New Snow Software Channel Program Will Require More of Partners

Prompted by business changes over the past two years and hastened by COVID-19, Snow Software has redesigned its partner program. The changes will take effect in January.

Snow Software’s Brian Allison

“We’re giving partners plenty of notice that this is where we’re going,” Brian Allison, vice president of global channels and alliances at Snow Software, told Channel Futures.

The company’s products help organizations manage IT assets, including cloud and SaaS.

“They can spend the next 90 days deciding where they want to go,” he added. “Then they have until springtime to finish up and get going on that. This is a big change for them, so we want to be respectful of their need to do their 2021 planning.”

The big change mainly comes down to what Snow Software will expect from the channel.

“We’re asking partners to be engaged in terms of understanding customer pain points, get involved in coming up with thoughtful and proactive recommendations, then implement them and make them stick,” Allison said.

Contrast that with the more transactional approach partners tended to take in the past and some may have to make some major adjustments to their work with Snow Software. Snow has anticipated that possibility. It has done away with its old six-tier model – each of which had about four versions throughout the world – and slimmed down to three, with one version, to accommodate a range of partners and capabilities:

• Certified: Snow describes these partners as often just starting out with the company. They may still be building a joint business strategy, and/or they may function as boutique firms and independent consultants. Certified partners have flexibility for specialization and growth, Snow says.
• Expert: These mid-level partners have proven experience in software asset or cloud management. They also have teamed with Snow for a while. These participants receive more support and resources for marketing and enablement, as is typical within tertiary channel programs.
• Elite: These partners assume the greatest responsibility for the customer and, at the same time, earn the biggest rewards from Snow.

Examining the Details

On top of that, Snow Software has added and shifted details in key areas.

The vendor now offers new deal registration incentives, including partner profit protection for co-selling opportunities.

“The important part there is the co-selling,” Allison said. “We haven’t necessarily differentiated between Mr. and Ms. Partner before and said, ‘These are the things we expect you to be driving.’”

Now, Snow requires partners to qualify an opportunity, conduct demonstrations, do configuration quoting and pricing, and deliver its own services.

“We’re saying when you do those things we’re going to reward you handsomely with deal registration and deal registration margins that are higher than what Snow has traditionally done,” Allison said.

To be sure, such conditions will be second nature for …