Ataccama Revamps Partner Program for AI-Driven Data Management

Data management platform vendor Ataccama recently announced updates to its channel partner program, targeting providers looking for data quality solutions to protect clients as they adopt AI and complete other transformation projects.

Leadership role added in April to redefine channel strategy and program

Global VP of Partnerships Jessica Goulart joined the leadership team in April to breathe fresh life and new opportunity into the vendor’s approach to the IT channel. Goulart has previously worked on channel strategy at Adobe and Bloomreach.

“By the time I had joined, they had taken the idea of a partner program from 0 to 50,” Goulart said. “I don’t think leadership had quite figured out what the next phase could look like, but they knew they wanted to go from 50 to 100.”

Goulart said she and her team spent several months educating others internally so everyone understood the unique opportunities and challenges facing solutions providers and resellers so they could best address the market.

“We know service providers make their money in added services revenue, not just product deployment, and I knew we would need a network of trusted partners to deploy our technology as we continue to scale,” Goulart said. “The true goal of the program is that we are super valuable to our partners, and they in turn are super valuable to me.”

Certifications and shadowing are foundations of lasting success

The relaunched partner program utilizes an existing certification framework that Goulart and her team updated. There are three tiers of certification that a partner must complete before being formally certified to sell Ataccama:

• Consumer: intended for business users of the platform or business analysts and covers the basics of using and configuring the tool;
• Foundation: provides a deeper technical understanding of the tool implementation and is intended for consultants who will be implementing and customizing the platform for their customers;
• Expert: set to launch by the end of 2024, this tier is intended for consultants who wish to have a deep understanding of implementation with expert level customization knowledge. This tier is for consultants who will work on complex implementations for their customers.

Once a partner organization has completed the appropriate certification course, they are then passed into the new shadowing program, where they observe the Ataccama team deploying the technology with a client, then perform a deployment themselves with the Ataccama team observing. After all of this is completed to everyone’s confidence and satisfaction, the organization is officially a licensed Ataccama partner and can deploy the technology to existing and new clients.

“I know from experience that certifications are not enough to get MSPs ready for deployment, especially with technology as complex as ours,” Goulart said. “I felt very strongly, and still do, that Ataccama’s professional services team should be involved in this whole process.”

Setting organizations up for success starts with quality data

The Ataccama ONE platform provides data cataloging, quality control, management, mastering and more to enterprise customers who need to get their organization’s data organized, clean and ready for use cases including GenAI and other digital transformation projects. The vendor specializes in verticals such as financial services, insurance and manufacturing, which Goulart highlights often see complex merger and acquisition activity as well as disparate collections of data siloed within organizations.

With the partner program launched, and 30 “force partners” identified as the first participants, Goulart and her team are excited to see their partner network expand across North America, Europe and Australia in the next year.

“My goal for the year is that our focus partners are trained and certified, including through the first phase of the shadow program,” Goulart said. “MSPs are the trusted advisors of their customers, and we see a great opportunity to enable them to be strong advisors in the data management space through our technology.”

Channel Insider recently asked five MSPs to share what they are planning for themselves and their clients in 2025. Read our story to learn more about how AI, data and security are integral to growth in 2025 and beyond.