Compuware Earns Kudos For Revamped Channel Program

Performance management software developer Compuware has built its channel partner ranks to about 350 solution providers and is shooting to have as many as 500 in its partner program within a year.

Those partners, who are expected to account for 15 percent of Compuware's new license sales this year, could be accounting for 40 percent of the company's new license sales within a few years.

And the company held a partner event in October and is close to finishing the task of combining its channel partner program with the partner program run by Gomez, the company Compuware acquired in November 2009. A formal launch of the combined programs is set for April.

All those developments mark a significant turnaround for Detroit-based Compuware which several years ago dismantled an earlier, failed channel initiative.

That old program offered only referral fees to partners and lacked the needed infrastructure and internal support for a successful partner program, said Kimberly King, who joined Compuware as vice president of channels and alliances in December 2008.

"We've really changed our whole view on our partner strategy," said King, who has managed the overhaul of the company's channel program. "We've really focused our energies on the partners who are committed to the success of Compuware and to growing their own Compuware-related business." Along the way several hundred referral partners were cut loose in a process King acknowledges wasn't always easy.

"It's been a lot of work, but we're very happy with the results so far," she said in a recent interview. (King joined Compuware from Tideway Systems Ltd., a developer of data center management software, where she was vice president of worldwide channels and alliances. She was named to CRN's list of channel chiefs in 2010.

Next: Compuware's Performance Management Software Focus

Channel partners who have been with Compuware through the old and new programs agree. "They know how to go to market with partners now and they didn't several years ago," said Scott Cain, head of portfolio management and development for BT Global Services, a Compuware partner for more than five years.

Today the new Compuware Partner Network, launched in June 2009, is designed around regional channel directors and managers within the company's business units, rather than being structured as a separate channel organization. King herself reports to Compuware president and chief operating officer Bob Paul.

The company's 350 channel partners include resellers, managed service providers, systems integrators, consultants, distributors and OEMs. They range from small solution providers to global systems integrators and service companies including Accenture, BT Global Services and Forsythe Solutions Group.

Compuware markets a range of application performance management, IT portfolio management, mainframe software management and application development products. Its channel efforts are particularly focused on its Vantage application performance management software, its Gomez performance management tools for Web and mobile applications, and the Changepoint IT portfolio management software.

Last month Compuware recruited Gigamon, a Milpitas, Calif.-based developer of data access networking solutions, to combine Vantage with the Gigamon GigaVue technology. "This combined solution will greatly enhance the ability to proactively manage the performance of applications," said Kevin Jablonski, Gigamon marketing and business development vice president, in a statement.

Most Compuware resellers carry the Vantage software and have been adding the Gomez products to create a complete lineup of performance management tools for both inside and outside an organization's firewall. VARs resell the products while MSPs use them to provide managed services to their customers.

In a sign of Compuware's technology direction, the company in November debuted Cloudsleuth, a free, partner-driven cloud community where anyone can monitor the application performance and availability of cloud service providers using real-time data.

Next: Channel Partner Praise

While some partners continue to operate on a referral basis, King makes it clear the company prefers working with VARs, MSPs and systems integrators who are doing more than generating sales leads. "We see them as an extension of the company and an extension of our sales team," King said.

"They're doing the right things, from a partnership perspective," said BT's Cain. While BT has long worked with Compuware's technology, Cain said partners were "struggling to find value" in the old channel program. He praised King for "totally overhauling" the channel operations and developing a consistent program around the world. His main wish now is to see Compuware more tightly integrate the Gomez technology with other Compuware products.

While 500 partners might seem like a lot, Compuware is being selective in its recruiting rather than partnering with huge numbers of resellers, said Hugo Perez, co-founder and managing director of Datacorp, a Pembroke Pines, Fla.-based solution provider. "For us it's been incredible," he said, saying the vendor has heavily invested in a "well-defined, well-managed program."

Compuware recently began using Salesforce.com's partner relationship management application to better work with its channel partners. The company has also launched an online collaboration tool for partners, provides lead generation services, and offers free partner training and certification.

Datacorp's Perez said the company holds weekly conference calls with partners, coordinates partner efforts with inside sales, and even conducts joint-sales calls on prospective customers. And partners have to perform: Perez said resellers are put on a plan with sales and delivery goals.

Compuware expects the channel will account for 15 percent of new license sales this fiscal year (ending March 31), up from 5 percent last year. King said the goal is to grow those numbers to 25 percent in fiscal 2012 and 40 percent or more in fiscal 2013, with partners eventually accounting for half of all new license sales.