Intel will offer financial enhancements to its marketing program for partners, and also provide enhanced marketing opportunities through a partnership with Google.
In addition, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip maker is in the process of enhancing its supply chain program for distributors to speed up request confirmations.
Intel will announce complete details of the marketing plan during its April Intel Solutions Summit in Europe, according to Steve Dallman, general manager of Intel's worldwide channel organization.
During this week's ISS in San Diego, Intel rolled out enhancements to its Intel Inside program to its board of advisors and some select channel members. The program changes will go into effect at the end of April.
Let Your Voice be Heard! Vote on the Most Significant New Product Introductions in the Channel. Click here to fill out our online ballot.
"It's a home run according to our board of advisors and something that partners have been asking Intel to do for years," Dallman said. The changes make the program more flexible and easy to use, he said. They are also more financially attractive, offering some of the options in the company's market store to be covered up to 100 percent of cost.
Partners will be able to pick up an advertising template at the marketing store to show what an ad might look like. In addition, the partner will not have to pay an agency. Intel will cover those costs to eliminate the need for partners to outlay the cash first and wait for reimbursement.
The overarching plan will include the Intel/Google deal. Details remained sketchy but Dallman said partners would be able to use "insets" that Google offers on various Web sites to get their messages out to new customers, including what Intel products they are shipping.
The new supply chain program, called TDF (Tactical Demand Fulfillment), is designed to improve the company's "time to yes." The company's goal is to shrink the amount of time between when it receives a distributor request to when it can say yes to that request to 24 hours or less.
"In the past with our distributors that was running at around 12 percent or 18 percent," Dallman said. "Since we've turned the program on we were able to get that up to 28 percent, and at work week 11, about a week ago, we were able to boost that up to 50 percent."
Intel's ultimate goal is to get that number up to 70 percent or 80 percent.
"By doing that we can keep improving the confidence they have in our supply and logistics system," Dallman said. "If we do it really well that would mean the amount of inventory they need to keep to buffer the demand they see out there would be reduced, and in turn that would improve profitability."
Channel News and Analysis 
