Skuid Expands Partner Program, Names Former SAP Exec as VP

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Skuid, a no-code cloud application platform, has expanded its partner program and appointed Mark Nation, previously with SAP, as vice president of global alliances and channels. 

The Skuid Alliances Program now provides partners with preferred, early access to technical resources, training, joint-marketing opportunities and go-to-market enablement designed to help to drive mutual customer adoption and success. The company also recently bolstered its sales team with additional strategic hires in sales and marketing across the United States.

Skuid’s Mark Nation

Skuid’s Alliances program grew 70 percent in 2017, said Ken McElrath, the company’s CEO.

Nation tells Channel Partners that although “we have made great strides across our partner ecosystem, our alliances and channels program is still relatively new.” As SAP’s vice president of global partner operations, he led alliances and channels for the company’s midmarket business, strategic customer program and strategic partners across North America, Asia Pacific-Japan and Greater China.

“Skuid is now built to scale across industry, customer segment, business unit and platform, and our alliances and channels strategy cascades from that,” he said. “Our objective is to collaborate closely with partners who seek to dramatically improve the way their clients work. The partners who work with us range from global systems integrators who help our customers reimagine their businesses, to industry- or solution-focused firms [that] harmonize applications (and build new ones), to software firms [that] leverage Skuid to develop their own elegant solutions. Skuid partners truly help bring our customers’ application dreams to life.”

A code-free application means a “clean canvas from which to architect business applications that look and act just like people want them to,” Nation said.

“‘Yes, we can do that in Skuid’ becomes the norm when fielding crazy ideas about how business processes should really work,” he said. “A code-free application also means prototypes, demonstrations and pilot projects can be executed more quickly — and with more time to course-correct so users are thrilled with the result. It also allows our partners (and IT departments) to become more strategic, as they focus less on writing code, and more on solving deep customer pains more quickly. Last, but certainly not least, a code-free application allows for faster time-to-market, yielding higher levels of client satisfaction, greater trust and almost always a deepened relationship that will bear more fruit in future projects.”

A prospective partner could call Skuid today, have a basic understanding of it by tomorrow, and be in a position to begin vetting client solution scenarios within one week, Nation said.

A year from now, Skuid will have more than doubled its partner community growth, with direct contribution from a large group of global strategic partners, as well as regional, local or solutions-focused firms, he said.

“We will celebrate our customers’ successes across all major application platforms,” Nation said. “We will build strength across three to four continents. And, we will become known as …