Acer rewards partners with new program 11 August, 2009 By Chris Talbot

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The Acer Channel Excellence (ACE) Program was designed to provide pre- and post-sales support to help channel partners drive revenue for hardware and system integrator VARs. Partners in the program will have access to a variety of tools and resources, including product training, a deal registration program and special deal pricing.

"Acer has spent the past four-plus months talking extensively to our channel partners about what is working today and what isn't," said Gregg Prendergast, vice president of commercial sales and marketing at Acer America. "Much of the feedback we received around response times, more access and engagement with Acer field personnel, end-user deal registration, service, lead management, demo programs, etc. was built directly into the new Acer ACE program components."

Partners in the program will exclusive service and support options (including separate 800 number with PIN), priority inside sales support, increased engagement with Acer field personnel, higher discount percentage on demo systems, lead management, free custom Acer collateral, engagement with Acer's product marketing organization, deal registration, special deal pricing and enhanced Acer partner Web portal access with direct access to sales and marketing support tools, technical documents and case studies.

Approximately 300 U.S. Acer channel partners will qualify for the ACE Program.

"In addition to these initial 300 resellers who qualify based on their past 12-month revenue history the Acer inside and outside sales teams will be screening and qualifying additional resellers into the program in 2H 2009," Prendergast said.

"I guess what stood out for me is [the program is] in line with other vendors' revamped channel partner relationships," said Michelle Warren, president of MW Research & Consulting. "HP's revamping theirs. Dell, of course, put one into place. Things like deal registration are really critical for the new and improved vendor landscape."

With Acer growing its business and increasing its presence in the PC market, Warren said it also makes sense that it would have a tiered relationship with its channel and build a structure that would encourage partners to increase their volume of Acer products.

Warren noted that Acer is formalizing what it already had in practice and moving forward with its channel relationships.

"We continue to deliver enhanced tools and support to our expanding community of resellers who offer a variety of unique and innovative hardware and system integration strategies to solve end-users' technology requirements," Prendergast said. "The ACE Program enables our VAR partners to cost-effectively deliver the latest in Acer products to their customers, with the full support of Acer's channel partner program behind them."