Data Management at Core of New Igneous Channel Program

Igneous has launched its first partner program, outlining how the company will be working with VARs, direct-market resellers (DMRs) and MSPs to address the needs of industries challenged with managing unstructured data.

The vendor, which provides unstructured data management as a service to enterprise customers and other data-intensive organizations, is a 100 percent partner-driven company. Industries struggling with managing unstructured data include life sciences, exploratory data analysis (EDA), media and entertainment, financial services, and machine learning-driven organizations.

Shaun Walsh, Igneous’ vice president of channels and alliances, tells us that early channel partners asked for a “pragmatic program that met their core needs for deal protection, a simplified and accelerated pricing process, and a program that helps them drive lead-generation efforts.

“We have worked with about 20 channel partners at this point in our journey,” he said. “Our conversations and early deal experiences with these partners became the basis of our program. Examples of key program attributes adopted from the channel-partner input include a single tier program – no gold, silver, bronze approach – [and a] focus on guaranteed margins versus artificially created discounts from inflated list prices.”

Shaun Walsh

The program provides: a guaranteed margins model; deal registration and protection; marketing and lead generation; growth-focused incentives; partner tools, training and analysis; and joint business planning.

The program simplifies the partnership process in three key ways, Walsh said. It uses a guaranteed margin model to create competitive pricing, which accelerates the ability to close deals faster and provide deal protection. It also eliminates many of the traditional requirements on number-certified sales and sales engineer staff, and replaces it with joint field engagement focused on “teaching by doing.”

And a simplified, proposal-based MDF process eliminates the overhead of tracking accruals and prevents loss of unused resources, he added.

The program goals are to find partners that are focused on unstructured data workflows and who are dedicated to joint business development “in order to drive growth and create exemplary customer experiences,” Walsh said.

“As a leading IT solutions provider, FusionStorm is always looking to partner with strategic and innovative companies like Igneous, to bring new solutions and services to our customers,” said Matt Fornito, FusionStorm’s head of artificial intelligence (AI). “As we continue to build momentum with our AI and ML practice, we found a natural fit with the team at Igneous. Igneous’ new channel program will allow our sales team a more flexible model when working with the needs of our AI customers. We think the new direction of Igneous’ margin-based channel program is the right model to drive success, and demonstrates their commitment to winning deals together.”