ZINFI Partner Portal Helps IT Solutions Provider FVC Automate a Broad Range of Marketing and Technical Functions as It Pursues Opportunities across the Middle East and North Africa

Overview

FVC is a value-added distributor of technology focusing on cyber security, unified collaboration and communication, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Based in Dubai, the company also has established offices in Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Egypt to provide innovative technology and services to businesses across 55 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. FVC has been translating business requirements into reliable, dynamic IT solutions for 22 years, serving enterprise customers in just about every vertical where advanced, enterprise-scale collaboration, cyber-defense and process automation is a requirement, including the airline industry, government ministries, financial and banking institutions, oil and gas companies, and many more.

FVC is a partner of NETSCOUT—a provider of application and network performance management products—and also manages a network of nearly 650 channel partners of its own. As a NETSCOUT partner and a distributor focused primarily on NETSCOUT’s Core Network Assurance product line, FVC has been using the NETSCOUT partner portal for nearly six years. The partner portal is an integral part of a comprehensive partner relationship management platform from ZINFI, a leading global provider of Unified Partner Management software.

Challenges

According to Prakash Krishnamurthy, Chief Sales Officer at FVC, the company’s primary business challenge is to make good on its promises to customers who require the most advanced technology, delivered on time, in a dynamic marketplace with many competitors offering a plethora of advanced IT infrastructure products.

“Every time we sign an agreement with a vendor, we need to do justice to them,” says Krishnamurthy. “We need to live up to our vendors’ expectations by delivering on our joint revenue goals.” Krishnamurthy and his colleagues must continually oversee a variety of technically demanding projects for dozens of large customers. At the same time, they must manage relationships with multiple technology vendors and hundreds of channel partners. “The whole process behind it is very complex and detailed,” he says. “These are very sensitive solutions; these are not generic products.”

Solutions

ZINFI partner portal technology plays an important role for FVC as it seeks to differentiate itself in the marketplace as a provider that can always be trusted to deliver exactly what its customers need. One of the most important functions of the portal is to provide FVC’s technical team with training and certifications in NETSCOUT products. “When my technical sales team members are certified, the customer feels more comfortable talking to the guys who are promoting that technology,” says Krishnamurthy. The portal also keeps team members informed about product updates and new product launches with constant updates, including reports, marketing and sales assets, videos and new certification modules. “Software keeps changing,” he says, and FVC’s team relies on the portal to stay current.

Another important function provided by the partner portal is deal registration, says Krishnamurthy: “Let’s say I've got a partner who comes to me from Nigeria and says he’s got an opportunity involving NETSCOUT technology. He gives me the details and then I, using ZINFI’s deal registration module in the NETSCOUT partner portal, can lock up the opportunity with the partner to ensure that his deal is protected in his sales territory. This is very convenient for us.”

Krishnamurthy and his team also use the partner portal to track leads as they proceed through different levels of qualification so they stay up to date and are ready to go when it’s time to negotiate the final terms of a deal. “That’s where the beauty of the portal is,” he says.

Results

Krishnamurthy’s technical team uses the partner portal “on a daily basis” to stay informed about NETSCOUT offerings, learn about new products and product updates, earn certifications and track the progress of opportunities as they proceed down the sales funnel. FVC employees are also frequently using the portal to explore new opportunities for their customer base. “We have regional field people who are sitting in Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE who are logging in every week to look for new opportunities for their existing customers,” he says. The entire team loves the information and the visibility the portal provides. “The portal is frequently updated, and the navigation is very convenient. We are very happy with the experience.”