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Visage Sees Extensive Channel Growth, Focuses On Thought Leadership

Screen Shot 2013-06-12 at 10.20.21 AMAs smartphones and tablets become more commonplace for multitasking, on-the-go employees, enterprises across sizes and verticals are gravitating toward Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs.

In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2017, half of employers will require employees to supply their own devices for work purposes, with 38% of organizations expected to stop providing devices to workers by 2016.

Visage is enabling companies across sizes and verticals to reap the benefits of BYOD with its Software-as-a-Service enterprise mobility management solutions. The company entered the B2B and channel space in 2012 with MobilityCentral, which is designed to help organizations control entire mobility programs by integrating users, spend, inventory and policy in one central location. 

However, it was the launch of the Visage MXP mobile expense solution, coupled with the company’s extended partnership with Concur, a travel and expense management provider, which reinforced the company’s positioning in the mobility marketplace.

Channel partners have signed on to extend Visage solutions to end users, with TDMobility being the latest to become a Visage Certified Partner. Other major channel partners to join the program include Communication Management Services, Enterprise Mobility Management, G Squared Wireless, Symmetry Managed Services Group, Mobility Management Group, MobileWare and Telapprise.

“Partners are embedding our solutions into theirs, leading to a significant uptick in subscribers loading through our channel partners,” said Bzur Haun, CEO of Visage, in an interview with Channel Marketer Report. “Overall, we can attribute approximately 10% of our subscriber base increase to the channel.”

A Focus On Training And Certification
Overall expansion Visage has experienced largely can be attributed to the ongoing focus on content, education and thought leadership. Haun spotlighted the impact of Mobility Central University, a digitally based certification program that focuses on the key facets of Visage solutions.

Track levels within Mobility Central University include a first tier, which focuses on different elements as well as administration capabilities, which empowers third-party sales people. Secondary and tertiary certifications, however, dive deeper into the analytics and controls of the platform.

“The program has been received very positively due to the combination of e-learning elements that we provide,” Haun said. “With Mobility Central University, we’re able to track partner progress, and make them complete an exam to ensure they’re retaining all the information. When partners go through the program, we’re able to present tasks to them — one-on-one — regarding cost center allocation, data and analytics, and other areas.”

The primary goal for Mobility Central University, Haun explained, is to guarantee that “all partners have the autonomy to handle sales relationships, and go out and sell on their own.” Employees also must complete an entire certification course.

“Partners need to be equipped to understand our core product, be able to implement it and add it with other services,” Haun added. “They need to help prospective end users navigate the decision around BYOD.”  

The Content Connection
To further educate partners and generate new business opportunities, Visage is focusing on expanding and perfecting its content marketing arsenal, including the “Chief Mobility Officer” blog, white papers, infographics and other assets.

“It’s important for us to create content that is useful to the industry as a whole, versus just publishing information on Visage,” noted Neil Cohen, VP of Marketing for Visage. “While we do have an editorial point of view, we never promote our product line.”

Visage also will continue to share key resources with partners to ensure they can have more relevant conversations with prospects. In addition, these content marketing resources will allow partners to fuel lead generation and nurturing campaigns without relying too heavily on Visage.

“We make sure all the tools and resources are available and easily accessible for our partners,” Cohen said. “For example, our blog is independently listed as Chief Mobility Officer, but we use it to market to channel partners, so they come to our site and can see all the custom content we can create with them. That content then can be syndicated to our channel partners, and we also can create specific collateral for them.”

Content, Cohen added, is what drives both direct and indirect sales conversations, “so it is vital that we educate people and pull them in the direction we think is best for their business.” 

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About Alicia Fiorletta

Alicia Fiorletta is Senior Editor for Channel Marketer Report. Working closely with industry analysts and experts, Alicia reports on the latest news, technologies, case studies and trends coming to forefront in the channel marketing world. With a focus on emerging marketing strategies, including social, mobile and content for demand, Alicia hones in on new ways for organizations to market to and through their partner networks. Through her work with G3 Communications, Alicia also acts as Associate Editor for Retail TouchPoints, a digital publishing network focused on the customer-facing area of the retail industry.

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