Panasonic Toughens Up Its European Partner Initiative

Panasonic Computer Product Solutions (CPS) has enrolled three UK distributors to its Toughbook Engage Partner Programme. Avnet, Centerprise and SDG will be supported by six premier and 165 registered partners as the Japanese company pumps up its UK presence.

Members of the Engage Partner Programme (EPP) will receive dedicated support, promotions and rewards to drive sales. The programme is centred around the Engage Partner Portal where members have access to various marketing assists.

Tough tiers

Depending on tier levels, EPP members can find co-branded marketing campaigns, online product training, marketing development funds, qualified leads, preferential pricing or “points for prizes” for registering deals, discounted demonstration units, and the latest product launch information.

Ata recent partner event in Croatia, CPS revealed an eLearning programme for partner certification.

Panasonic claims to be faring well in an otherwise declining PC market and has quoted figures from VDC Research showing that it owns 65.8 percent of the rugged and durable notebook market in Europe, a lead it hopes to repeat in the tougher world of tablets.

Kevin Jones, European sales director, at CPS, said: “Panasonic Toughbooks and Toughpad tablets have always been designed to provide businesses with specialist computing devices to help get the best from their mobile workforces. By partnering with channel specialists and ISVs, we are able to deliver those solutions even more quickly and effectively to our customers.”

According to Panasonic, its current UK channel is doing well and has registered over 800 leads worth over £200 million in just over a year. The company hopes to increase this over the coming year through the cash and assistance initiative and  by supporting ISVs developing specialist applications for Android and Windows 8.

Sophie Nicolay, European channel marketing manager at CPS, commented, “Working ever more strategically with channel partners has never been so important. With a growing market and an exciting product roadmap opening up even more opportunities, CPS has put the development of its channel network at the heart of its go-to-market strategy in order to offer customers the best solutions available on the market today.”