Carbonite Launches ‘Channel-Centric’ Partner Program

Hybrid backup and recovery solutions provider Carbonite (CARB) introduced its new partner program during the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, promising to give the company’s network of channel partners new resources and business opportunities particularly aimed at serving their small-business customers. The new program is finally going public after more than six months of planning and feedback from the company’s network of partners, according to Carbonite.

“Our increased focus on the partner community has been a big strategic shift, and not one that we’ve taken lightly,” said David Maffei, vice president of Global Channel Sales at Carbonite, in a statement. “We’re not the company who just talks about our dedication to the channel, we are taking action to provide our partners with everything they need to build and grow relationships with their small business clients—from new products with disruptive pricing to marketing programs that will help them reach new and existing clients. Based on feedback from the channel partners we’ve worked with to develop this program, we know we have created a world-class partner program that shows our commitment to the channel.”

Carbonite is going with a traditional three-tiered structure for its latest partner program, with benefits and marketing opportunities scaling based on each partner’s level of commitment.  Like many other programs in its class, Carbonite is offering sales and technical training, market development funds, deal registration opportunities and co-marketing initiatives to its suite of channel partners. The company also will provide a dedicated sales manager for all of its partners, while providing marketing content that can be syndicated on partners’ websites as they see fit.

In addition to its new channel partner program, Carbonite recently introduced the Carbonite Appliance HT10, the company’s first channel-exclusive product for small businesses back in June. The hybrid backup and recovery appliance gives SMBs the ability to utilize onsite data recovery and automatic cloud integration to protect against failover, along with bare metal restore capabilities for an unlimited number of servers.

Carbonite also launched a new partner referral program in June to make it easier for channel partners to sell Carbonite solutions to new and existing customers. More than 20 percent of Carbonite’s active partner base enrolled in the referral program during its first month of availability, according to the company.