CA Takes An Indirect Route To Sales Success

Part of enterprise management vendor CA's revamped corporate strategy is to work more closely with channel partners to sell solutions and support customers. The company has never been known for having particularly warm relations with resellers but there have been recent indications of a thaw in that area. And now the real test begins with CA's announced plan to reduce the number of named accounts it handles directly, and rely instead on the channel to support those clients.That said, the vendor is not passing off its largest accounts to partners. Instead CA is hoping to create a more efficient and effective sales organization focused on larger customers while handing smaller accounts who buy less than $1.3 million in CA products over to regionally-based partners who may be able to lend a more appropriate level of support to those businesses. CA will not be laying off any sales staff as a result of the plan.

Yet, as logical as CA's plan is it is way too early to predict its success. Though resellers may find CA's promise of more sales incentives appealing, many remain wary of the vendor after so many years of difficult relations.