Saturday, December 22, 2007

Tally Concretizes Channel Structure, Sets Higher Growth Targets

Publication : Channelstech2
Date : 21 December, 2007

Eying three times YoY growth in the next three years staring 2008, Tally India has given concrete shape to its existing channel modalities and has chalked out roles of value addition for its Master Tally Partners (MTPs). The formal tier-ing up of its channel structure is to ensure price-parity for channel partners, geographical focus for MTPs and new customer accounts for the vendor.
Speaking to ChannelsTech2, Kalyanaraman, President & Head of Global Services Business at Tally Solutions said, “Our primary objective was aggressive growth plans for next three years and to achieve this, our partner ecosystem has to be vibrant and on the same pedestal. With realignment, we have given our existing II tier channel structure a formal characteristic and clearly defined roles.” Tally’s Ist tier consists of regional distributors called MTPs and the IInd tier comprised of all the resellers.

With the restructuring, the vendor wants the MTPs to go beyond the role of a conventional distributor and develop areas of focus and development in their respective geographies. “We want our regional distributors to play VADs and acquire deeper penetration in their focused geography.” This is to ensure that the vendor taps the unattended accounts including the SMEs concentrated in these areas and bring new accounts to table.

While the second tier of channel partners get a pricing-structure to match and thorough backend commissions. “We have optimized backend commissions and set a pricing mechanism protecting channel margins. This makes the system far more transparent, accountable and profit generating plus they get to crack new accounts, untapped hitherto,” Kalyanaraman added.

While the objective of growth is the primary motive to facelift its channel strategies, similar restructuring would follow in its Service Providers set and Education partners set apart from the Product Business partners. “While the objective is the same, we will tweak the plan suiting the respective needs of that field of business,” he further added.

While Tally has conveyed the restructuring plan and defined the roles of channel in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore,Chennai and Kolkatta, it aims to cover about 11 A class cities by the end of this year. Kalyanaraman concluded, “We would cover about 40 cities by the end of next quarter for a clear growth roadmap and introducing even new levels of technology.”

Tally Solutions believes that maximizing focus and targeting deeper growth would be achieved only by rejuvenating the channel structure and ensuring healthy channel margins and opening newer avenues for the partners.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Channel Restructuring in Tally

Tally, an accounting software company, has announced a major re-structuring of channel partners with an aim to increase transparency and have better communication among the channel fraternity.
Currently the company has two sets of channel partners. Firstly, Tier I partners that fall under (Master Tally Partners) category. These include company’s regional distributors placed in different parts of the country. Secondly, Tier II partners consisting those who fall under the category of Tally Partners (TP), which include local level dealers.

Talking about this initiative, D. Kalyanaraman, president and head (global services business) of Tally said, “The main reason behind channel re-structuring is to increase the transparency among the Tier 2 channel partners and decrease the competition between Tier 1 and Tier 2 partners.”

Prior to this initiative, Tally was involved in communicating only with Tier I partners. However, with this new plan, the vendor will directly interact with Tier II partners as well. This will further help in increasing company’s reach at the local market level.

To communicate with local partners, the company intends to register them across the country. This includes the existing Tier 2 partners as well as the new ones. By the end of first quarter of 2008, 15,000 partners would be registered.

Kalyanaraman said, “The criteria for selecting the partner would primarily depend on whether the partner is willing to promote the software and make money with the company.”

In order to nurture channel restructuring, Tally will carry forward the initiative to next year as well. Initially, the company would be covering cities like Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Cochin and Bangalore and then take it forward to 11 B-class cities.

The company is also working to bring price structuring in place. By this, Tally is trying to reduce the competition, by equalizing the margins of Tier 1 and 2 partners.

Publication : Channel Times
Date : 20 December, 2007