Citrix announced details of its Solution Adviser SMB Specialist partner program, which includes a range of training and rewards programs and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) specialization. SMB Specialists are eligible for Citrix Advisor Rewards and can earn up to a 10 percent reward payment for registered deals they close. In addition, SMB Specialists are eligible for small and midsize business (SMB) sales leads, partner preferred pricing on Citrix training, discounts on demo hardware and free access to demo software of most of Citrix products.
As a Citrix Solution Advisor SMB Specialist, the product suite consists of VDI-in-a-Box, XenApp Fundamentals and Access Gateway VPX. If businesses are interested in selling the full portfolio of Citrix products, they can apply as a Silver Solution Advisor. This concentration allows users to focus on opportunities within the SMB segment, where 65 percent of businesses are using or planning to use desktop virtualization.
Specialists receive access to evaluation, demo and internal use licenses, free online sales and technical training, monetary rewards through the Citrix Advisor Rewards program, a showcased profile on Partner Locator that includes certifications and contact details, an invitation to a Summit and Synergy training and networking conference, access to tools and resources via My Citrix designed to manage and grow the business, free access to Citrix Marketing Concierge for customizing demand-gen campaigns and events, free Web service via Citrix Syndication that streams product content and resources to the site and a ready-made Citrix Solution Advisor SMB Specialist logo for print and Web.
To be eligible for the program, SMB Specialists are required to pay an annual $300 membership fee and need to become certified in order to sell Citrix VDI-in-a-Box. Certifications are also required to be eligible for benefits like Advisor Rewards, leads and a listing on the Citrix Partner Locator. However, they do not have to meet a minimum annual sales goal or certification requirements to remain in the program. The SMB Specialist program allows room for partner growth. As their customers needs may expand beyond the SMB space, SMB Specialists can evolve to higher partner levels (Silver, Gold, Platinum) within the Citrix Solution Advisor program.
In May 2011 when Citrix announced the acquisition of Kaviza and its all-in-one VDI-in-a-Box solution, the company quoted a Gartner study that found SMB organizations are adopting desktop virtualization at an accelerating rate in order to reduce desktop management costs, improve security and increase business agility.
The Gartner research paper shows that hosted virtual desktops have become the No. 2 driver of new server purchases at SMBs across both North America as well as EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), and No. 4 in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, new statistics suggest that SMB adoption of virtualization technology has hastened.
In a December report, the SMB Group found that 32 percent of midsize and 17 percent of small businesses deployed/upgraded desktop virtualization solutions, while 29 percent of midsize and 13 percent of small businesses plan to deploy/upgrade them in the next 12 months.
The goal of the Citrix Worldwide Channel team is to equip new partners with the necessary skills, products and incentives to capitalize on the demand for SMB virtualization and sell to those companies waiting for the right VDI solution to get started, the company said.
