The roll-out of the new programme will refresh existing relationships and encourage recruitment within the channels. Aastra will integrate a best-of-breed programme across the entire portfolio and it will also enable partners that have previously only sold segments of the product portfolio to extend their reach across a wider breadth.
“The channel is our key route to market in the UK and it’s critical that we support our reseller partners closely,” said Michael Calvert, General Manager for Aastra in the UK and Ireland. “Over the past year, a host of new partners have chosen to work with Aastra and this programme development is the next logical step in ensuring that we are offering unified support and messaging to the channel. Aastra is seeing great business momentum with consistently strong financial results, and we want to work with our partners to enable them to sell our comprehensive range of quality and competitive solutions. The concept behind the partner programme is “Commitment deserves Reward” – we have a package of measures to assist our partners’ success and reward them for their loyalty."
One important aspect of the new programme is the UK Training Academy. With a dedicated team of trainers and a schedule of courses that deliver learning in a classroom environment, the academy aims to support partners in their commitment to offer Aastra solutions. It provides strong knowledge delivered direct from the manufacturer and is complemented by a comprehensive website with information regarding individual training courses and public schedules. The Academy will support partners in the implementation of solutions and on-going support of their customers.
"Having worked with Aastra for a number of years, we’re really pleased with the new programme. This best-of-breed approach will enable us to expand our sales to cover the whole of the product range, but also the development of the UK Academy and the access to management teams within Aastra, will ensure that we have the right skills to sell the best solutions," said Paul Allen, managing director, Admiral Voice and Data Ltd.
All resellers will be entitled to a variety of marketing and support tools from Aastra, such as: Pre-sales technology resources, Access to management teams, UK training academy, Dedicated account manager and Incentives
“At Aastra, we believe that it’s important to be accessible to our partners. Therefore our entire management team, are committed to being available to work with our partners to secure key business wins. In this challenging business environment, companies are still investing in IP telephony solutions in order to increase staff efficiencies and reduce costs. We are experiencing lots of interest from partners in Aastra’s FMC and unified communications solutions which can help organisations ensure that telephony is much more of a strategic investment,” said Michael Calvert.