'7 Minutes' with Progress Software Strategic Partner Program Manager Richard Stone

**Editor’s Note: “7 Minutes” is a feature where we ask channel executives from startups – or companies that may be new to the Channel Partners audience – a series of quick questions about their businesses and channel programs.**

Progress Software is in the business of business applications. Its platform enables partners or customer IT teams to develop for desktops, the web and both cross-platform custom mobile apps and mobile-friendly sites, with API support. Just before the holidays, we caught up with Richard Stone, strategic partner program manager for the company, to talk channel opportunities.

Progress Software’s Richard Stone

While Salesforce, Microsoft via its Xamarin product, and Oracle compete in this space with specialists including Progress, Kony and Mendix for cloud-oriented shops, Progress’ offerings got a boost earlier this year with its acquisitions of Kinvey for back-end support and DataRPM for using predictive analytics and machine learning to alert when maintenance is needed on industrial IoT gear.

Progress has a focus on enterprise applications, and it offers an open-source version of its NativeScript tool. Partners considering a development practice – and cashing in on the trend of code as a high-margin product  – or who have customers looking to mobilize or cloudify their apps should check out the program. 

Channel Partners: Tell us what customers love about your product or service. What’s the secret selling sauce?

Richard Stone: Our customers and partners love the solid, always reliable consistency of our products and services. I would say our secret selling sauce is that we provide our customers and partners with technology and solutions that help them solve real-world problems. This is showcased in our “write once, run anywhere” Kinvey mobile platform. Our solid foundation, paired with our consistent road map of solutions, meets the varying needs of our customers and partners.

CP: Describe your channel program — metal levels, heavy on certifications, open or selective, unique features?

RS: Over the last five years, our program has evolved into a level of complexity that we had not intended. In 2018, we have decided to simplify the program and go back to basics. We want to focus on the needs of our partners, rather than administration of a program with goals and objectives that are difficult to measure.

We currently have three levels in each of our program types: Member, Premier and Elite. We identify, via a simple grid, the benefits and expectations of each level within the program. This allows our partners the ability to understand what our program will offer them and how they, as partners, can advance and grow through certifications, training, revenue growth and other mutually beneficial program growth criteria.

Our Sales Empowerment Programs are unique in that they provide our partners with expertise pertaining to cloud, marketing and sales programs, which is very different from standard enablement offerings. We also allow our partners to participate in a program called “Rising Star,” which allows them to exhibit their commitment to the partnership by …

… working with the partner team to develop a joint business, marketing and initiatives plan for their individual growth. In turn, we will offer our Rising Stars some of the benefits of higher levels to show our commitment to the partnership.

Recently, we created a partner health score that allows partners to see the strength of their business relationship with Progress, based on specific criteria identified in our program portfolio. The program is very useful because a partner can quickly get a pulse on their positioning within the ecosystem.

CP: Quick-hit answers: Percentage of sales through the channel, number of partners, average margin. Go.

RS: Percentage of sales: 72 percent. Number of partners: 2,000+. Average margin: Depends on the type of partner, but the average would be 20 percent.

CP: Who are your main competitors, and what makes your offering better?

RS: This varies, but we believe we are unique in providing our customers and partners with the best platform to build mission-critical applications, moving to a “cognitive first” approach they can leverage their investment and build for the future.

CP: How do you think your technology portfolio will change in the next three years?

RS: We will continue to provide our partners and customers with the best platform for building and deploying applications. Our hope is to leverage the expertise and experience of our technical teams to provide them with the ability to deliver an engaging UX for modern business apps across existing and emerging channels. This will allow them to easily integrate cognitive services into their applications with a modern and robust back end, and connect to all data and business systems on-premise or in the cloud.

Providing those building blocks will ensure growth in our overall partner community.

CP: How do you expect your channel strategy to evolve over that time frame?

RS: We will continue to ask our partners what they need and listen to their challenges. I expect our program will continue to evolve by adding new partner types and empowerment programs, and always providing them with innovative programs and knowledge not readily available.

CP: What didn’t we ask that partners should know?

RS: We continue to push the limits of automation for our partner community through portals and communities, and hopefully soon we will be able to provide access to online quotes and order processing. We know our partners are always looking for efficiency, as well as the ability to have a better, more effective user experience. Removing administrative barriers will allow our team to be more efficient and accessible to address the needs of the Progress partner community.