Citrix, today at its Citrix Summit 2018 conference, announced it will unify five distinct channel programs into a single Citrix Ultimate Rewards program.
Paul Fecteau, managing director for partner programs and operations for Citrix, says that while Citrix has always been a partner-lead vendor the time has come to make it simpler for partners to engage with the company. Over the years multiple channel programs had been layered on top of another in a way that became difficult for partners to navigate, says Fecteau.
Scheduled to take effect February 10th, Fecteau says the Citrix Ultimate Rewards program provides a more consistent approach to how and when discounts and rebates are applied regardless whether the products being deployed in a solution are delivered on-premises or via a cloud.
In addition, Fecteau says Citrix has made the deal registration process simpler by reducing the number of questions that need to be answered from a high of 30 down to nine. That system has also been infused with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities that make it possible for deals to be instantly approved because the system will recognize whether that deal has already been registered, says Fecteau.
The changes to the Citrix platform affect over 9,000 partners. Fecteau says the changes are primarily aimed at making the existing Citrix partner more profitable and efficient.
“We’re not looking to recruit new partners, per se,” says Fecteau.
Most recently, Citrix revealed last fall it was laying off staff and consolidation offices. In its most recent third quarter, Citrix reported revenue from continuing operations of $691 million, compared to $669 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2016, representing three percent revenue growth. Net income from continuing operations for the third quarter of fiscal year 2017 was $127 million, compared to $112 million, and the company has been aggressively buying back shares.
In general, Fecteau notes Citrix channel partners have been remarkably loyal over the course of the last few years, during which speculation concerning the breakup of a company that offers everything from virtualization software and wide-area networking (WAN) appliances to software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications have been rife.
Regardless of what 2018 may bring, however, Citrix partners at the very least should be able to count on taking advantage of a channel program that is far less complicated to traverse.
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