Interviews

Tally Bets Big On ‘Vriddhi’ Partner Model

Tally Solutions
Tejas Goenka
Executive Director, Tally Solutions
Tally has been one of the companies which has never followed any MNC-model and has its very own unique approach towards the channel partners. The real ‘Make In India’ company works with 28,000 channel partners across the country. This is always visible when most of the channel partners of Tally, be it a Master Tally partner or an educational partner, will work as an extended arm of the company’s human resources. In an exclusive chat with Channel TimesTejas Goenka, Executive Director, Tally Solutions, the new spokesperson of the company shares the company’s channel plans for the next fiscal in the ‘Vriddhi’ (prosperity) way.

Channel Times: GTM towards the channels for the next fiscal:
Tejas Goenka: 
For Tally, 2015 is going to be a year of major milestones. We are improving the structure and the business approach in our partner ecosystem. ‘Vriddhi’ – the new partner program, will enable partners to deliver higher quality experience to customers while maximizing profitability in business; all this through specialisation in their respective lines of business.
The entire exercise will deliver some important elements to customers and the market as a whole:

Focus on implementing strong support and development program that allows our existing partners to see exponential growth as an achievable possibility. This program does not just consider helping partners become more knowledgeable on the products and domains, but also equips our partners with the requisite softer skills or exposure that will help them achieve their growth desires.

Certification of partners with a goal to provide excellent customer experience consistently, across a diverse range of segments. This will provide partners with a more relatable identity as well as a platform to showcase their skills to customers – again assisting them in their growth desires.

CT: ‘Per-Partner’ contribution towards business:
Tejas:
 Our largest partners can contribute upwards of a 1000 licenses a year, and our most attractive partners contribute upwards of 50 plus licenses in a year.

CT: Please explain your certification levels?
Tejas:
 The Vriddhi framework will classify partners into Certified Partners, Associate Partners, Partner Developers and Distributors. The program will institutionalize Tally Solutions’ partner enablement process through certification, ensuring partners are in specialized roles to deliver better and more streamlined services to Tally customers.

The Certified Partners (CPs) specialize in the sales, implementation and solutions of Tally products. They are characterized by their ability to deliver a great customer experience which enables them to grow faster. These partners would have sales and service staff, qualified by Tally.

Depending on the level of complexity handled by the organisation they are classified into 3 star and 5 star partners. There is also a level of classification based on the services they provide – sales, services and customisations. SI partners are certified for sales and service capabilities and SS partners are certified for sales, service and solution building capabilities.
Tally
The second category is the Associate Partners (APs), who will play a pivotal role in Tally solutions’ expansion plans. These partners will essentially be IT hardware vendors who are looking to add Tally to their portfolio and thereby addressing more customers, along with serving their existing customers better.

The third category, Partner Developers (PDs), will be the niche set of partners who will appoint, train and mentor the Certified Partner category and assist them with certification. Tally desires to expand its existing network and more and more partners to get certified. Partner developers will play a key role with this objective and drive their business growth with this model of growing partners.

The fourth category, Distributors will be the bridge for the product between Tally Solutions and all customer-facing partners. They will ensure maximum coverage and access for these partners which will lead to the ease of commerce overall.

CT: Can you let us know the incentive schemes you have for your channel partners?

Tejas: The new commercial structure which has come in with ‘Vriddhi’ is a very attractive one for partners in terms of increased margins and hence, more opportunity to grow. Simply put, the more they develop their core competencies and deliver great experiences, the more are their earnings.

Over and above this, we have a Rewards and Recognition framework that helps partners breakdown their targets into achievable amounts, and rewards them for this achievement. The differences in our R&R program compared with the rest of the industry is, (1) that we focus a lot of our efforts and time in helping partners set appropriate targets and help them achieving this targets with strong supporting plans, and (2) that we construct our programs to get partner more emotionally involved in the business, we see this as a very critical motivator in our business.

As far as specialised incentive programmes go, we run seasonal incentive plans specifically during the month of March and April. These usually recognise exceptional performances by Partner organisations as well as their sales staff. One recent example is an incentive program launched for Certified Partners, as well as Distributors and Associate Partners in the month of March.

CT: Please explain the structure of your distribution?

Tejas: Along with different partner categories, ‘Vriddhi’ also brings with it an improved distribution model. We have introduced partners as Distributors for approximately 50 Hubs in India. This change is going to ensure better availability of Tally products for customers and improved geographical coverage. These Distributors are the supply link for all Certified Partners and Associate Partners.

CT: What is your market share in India?

Tejas: While tally currently has an installed base of close to 10,00,000 businesses across the world. Our strength in the business software, especially in the accounting software domain is unparalleled. We continue to be the business software of choice for growing businesses, across generations and now emerging geographies.

CT: How much contribution Indian business makes to the global business?

Tejas: Our strongest domain is clearly the home ground of India. India currently contributes 85% of our total business. However, international markets including MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, the rest of SAARC, and the ASEAN markets are key focus markets for us going forward.

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