Vendors To The Rescue

Attrition has always been an issue across the  industry and the channel feel
no differently. They are feeling the talent crunch and an undue amount of time
and money is wasted in hiring and training new batches. Moreover, channel
partners generally do not have a dedicated HR team to manage manpower and
related issues.

Principal companies are aware of channels' continuous manpower shortage.
Vendors can lend a helping hand to their channel. There are multiple roles a
vendor can play in giving support to his network of channel and in return can
earn strong business relation for longer time. They can arrange training
sessions for partners' staff to sharpen their skills. They can also organize
classrooms for enhancing managerial skills of employees at middle level or
seminars to fight HR issues. All such initiatives would encourage the employees
to adhere to one company for a longer period of time, and thereby increases
productivity of both channels and vendors.Commenting on the parti­cipation of
vendors, Shailendra Sarup of Xerox mentioned that vendors can play a
considerable role in helping the channel to fight attrition.

“Attrition has been plaguing organizations across the industry and channel is
also one of them. Xerox conducts certain programs that aim at encouraging
man­power of channel through certification programs. For instance, we sharpen
their marketing skills to drive a large range of Xerox products among the
customers as well as to satisfy the growing demand for services-led fixed
cost-per-page contracts. On the successful completion of various learning
modules, individuals are awarded with Xerox certification. The training includes
learning about Xerox products, services, selling processes and channel
manage­ment processes via e-learning and face-to-face training modules. Such
programs provide encouragement to the people who are availing the training and
this encourages them to perform better,” shared Sarup.

A well-organized program dedicated for channel can equip the vendors to manage their channel network and evolve a scanning process of how well their staff is skilled to execute deals

With the objective to support its channel partners to fight the issue of
attrition and strengthen them to hold on to their human resources for a long
period , Sun Microsystems has rolled out Sun Catalyst Program. The program is
con­ceptualized to train the employees of solution provider at managerial level
that could help them to retain their draining manpower.

Sudhir Nayar, Director-Partner Sales, Sun Microsystems India shared that the
rate at which the partners face the issue of attrition is around 29 to 30
percent. Sun Catalyst Program has been designed in a way that contributes to the
training of people at middle management level. The prime objective is to help
them in controlling the outflow of employees so that minimum resources are
invested in appointing new people, he added.

Rajesh Bakshi of Netlink Business System who enrolled into the first batch of
the program mentioned that the entire program is beneficial for practical
aspects of team management and will also help in developing the skills of
managers to handle the entire team. This would further help in the growth of a
team and in overall organizational growth.

A beneficial move

A well-organized program dedicated for channel can equip the vendors to
manage their channel network and evolve a scanning process of how well their
staff is skilled to execute deals. A dedicated program for manpower of partners
can ultimately help the vendors in gaining an instant snapshot of the people and
partners. This can also improve the productivity of the managers appointed with
channel.

Vendors need to keep a check on attrition at channel level and may come out
with plans through which they can interact with channel. They can also play a
role in assisting the channel in appointing new set of people. A vendor can rope
in his HR team who can assist in shortlisting and appointing the manpower in
consultancy with the channel partners.

Such programs can be beneficial for vendors, as the potential team of channel
who stays for a longer time will ensure better market coverage and a consistent
distribution of products and services.

Channel's opinion

Puneet Singhal of Delhi-based Pioneer Enterprises commented that a majority
of vendors do not run such programs. Such programs if hel d regularly, will help
the channel in improving their manpower issues and can cut down on the cost of
hiring and training a new set of people, mentioned Singhal. Partners informed
that when employees get direct training support from a principal company, they
get the confidence to do their work better.

Training session/poaching ground

Vendors can definitely bring a change at the HR level of partners. However,
a major risk that partners might face is that training ground might become a
platform for the vendors to pick the best set of employees who have sound
knowledge of the industry. Vendors may lure the employees with their brand and
promising exposure. Therefore, before getting into any programs, channel
partners should scan the pros and cons of all the factors and must be prepared
to handle such situation, if they arise.

Amrita Tejasvi

amritat@cybermedi.co.in