Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Trend Micro launches Affinity Partner Program in India
By siliconindia
|
Wednesday, 12 November 2008, 01:33 IST
Bangalore: Trend Micro, a provider of network antivirus and Internet content security software and services, has introduced its brand-new Affinity Partner Program in India. The program is designed to foster deeper, more profitable relationships with channel partners in the Asia Pacific region.
Amit Nath, Country Manager - India & SAARC, Trend Micro said, "The Affinity Partner Program has been thoughtfully designed to offer broad-ranging, tangible benefits to resellers that will help them speed up time-to-market, lower the cost of doing business, and identify newer revenue streams to help broaden their customer base and increase profitability." With the introduction of this program, Trend Micro expects a 50 percent growth in its number of channel partners in India.
The program comprises of three levels of membership - AffinityOne, AffinityPlus and Affinity - with different benefits depending on accreditation status. The program is designed beyond the revenue commitment from Trend Micro's partners and provides them with the opportunity to advance through the program based on five categories instead of just on the basis of revenue commitments - coverage, contribution, commitment, capability, and capacity.
V. Anand, Chief Executive of Chennai-based Raksha Technologies said, "The Affinity Program instils a confidence that encourages partners to invest further in their relationship with Trend Micro, knowing that their investment will be recognized and deliver a profitable return for their business."
AffinityOne Partners include highly qualified and committed organizations that autonomously drive the revenue of Trend Micro within their markets, and have already demonstrated a sizeable commitment to Trend Micro by a continuing revenue pattern. They qualify to offer best-of-breed technical support to their customers, building up credibility and value for their service, and are eligible to the highest level of benefits from Trend Micro. AffinityPlus Partners are Value Added Resellers who manage projects and business with medium complexity and size. Integration with other security vendors is part of their qualifications to offer a trustworthy service to the customer. Affinity Partners are at the entry level of the Trend Micro Affinity Partner Program, whom the company helps grow to higher levels of engagement, to ensure optimization of the partner benefits available.
Among some of the key resources of the Affinity Partner Program, member partners get access to the new Affinity PartnerWeb, a portal that empowers channel partners with Profile Manager that provides key partner demographic and usage information; Event Manager; eMarketing; online Sales Lead and Opportunity Management resource; Motivation and Incentives; and, Deal and Bid Registration to register sales opportunities and special pricing requests, and to receive Trend Micro support and incentives.
Besides this, partners also receive higher rebates and attractive margins to increase their sales, and also are able to use Trend Micro products for testing and training in order to sell them effectively. In terms of technical support, partners receive support ranging from on a 24/7 basis with shared Technical Account Manager(s) access to a toll-free and email support, to having contact 24/7, depending on their accreditation level within the program.
