Rebates Proving Popular with Partners, Says Veritas

Partner interest in Alta, Veritas’ data management platform to help enterprises transition workloads to the cloud, continues to grow.

The vendor launched the platform in October 2022. It updated its partner program in 2023 to offer enhanced rewards for cloud-based deals as well as training and accreditation programs.

“Our accreditation levels are hundreds of percent above where they were, in terms of people taking the courses and getting involved, getting enabled,” said Veritas’ VP channel alliances, EMEA, Oliver Norman.

Vertias' Oliver Norman

The vendor is helping to drive uptake of Alta among partners through increased rebates.

“We supercharge Alta products for our partners, so they get double the rebate on those product sets. They register those opportunities with us, then they get double the rebate back. They like that because it’s aligned to the way we pay our salespeople. It’s the way that the company invests in marketing, it’s aligned to the priorities of the company. So we’re going to maintain that,” said Oliver.

Back End Rebates Preferable, Say Partners

Indeed, Norman said the way Veritas pays rebates to partners helps to differentiate it from some of the competition. A company survey of European Veritas platinum partners found that “90-95% of partners prefer the back-end rebate structure to any front-end type of margin.”

The exec said partners liked the ability “to use those funds in a discretionary way. Some of our partners choose to use that rebate to the end-user salesperson. Some use it to further invest in training, [or] drop some of it to the bottom line of a company. It gives them the flexibility of doing that rather than have something at the front end.”

Norman added that this means there’s no impact on Veritas’ sales team’s earning potential either.

“Our sales team are totally engaged with the channel. They’re not losing any margin," he said.

Shift to Partner-First Will Take Time to Earn Trust

Additionally, while some vendors have been adopting a partner-first approach, certainly within segments of their businesses, Norman maintained that Veritas has already established trust with partners. Roughly 95% of total company revenues are generated by partners, he said. Currently, Veritas is recording double-digit growth in the channel.

“Our strategy has always been the channel. Building relationships, that trust model will take some time, particularly if you’re recruiting partners, or shifting business models," he said.

Veritas’ current focus for investment is its top-tier partners.

“We invest the lion’s share of everything we did do into platinum partners,” he said. “It’s on me and my organization to make sure that we’re helping our partners be successful. And if they’re below their plans, that’s on me and my organization.”

Customers Demand Longer-Term Contracts

Looking ahead to the rest of 2024, Norman said he has seen a shift to customers demanding longer-term contract commitments.

“That’s good for the whole ecosystem," said Norman. "That’s one of the areas where we’re going to put some more investment incentives.”