BT Wholesale’s first ever official partner programme “sets out our stall” to its channel, according to Senior Manager of Transformation, Trevor Lovelock.
BT Wholesale’s Partner Plus is a three-tier programme – Partner, Premium and Elite – that has been designed to formalise its existing services to the channel, as well as new additions, such as a greater range of benefits, including commercial support, sales and marketing resources and learning tools.
“Historically we’ve had many of the associated features that you would typically find in a programme but we’ve never really called it that,” Lovelock told UC Today.
“Partner Plus gives our partners a much clearer give-and-get between themselves and BT. We’ve set out our stall with this programme; it’s about rewarding loyalty and growth with us, and the tiering structure of the programme is something that we think will enable that.”
The programme was developed after consistent and increasing feedback from customers and partners who were struggling to keep up with the rapid change of technology and who needed expert support and guidance, Lovelock said.
“Trying to keep up with the pace of change is almost impossible and that’s why partners need more support,” he stated.
“That’s why we need to lean into the channel and help them go on that journey and help them understand new things like all-IP, SD-WAN, cloud, security, IoT or 5G mobile. Partners need somebody to turn to, they need a trusted supplier to work with who can actually help them to navigate all of that.”
The programme’s launch is well-timed as BT Wholesale and its partners prepare for the next wave of transformation in the industry, he added.
“We’ve started to deliver our digital transformation, and our partner programme, at just the right time because we’re just at that bow wave of the next massive transformation of the industry,” he elaborated.
“For example, the opportunities coming down the track in terms of 5G are mind-boggling and there’s a lot of work to do to figure out how we can bring 5G to the channel.”
Over 70 per cent of partners have asked for brand association with BT Wholesale and eligible members of Partner Plus can now avail of using their connection with BT Wholesale in their marketing communications.
Brand association with BT is important to partners because it allows them to build upon BT’s credibility and sell more into the market, said BT Wholesale’s Head of Marketing, Karen Heaven.
“From an end customer’s perspective, it shows that the partner is a safe bet,” she explained.
“They know that they’re working with an organisation that stands for quality. I’ve been with BT two and a half years and from day one, people have been knocking on our door asking for permission to use the brand to enhance their go to market plans. We’ve obviously got governance around how you can use the brand but it now enables them to use that Kitemark of quality in their own go to market plans.”
Lovelock and Heaven expect that Partner Plus will develop stronger ties between BT Wholesale and its partners, while attracting partners in areas the telco wants to expand its presence in, such as cloud, IoT and security.
“There is a huge number of new providers that have come to market recently that we don’t necessarily have a direct relationship with,” Lovelock said.
“As we bring new partners and new channels to us, we broaden our reach in the market and that’s really critical as BT looks to transition its portfolio into some of those new growth areas, because there’s a recognition that a lot of our current customers will absolutely want to enter those new markets as well.”
“We know we need to make ourselves frictionless and easy to do business with because not only do we want to support and enable customers, we want to free up their time so that they can be out there selling more.”
