“We treat our partners as an extension of our team”

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Please
explain the channel scenario of NetApp in India. How many partners
are associated with NetApp?

NetApp
has a 100% indirect business model in India. We have a 2-tier
distribution model, where Avnet and Redington are our national
distributors. We have more than 100 channel partners across India and
Saarc. These partners are categorized in various tiers like Star,
Platinum, Gold and Silver, based on the size of their NetApp business
and skill-sets. We have a very attractive and comprehensive channel
program designed to help partners grow their NetApp business, and at
the same time equipping them with the necessary skills to deliver a
world-class experience to NetApp customers. Our partners are our
face, and we treat them as an extension of our team. Our channel
partners play a major role in helping us to provide better products
and solutions to offer a rich experience to our customers.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">How
do you create a flexible eco-system for your partners?

NetApp
has empowered its channel partners with a lot of flexibility. The
midsize market is largely addressed by our partners. Therefore, these
solutions can be easily bundled and configured by them. We have
adopted a different pricing strategy for this segment, where we have
empowered our partners with pricing decision based on recommended
street prices and discount levels. We have 3 prolonged strategies to
grow our business through channel partners. The first is the
'Protect' strategy, wherein we work with large existing partners
to ensure that they stay committed to NetApp business and grow their
business with NetApp. The second is 'Acquire' strategy, through
which we intend to add new partners who can bring incremental value
to our solutions by offering complementary technologies from
Microsoft, Cisco, VMware and Citrix. The last is the 'Grow'
strategy, wherein we intend to improve the quality of engagement by
helping the partners enhance their service capabilities and become
trusted partners. We have recently opened an online partners briefing
center. It offers real-time experience to our partners free of cost.
The briefing center has 3 phases, viz, lobby (product portfolio
information), auditorium (training program) and lounge (online expert
chart).

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">What
are the key reasons for a partner to choose NetApp? How unique are
you?

NetApp
is uniquely positioned to help customers succeed and build a solid
foundation that can expand and adapt as their business and priorities
change. NetApp has invested in building joint labs with technology
partners like Cisco, Vmware, Microsoft, and SAP to help partners
deliver tested and integrated solutions to their customers.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Are
you planning to expand your partner base? If so, please explain.

At
NetApp, we do not set rigid targets when it comes to expanding our
partner base. For any new relationship to be successful, it requires
some serious investment and commitment from both NetApp and the
partner. We, therefore, have to be judicious about adding new
partners. We believe in establishing long-term relationships with our
channel partner community. We are committed to help our partner
ecosystem evolve in keeping with the changing customer needs and
technology trends. We have a deep understanding of the challenges
that the ecosystem faces, and we equip our partners to survive the
changes in technology paradigms. This way, we help both of us, and
add considerable value to each other's businesses to grow together.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Do
you have any special channel policy, which your competitors don't
have?

We
have a unique services strategy, and unlike most other technology
players who focus on selling their own services, NetApp's strategy
is to deliver services through partners. We ensure that partners
build the competence and infrastructure to deliver world-class
support. NetApp supports partners through a seamless integration
model and an extensive network of spare depots. Therefore, indirectly
we help our partners enhance their value proposition byhelping them
enhance their capabilities and competencies. In today's scenario,
training is one key challenge that partners are facing.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">How
often do you conduct training programs for your partners?

We
work closely with partners to help, assess, design, implement, and
optimize the data management infrastructure and maximize the value
for their customers and empower them with the knowledge they need. We
have several joint competency centers across the country with our
partners. These centers are instrumental in showcasing NetApp
equipment and solutions to highlight the competencies of the
solutions built by our partners for their customers. We have several
training platforms where we regularly train our partners. Partner Tap
Program is a platform where our key partners come over to NetApp
offices every month on a scheduled day to get an update on the
business and technology. We plan to incorporate cloud into these
discussions as well. GetSuccessful Program is an another platform
where we introduce different solutions for our partners and help them
understand the customers' challenges, NetApp value proposition,
introduce tools that help them qualify an opportunity, and overcome
competitive hurdles. We do these workshops every quarter. Partner
Academy is an another platform which we use for the regular transfer
of information about our products and solutions to channel partners,
we conduct it twice a year. India Partner Summit is our annual
partner get-together. We bring key NetApp executives from across the
globe so that our partners can have a first-hand interaction with
them and also get to hear about our strategy.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">In
your view, how is the demand increasing in the tier-2 and -3 markets?
What are your key strategies for these markets?

NetApp
has plans to increase its focus on the midsize market, specially in
tier-2 and -3 markets. The potential of the SME sector in India is
really huge as it plays a vital role for the growth of Indian economy
by contributing 45% of the industrial output, 40% of exports, 42 mn
in employment, creating 1 mn jobs every year and producing more than
8,000 quality products for the Indian and international markets. SMBs
contribute 30% of NetApp's revenue, the company has decided to work
with its distributors, Redington and Avnet to increase its focus on
Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Goa, Kochi, Lucknow, Vadodara,
Vizag, Nepal, and Bhutan. NetApp intends to expand its channel base
in tier-2 and -3 cities and is implementing its 3 prolonged channel
strategies-Protect, Acquire and Grow.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Which
are the industries where you have a client base, and in which
industries do you look forward to more avenues?

NetApp
has been successful across all industry verticals like IT/ITeS,
banking, telecom, financial services, manufacturing, and government.
We are looking forward to expand our horizons in the healthcare,
media, and entertainment sectors.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Can
you please explain your channel certification policies?

We
run a comprehensive series of certifications for partner sales,
pre-sales, professional services and support personnel.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">

Will
there be any revamp or new policies to be rolled out in the
forthcoming calendar/financial year?

We
always try to improve our partner program. We conduct an annual
survey called the TPE (Total Partner Experience) survey, wherein we
seek inputs from our partners on the quality of their experience with
NetApp. Based on the inputs provided by our partners we try to modify
our program to better suit their needs.