Extreme Networks rolled out a mobile computing application for its channel partners that is intended to help them register deals faster and have a much closer relationship with the provider of network infrastructure equipment.
The goal is to make Extreme Networks much easier to do business with for organizations that belong to the Extreme Partner Network (EPN), said Julie Heck, senior director of global channel marketing.
“A sales representative can, for example, now register a deal the minute they leave the customer’s office,” Heck said. “They can also have access to sales tools at any time and wherever they are.”
Extreme Networks expects to get to know its channel partners better once they begin using the application. The company, for example, plans to develop additional mobile applications aimed at people with different roles inside their channel partners’ organizations, Heck said. The EPN PartnerLink Mobile App currently supports iOS, Android and BlackBerry devices.
For the moment, at least, Extreme Networks won’t be distributing leads through the mobile application, but it will be applying analytics to the data that it captures via the mobile application. The end goal, Heck said, is to ultimately leverage that information to help partners land more business faster.
In general, vendors across the channel are starting to deploy mobile computing applications, not only to give partners remote access to existing partner portals on the Web, but also to distribute notifications through the mobile application.
For channel organizations, that capability addresses a longstanding problem with Web portals. Vendors build these portals to share data, but most solution providers are too overwhelmed taking care of their own tasks to regularly visit such portals. Mobile applications make it possible for vendors to share information with partners in a way that is more convenient for those partners to consume on their own terms, which should help make the content provided via those applications a lot more useful and relevant to all concerned.
Michael Vizard has been covering IT issues in the enterprise for 25 years as an editor and columnist for publications such as InfoWorld, eWEEK, Baseline, CRN, ComputerWorld and Digital Review.