Affiliate computer program software

COMPUTER Associates launched one of the most significant reseller initiatives this year with the CA Channel Partner Program.

While the new program was the brainchild of George Kafkarkou, senior vice-president, worldwide channel operations for CA, the plan had a strong Canadian feel to it: Canadians Doug McLaren and Chris Devlin played a huge part in developing it for local markets. McLaren, who has been promoted to the U.S. as regional manager, still heads up CA's channel here, while Devlin, who used to be channel manages, is now the head of channels for Europe and the Middle East.

McLaren replaced Devlin here in Canada.

The new channel plan is an attempt to gain more market share among mid-sized companies. Gone are the low rebates and the tiered reseller plans. In its place are significantly higher rebates and a framework that will take into account business plans for not just VARs but consultants, independent software vendors, enterprise solution providers, OEM partners and system builders.

At the core of this plan is partner profitability, something several other channel programs lacked this year.

Also, CA's direct sales organizations will no longer compete with partners and will be compensated for pushing products through the channel.

Currently there are 34 premier CA partners in Canada and 1,500 affiliate partners.

McLaren expects the plan will grow the number of premier partners significantly this year and next mainly from the affiliate partner base, while the affiliate partner growth rate will remain relatively flat.

Part of the reason for this new plan revolves around CA's slumping product sales in the U.S.

However, CA Canada's channel sales, to the credit of McLaren and Devlin, have performed better overall compared to North America.

McLaren also helped to launch his company's new products in the autonomic and on demand computing space this year.