Lars Riis Rasmussen (pictured below, right), senior vice president, global sales for enterprise at EPOS, spoke to Comms Business and explained that the new programme has been developed because the company “really want[s] to take our business relationship with our partner community to the next level”.
When introduced to the EPOS AMPLIFY partner programme, partners will be tiered by revenue and engagement level. This means that individual partners receive the right support to meet their needs and growth potential, as they are not solely evaluated through revenue targets. The programme also provides access to a range of dedicated resources including a full suite of training and e-learning resources, digital sales tools and marketing support.
Partners will be measured by their capabilities and engagement through a range of activities, and will be rewarded for the focus and investments they make in working with EPOS. The partner programme includes a tiered system with a clear path for partners to optimise their membership and progress beyond entry-level. Partners can access a range of benefits including product sampling, market development fund (MDF), rewards, dedicated account management, and local marketing support.
Rasmussen added, “The EPOS Amplify partner programme is a natural progression of our engagement with our channel. We have been in this business since 2003, so we have been around for a long time, and we always had an indirect model. A lot of the things that we have been doing with our channel, we have now formalised with the Amplify programme. And, of course, we are also introducing a lot of new elements which will greatly strengthen our relationship and enable our partners to grow profitable [businesses] with EPOS.”
As the EPOS brand had grown, different markets had developed their own partner programmes. Rasmussen explained that the company simply wanted to make this uniform across regions. He said, “The new thing is that we are much more clear in terms of the qualitative criteria, and also the revenue criteria that need [to be met] in order for partners to get access to [certain] benefits. We wanted to run a programme which is absolutely uniform across all geographies and all of our markets.”
Whilst the programme was in development, the company also ensured it was gathering feedback from partners to ensure it was fit for purpose. Rasmussen said, “We really had our ears to the ground listening to our partners when we defined all of the elements of our programme. We took time to ensure that we covered all the important aspects of what a partner expects from a brand like EPOS.”
As the world begins to prepare for the future, Rasmussen is confident that this new programme will allow EPOS partners to thrive as business begins to return to normal. “Even pre-pandemic, we saw this trend of working from everywhere and the hybrid workspace. That has been shifting for some years, so we'll continue to see a favourable market [where companies are] requesting and wanting to use these kinds of tools. It's an exciting market to be in and, with this programme, our partners can position themselves for success.”