3 Key Messages from the SAS Partner Forum
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of joining more than 100 SAS partners for our Partner Forum that preluded the Analytics Experience event in Rome, Italy. The room was packed as Russ Cobb, Vice President Global Alliances and Channels, kicked off the forum and introduced executives and partners who spoke throughout the afternoon. In case you missed it, here are 3 key messages from the event that you’ll want to hear:
1) Increased focus on channel growth in 2017
Channel sales are in rapid growth in 2016. We are looking to continue that growth in 2017 with better on-boarding, more partner enablement, and some targeted recruiting. The digital transformation is changing buying behavior and increasing opportunities for SAS partners. To leverage these opportunities, our channel strategy includes traditional resell as well as managed services through our MASP program. We are expanding our team and offerings to grow both. You can learn more about these opportunities in my last post, A Tale of Two Channels.
2) Channel marketing tools and services to drive new opportunities
To help drive channel growth, SAS is introducing new marketing tools and services that will enable our partners to generate their own leads. We won’t stop passing leads, in fact we plan to pass more in 2017. Opportunities partners generate themselves tend to be bigger and close faster. We recognize many of our partners don’t have huge marketing resources, so we are launching an automated marketing campaign marketplace powered by Zift and we are piloting a marketing concierge service for more customized campaign support.
3) Executive commitment to the channel
Our Chief Marketing Officer, Randy Guard, our Chief Revenue Officer, Carl Farrell, and our Chief Customer Officer, Fritz Lehman, all spoke about the importance of partners to SAS’ success and their commitment to our channel strategy. We are still learning how to be a channel-driven company at SAS and the support of our core executive team is a critical element to our transformation.
You can find a copy of the Partner Forum presentations on SAS.com here.
It was a pleasure meeting so many excellent channel partners and I look forward to meeting more at our Global Partner Forum taking place next April during the SAS Global Forum in Orlando, Florida. In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you’re doing to grow your SAS business.
Let’s talk!
