SAP expands Indian partner ecosystem with new three-point strategy
This month SAP announced that its channel approach in India is about to get bigger for its network of more than 600 partners in the country.
Tying in with its partner ecosystem and the 'Digital India' initiative, the company has crafted a three-point strategy that will form the basis of its channel expansion: a new partner advisory board, new upskilling programmes and 100% partner-led strategies for SMBs.
The company will first launch the SAP India Partner Advisory Board, which will be made up of 11 representatives from the partner ecosystem. They will be tasked with addressing market opportunities, meeting customer expectation, and taking new-age technologies to an expanding customer base.
Partners includes on the board include representatives from Zieta Technologies, Inteliment Technologies, vCentric Technologies, ZenFocus Software, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, Wipro Limited, iTelligence India Software Solutions, Fujitsu India, Accenture Services India, Yash Technologies and PwC India.
"We want our channel partners to be more equipped and capture the market opportunities by addressing the future digital needs of our customers and prospects. To support this, we are investing in knowledge sharing capabilities and initiatives such as the Partner Advisory Board aims to drive business with partners for mutual benefit," explains Avinash Kumar Purwar, Vice President, Global Partner Operations, SAP Indian Subcontinent.
SAP will also work towards partner recruitment and continuous enablement, which will drive tech adoption beyond ERP. The company will help with deployment of cloud solutions, such as SAP SuccessFactors, Ariba, customer engagement and commerce.
In addition, partner sales development support and skillset training will be included through the likes of SAP Partner Sales Academy, SAP Presales Certification Drive and SAP Platinum Academy.
The third part of the company's strategy is to provide support for SMEs, which comprise 80% of SAP India's customers. As a result, the company will help partners grow and manage business volume while maintaining competitive advantage. The partner network will also help SAP grow its sales deeper into the country, with 14 clusters in non-metro locations.
"Customers have been at our core throughout SAP's two decades in India and expansion to our partner strategy further strengthens our commitment to the ecosystem," Purwar concludes.
