DigitalPersona announces PartnerPersona reseller program 8 October, 2007 By Vanessa Ho

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In addition, PartnerPersona will also help foster new partnerships with resellers who provide specific services to vertical (healthcare, financial, government) and commercial markets and those who are staffed with registered Small Business Specialists and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSEs).

Training programs are available for sales and technology representatives to effectively position and support DigitalPersona's solutions. There are two tiers to the program: Authorized and Premier. For Authorized resellers, DigitalPersona will offer Web-based training while Premier resellers can receive in-person training for a fee. From October 2 to December 2, the fee will be waived as an incentive to join the program.

"[Biometrics] is a growing market and in order to [capture that market] we need to train partners on how to position sales and technical training," said Pauline Turski, channel marketing manager with DigitalPersona. "Partners that can help us capture that market will not only make money selling our products but with the right training can provide value-add professional services."

Technical training includes how DigitalPersona's solutions integrate with Microsoft's Active directory. Turski added for a technical person to have that training, it helps them understand so much better how to install DigitalPersona's technology, how to deploy it, how to configure it and how they work in multi-domain configurations.

Other key benefits at both levels of the program include incentive programs providing incremental bonuses for representatives, such as: a Visa debit card, whose amount will vary depending on the size of deal closed; access to DigitalPersona's support resource; co-marketing programs that contribute to revenue growth; and monthly newsletters with all of the most current updates.

To participate in PartnerPersona, those at the Authorized and Premier levels need to have Active Directory experience. As well, potential partners at the two levels need to have a security and Microsoft focus that actively sells security solutions with knowledge in policy design, configuration, security assessment and training.

In addition, potential Premier partners need have one staff member that has MCSE while potential Authorized partners need to have one registered Small Business specialist on staff.

The Premier level is for resellers that are focused on 250 and above seat opportunities while the Authorized level is designed for all partners who are simply reselling DigitalPersona solutions and focused around the small business opportunity.

Initially all partners start off at the Authorized level and Turski said they get access to the partner portal with an array of sales tools that includes a 'cheat sheet' on how to sell Windows Small Business Server, as well as a pricing calculator for how to price out products and to calculate margins. "Those are great tools at the entry level that they can access to better help them sell our products and close deals."

In order to become a Premier partner, resellers need to reach certain revenue goals. Once they become a Premier partner, they will get leads that are based on their profile and business models. As well, Premier partners get access to pre-approved MDF marketing campaigns.

To retain their Premier status, Turski said that partners must meet specific set of requirements such as providing quarterly reports on those leads, as well as reports on revenue goals and quarterly business reviews

DigitalPersona currently has 100 active partners worldwide. With the re-launch of its partner program, Turski hopes that within a six month period the company will have 12 to 20 partners in the U.S. alone that are at the Premier level and 100 resellers at Authorized.