**Editor’s Note: Click here for a list of March’s important channel-program changes you should know.**

Software provider Citrix on Wednesday announced updates to its partner program and incentive portfolio aimed at helping partners hunt down new opportunities in the midmarket.  

During Citrix Summit 2016 in January, partners were told that the company is zeroing in on the midmarket, a segment it says is currently underserved and, combined with corporate, represents a $6 billion potential for growth. The updates are aimed at building on that momentum from the summit.

Kimberly Martin, vice president of partner strategy and sales, worldwide sales and services, tells Channel Partners that, at the summit, partners were given “very tailored use cases to go and help them identify opportunities in the midmarket.”

“This is adding on that and saying OK, we’re going to pay you more to go into the midmarket,” she said. “We wanted to build the program with our partners and in partnerships, so we wanted that extra time from Summit until the end of March in order to set up the program and make sure it really worked for everybody.”

To drive midmarket-focused demand generation and enablement activities that target high-potential opportunities, Citrix is introducing a new Strategic Development Fund for Citrix Solution Advisors (CSAs) and distributors. Available in July in the Americas and EMEA, it will replace existing marketing fund programs and provide partners with funds aimed at driving down the cost of planned and documented marketing activities which target the highest return on investment opportunities in the midmarket. A rollout is intended to follow in the Asia Pacific and Japan region later this year.{ad}

On May 9, Citrix will launch the Net New Partner Sourced program to enable CSAs, system integrators and independent software vendors (ISVs) to be rewarded for identifying and qualifying new opportunities, especially in the midmarket. Under the program, partners will be eligible for a 7 percent suggested upfront discount on all new partner-qualified opportunities.

“If you think about it, before, our incentives were weighted toward the assist of the sale, and so what we realized is it takes more investment to go and find a new opportunity,” Martin said. “It takes a different type of resource that they may not have been able to invest in before, and we believe that incremental incentives will allow them to invest in those hunter-type sales individuals. We believe that that will then help penetrate the midmarket more because …

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… the more hunters and opportunities you identify in the midmarket, obviously the bigger the revenue.”

In response to partner feedback, the company is updating all aspects of the Citrix Advisor Rewards program with simplified objective processes that reward selling activities throughout the sales cycle. Citrix is enhancing the rules in place to streamline interaction between partners and the Citrix sales organization throughout the entire incentive-registration life cycle.

“We’re simplifying the evaluation criteria, we’re streamlining the processes and tools so that our partners don’t have to use as much operational resource, ensuring that they get their incentives,” Martin said. “And we’re trying to keep it very objective and not as subjective in the CAR approval process, and then certainly in net new sourced, that’s definitely going to be black and white, which … our partners think is definitely a welcome change.”

While these program updates are focused on the midmarket, Citrix incentives are available across all market segments and for deals targeting new and existing customers.

Paul Kunze, vice president of Intrasystems, said the updates to the Citrix incentive portfolio provide “clarity, simplicity and predictability.”

“The Strategic Development Fund gives us the flexibility to fund the right demand-sourcing activities,” he said. “Net New Partner Sourced speaks to our strength and affirms our focus on new customers. When combined with CAR, the Citrix portfolio rewards us for the kinds of activities we need to do to be successful.”