two years to get a foot in the door.
The preliminary expectation is that every partner will bring in five contracts a month. That gives IS 1 800 additional partners in the first year of operation.
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