UniRewards – the ‘high velocity’ EMEA Channel Programme

Unitrends, the provider of all-in-one backup, archiving, instant recovery and disaster recovery solutions, has announced the formal launch of UniRewards in EMEA, a loyalty programme for Unitrends' channel partners and resellers designed to incentivise every step of the sales process. The rewards programme is now available to Unitrends' entire partner ecosystem, which already includes over 60 partners in EMEA.

Unlike standardised reward schemes with arbitary targets, UniRewards allows resellers to get immediate recognition for their engagement with Unitrends. The scheme aims at addressing key decision makers at channel resellers, such asaccount managers and technical teams, who are critical in developing new business for Unitrends in the EMEA market.

The programme provides partners with:
• The opportunity to benefit from higher discounts (up to 35%) on registered deals.
• Total margin protection for registered deals for over 180 days, meaning that Unitrends will pay the registered portion of the margin to the active reseller that engaged in the first place even if they lose the deal to a competitor.
• The opportunity to register qualified leads, awarding $100 for every new lead registered, whether it converts or not, and additional cash points if the deal closes, based on the value of the order (up to $2,000). UniRewards members can also earnpoints for engaging in various activities that support Unitrends' products and services, such as inviting other sales reps to join the programme. Members can then redeem their reward points for cash that is loaded onto a personalised, reloadable UniRewards Bancorp Visa® debit card.Whilst the amounts are labeled in dollars, they are redeemable in any currency.
• Resellers that have trained technical resources and can provide the first line support can claim an additional 5% discount, making up to 40% on registered deals.
• A 48-hour turnaround time for approvals on deal registrations.
• An overall service level agreement (SLA) response time of less than 24 business hours.
• A 10 business day SLA for payout of reward points.
• Quarterly incentives to earn extra rewards.
• Online training and curriculum for sales, pre-sales and support representatives, with new curriculum scheduled to debut later this month.
• Ready-to-use marketing toolkits and co-branded materials.

Carl Dipane, Technical Director, CD-Datahouse, explained why the combination of Unitrends products, partnered with UniRewards is a strong combination for the EMEA market: " When we first started working with the company it was their technology that grabbed our attention, but we soon found that their people were exceptional, whether they were technical, sales, channel or even their order/admin staff, everyone is extremely knowledgeable and exceptionally helpful. As one of their first key partners in the UK, we install, configure and help our customers manage the Unitrends solution, and we have participated in Unitrends Beta testing of new products. For us, they are definitely the friendliest and easiest vendor we deal with."

Unrivaled Technology and Support Accelerate Channel Growth
Unitrends recently reported 2012 as the best year in the company's history, and the same holdstrue for the channel programme. Highlights include:
• 104 percent growth in channel sales, 2012 over 2011.
• 198 percent growth in new value-added reseller (VAR) accounts, 2012 over 2011, with 200 net new accounts signed. Unitrends' partner ecosystem now consists of more than 600 organisations worldwide.
• 100 percent growth in channel staff within Unitrends, 2012 over 2011, and 154 percent growth in the number of channel representatives supporting the company.
• Nearly 1,700 UniRewards members since the pilot programme launched in October 2012.

Driving the channel programme's success is the company's commitment to delivering simple, affordable and best-in-class data protection solutions for heterogeneous environments, unrivaled customer support that strives for a satisfaction rating of 98 percent or greater, and procedures that make it easy for channel partners to do business with Unitrends.

Kevin Moreau, managing director, EMEA, Unitrends explained, “Unitrends is poised for tremendous success in the backup and recovery market. The company’s high-quality products are extremely well-positioned for what customers need to solve their backup headaches and plan for disaster recovery. I will be working hard to recruit channel partners to extend Unitrends’ existing high-growth strategy into the EMEA market. With our world-class technology, leadership and network of partners, there is no doubt in my mind that we will succeed. Our mission is to provide our channel ecosystem with technology they feel confident selling, support and service they trust, a company that’s easy to do business with. We want our partners to know that we are committed to their success, just as they are a crucial part of ours. UniRewards was designed with simplicity and transparency in mind, to give back to the companies that enable us to be successful on a daily basis."