Partner Solution Case Study
/ Systems Builder Takes Advantage of Partner Program to Build Brand, Success
“Any time we can draw a direct line between ourselves and Microsoft as a partner,it is a great thing for our customers. It means they can trust our solutions and easily communicate that value to their customers when they resell our products.”
Missy Maser, Vendor Development Manager, Seneca
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published February2011
Business Needs
Based in Syracuse, New York, Seneca is a manufacturer of custom desktops, notebooks, servers, and storage devices under the brand name Nexlink. The company has 300 employees and reported annual revenue of nearly U.S.$100 million in 2009.
To gain a competitive edge in a market consisting of larger, tier-one systems builders, Seneca maintains a strong focus on its local market and select key industries. The company’s size enables it to offer services and economies of scale similar to that of a tier-one systems builder without sacrificing its ability to offer the level of customer service and degree of customization more common to a smaller shop.
In building its brand identity and going head-to-head with larger systems builders, Senecaalso finds that strategic partnerships, and the visibility and credibility they create, play a powerful role. When Seneca engages its customers, who include a vast network of value-added resellers (VARs), it is quick to communicate that it is a Microsoft partner with aGold OEM Hardware competency, has a team of Microsoft Certified Professionals, and provides solutions that have Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certification and bear the Designed for Windows logo. Says Missy Maser, Vendor Development Manager at Seneca, “Any time we can draw a direct line between ourselves and Microsoft as a partner,it is a great thing for our customers. It means they can trust our solutions and easily communicate that value to their customers when they resell our products.”
With its Gold OEM Hardware competency up for renewal in 2011, Seneca was quick to evaluate the benefits of ongoing participation. “We saw renewing our status in the OEM Hardware competency as an opportunity to further build the confidence our customers have in us by demonstrating to them that we are current and relevant, ultimately helping us grow our business,” says Maser.
Solution
In renewing its status as a Microsoft partner with a Gold OEM Hardwarecompetency, Seneca found the evolving membership requirements to be a great fit and natural next step for its business. “Competency requirements almost completely aligned with what we were already doing or planning on doing as a business,” says Maser. “This helped us validate our approach and pointed out areas where we needed to add more structure, helping us continue to be the best partner to our customers and provide the best services.” For example, competency participation required the company to either staff Microsoft Certified Professionals or provide WHQL–certified solutions. As these were both core to its value proposition, Seneca chose to do both. As part of renewal, the company also gained three customer references and ran a customer satisfaction survey to help ensure its solutions aligned with the demands of the market.
In maintaining its membership and competency each year, Seneca opens its doors to a world of resources, including:
- Branding. By incorporatingthe Microsoft Partner Network Gold OEM Hardware competency logo into customer communications, Seneca can demonstrate that it has the credentials to deliver trusted, high-quality solutions.
- Access to technical and sales content. As a Microsoft partner with a Gold OEM Hardware competency, Seneca gains access to the Partner Learning Center and other training resources. This wealth of knowledge resources has proved particularly useful for the company’s engineers, helping them achieve certification and build best-in-class solutions.
- Marketing campaigns and OEM Incentives Program funds. Membership benefits also provide a range of targeted marketing materials built just for OEMs and VAR-channel customers and reimbursements from Microsoft to help Seneca drive marketing and readiness activities.
- Technical support. Should customers experience issues, Seneca can draw on its membership benefits to rapidly escalate the issuewith Microsoft support engineers.
- A partner account manager. Seneca also gains a partner account manager (PAM) who acts as the company’s advocate within Microsoft, helping to coordinate training and marketing efforts and ensure that the company gets the most from its involvement in the Microsoft Partner Network. For example, Seneca has worked with its PAM to put together webinars for training its VARs on the benefits of transitioning from Windows Server 2008 SP2 to Windows Server 2008 R2.
Benefits
Seneca’sdesignation as a Microsoft partner with a Gold OEM Hardware competency remains core to its brand. Helping the company to gain instant credibility in the marketplace, the designation provides the robust partner resources needed to build team skills, drive sales and marketing efforts, and fuel overall business growth.
Boost Competitive Edge and Demand
Being a Microsoft partner with a Gold OEM Hardwarecompetency helps Seneca maintain an edge in a highly competitive market. “We can tell our customers that we have the same qualifications as tier-one companies,” says Maser. “We’re a Microsoft partner with a Gold OEM Hardware competency,our solutions are WHQL–certified, and our engineers are Microsoft Certified Professionals. The difference is in our people and the customer service we can offer in addition to our solutions. Showing customers the full breadth of our capabilities is a great way to generate more business.”
Seneca found the marketing materials provided through its membership to be particularly valuable. Says Maser, “The marketing collateral is designed specifically for OEMs and targeted at the kinds of customers we serve, helping us to reduce our own marketing spend and go to market quickly and efficiently and providing us with multiple avenues to reach the people we want to connect with.”
Build Skills to Offer Leading-Edge Solutions and Services
Aside from brand differentiation, Seneca finds that being a Microsoft partner with a Gold OEM Hardware competency provides the resources the company needs to keep its engineering expertise in line with new advances in Microsoft products and technologies. “Renewing our membership in the Microsoft Partner Network has reenergized our engineering department to be conscious of resources and opportunities,” says Maser. “For example, with the release of Windows Server 2008 R2, we needed to boost our virtualization expertise. And because of our membership, we were able to find all the resources we needed. Any time Microsoft releases a new product, we start incorporating it into our solutions by making use of the membership resources.”
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published February2011