Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 61 | Page 62

CASE STUDY

IN THIS NEW MODEL , SUCCESS IN ACHIEVING RESULTS , HAS A DIRECT CORRELATION TO THE WAY WE STRUCTURE AND SUPPORT THE CHANNELS THAT WE WORK WITH . have some partners providing managed services with Micro Focus solutions . A good example is our partnership with HPE on the HPE Digital Life Garage where Micro Focus is one of the main sponsors of the initiative . The partnership between Micro Focus and HPE offers customers a new generation of joint innovation , with a range of solutions for secure access , data analytics and management as well as application delivery and infrastructure management across private , public and hybrid cloud environments . collaterals to be used in their business . We also offer face-to-face or online instructor led trainings for our partners . We just held our Open Horizons conference in November 2020 , which we conduct annually for all our partners to enable them on selected areas with our experts , product management and R & D team as well .

We offer free demo platform , demo licenses , recorded demos etc , to our partners to help them generate new business providing Micro Focus solutions . We also support our partners with marketing development funds ( MDF ) to enable them to promote our joint solutions to new customers .
Our Partner Programme offers three membership levels namely Authorised , Gold and Platinum . To become an Authorised partner requires a formal agreement with Micro Focus and once registered , you gain free access to our partner portal where you will find our ondemand sales and technical training and certification . No revenue requirements .
The Gold tier is for Authorised partners who can achieve the status by completing two sales and two technical certifications within one of the six product groups with no revenue commitments . To attain Platinum status , partners must meet Gold Partner requirements by Product Group plus achieve US $ 1 million in total annual new business sales .
How much of your business goes through channel partners versus direct in the Middle East ? channel management team that works very closely with local and international partners to develop business together . Even for other opportunities developed by Micro Focus ’ internal sales team directly , we involve the right partner to these kinds of opportunities to finalise the deal together . We also have multiple services partners , working directly with customers or together with systems integrators to support them on the activities like pre-sales , implementation or post-sales support and services .
What are you urging your channel partners to focusing on in terms of innovations and investments that benefit their clients ?
At Micro Focus , we have a broad portfolio of products and each partner focuses on a specific area of the portfolio and obtain our support to be enabled to position new solutions . We also provide new functionalities and new products very often to bring innovation to our customers and partners . We enable the partners , showcasing the benefits they can achieve and position together accordingly . We also work with partners to integrate our solutions with theirs , to provide better results for their customers , as OEM or MSP . We have some partners in the region providing their own solutions powered by Micro Focus . We equally have partners providing Micro Focus solutions As-a-Service from the public cloud . We also
How are your channel partners and end-user customers managing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic ?
The technology industry has delivered the most profound impact on societies , economies and the business environment in the current time . For one thing , it has transformed the way people interact and collaborate with each other . This in-turn reflects on the way customers access and consume products and services .
For vendors like us , operating in the technology space , business operations have evolved from being merely pinned on the solutions , to the way we reach out and service our markets . In this new model , success in achieving results , has a direct correlation to the way we structure and support the channels that we work with .
We are all impacted in one way or the other with the pandemic situation , but together with our local partners , we continue to support our customers , help them to operate and secure their business . We have started to convert interactions to online mode as much as possible , for some critical operations we have safe face-to-face interactions as well . Additionally , we are running webinars and virtual seminars with our partners to help customers discover how they can effectively and efficiently operate remotely in this new normal . •
Partners are crucial to our regional business . We support our partners to develop business together for Micro Focus solutions as well as using Micro Focus products under the partner ’ s solution offerings to their customers . We have a dedicated experienced
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