Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against viruses
and spam, has announced increased support for partners through more
focused account management, more assistance with lead generation
and renewal business, as well as training schemes and individual
qualifications. This added value to Sophos's partner program comes
as a direct result of the second annual survey of its reseller
base.
Results of its 2004/2005 channel survey have provided Sophos
with a stronger understanding of its resellers' needs and
expectations - enabling it to further improve channel-specific
strategies. The survey focused around five core areas: product, the
Sophos Partner Program, sales support, technical support and
marketing assistance.
With an objective to increase lead generation, Sophos's new
business development team will work more closely with channel
partners to identify and develop opportunities. The team will
generate qualified sales leads within the 100 to 1,000 seat
opportunity by focusing on specific targets. Companies with more
than 1,000 users will be catered for by Sophos's corporate sales
team, which will help develop new business and upgrade
opportunities for the channel by increasing direct touch with the
end-user.
The channel survey results showed a high level of value felt for
anti-virus and anti-spam renewal business. Sophos has therefore
implemented far-reaching customer retention programs. These efforts
are further reinforced by the recently announced expansion of the
company's UK sales team, which gives resellers one dedicated
point-of-contact for both new and renewal business. The changes,
designed to improve the flow of information and help maximise
renewal rates, will drive additional revenue back to the channel
through customer upgrades and cross-sell.
More than a third of UK partners have attended Sophos training
courses - rating both the quality of the presentations and
presenters, as well as the value of the training, as very good or
excellent. The survey highlighted the need to increase the
availability and diversity of courses. As a result, Sophos now
offers courses on a monthly basis and has introduced training for
its small business suite. It also offers individual technical
qualifications on completion of post-course exams in Sophos
Anti-Virus for Windows, PureMessage and Small Business
Solutions.
Further benefits for partners include new initiatives designed
to develop joint sales, and marketing plans with even greater scope
for financially based marketing campaigns.
"The survey and subsequent changes aim to bring tangible
benefits to our partners," said Stuart Small, UK sales and
marketing director at Sophos. "Maintaining reseller loyalty is key
to our success. By bringing this extra value to the Sophos partner
businesses, we can help our partners differentiate themselves from
the competition."
With 72% of partners rating the Sophos Partner Program and
technical support as better or far better than competitor efforts,
Sophos has proven its commitment to its partners.
The survey consisted of 163 questions. 48% of respondents were
partners, 43% were authorised resellers, 7% were certified partners
and 2% non-authorised resellers.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.