APC by Schneider Electric, a global leader in integrated critical power and cooling services, is enhancing its Channel Partner Program in East and West Africa.

The aim of the programme is to assist channel partners to build a solutions-focused power and cooling practice with increased knowledge and expertise, as well as to provide them with the tools needed to differentiate themselves from their competitors.According to Jonathan Duncan, director for the Central and North East Africa region at APC by Schneider Electric, the improvement of the programme emerges amidst growing levels of power consumption, record cooling demands and greater requirements for energy efficiency.“Physical infrastructure used to be an afterthought, but now it’s first on the agenda. Nobody understands the landscape and where the market is headed better than APC by Schneider Electric.”With the company’s Partner Online Destination (POD), the online embodiment of the Channel Partner Program, APC is helping its channel partners develop competencies, seize opportunities, be more profitable, and grow their businesses over the long-term.POD comprises six elements:Profile: identifying the distinguishing demographics of a channel partner’s core business and competency, in the belief that “the more we know about you, the better we can support you”.Alignment: maximising business profile and core competencies by aligning partners into one of four tiers, first by business environment, then, further, by key discipline.Empowerment: continued education to enhance problem-solving skills with on-demand online training. The training is divided into two paths: sales and engineering.Enablement: online sales and marketing tools that will help channel partners grow their businesses, including co-branded promotional items, newsletter templates, customisable spec sheets, downloadable brochures, and videos.Collaboration: linking complementary partners to share their strengths. “Partners who collaborate with other solution providers have grown deeper customer relationships and delivered more value to customers” says Duncan.Profit: providing financial differentiation to partners, including upfront preferred pricing, an opportunity registration programme, back-end incentives, and other programmes that ensure the partner relationship is profitable.“An exciting feature of POD”, adds Duncan, “is POD TV, a dedicated video portal for our partner community that provides training and insight on new technologies, industry trends, and business opportunities. We’re constantly adding and updating content.”