Schneider Electric’s New Edge Partner Program: 5 Things To Know’

Here are five things partners need to know about Schneider Electric’s new innovative partner program, designed to help them develop a new managed power services practice.

Revving Up Partners’ Recurring Revenue Engine

Schneider Electric launched its Edge Software and Digital Services Program Monday at XChange+ with the goal of enabling channel partners to develop a managed power services practice to capture new recurring revenue in the growing edge computing market.

“Partners are evolving beyond our traditional hardware,” Gail Fredrickson, director of channel marketing and strategic execution at Schneider Electric, told CRN. “We’re laying the foundation for our partners to establish this proactive practice around managed power services. We developed this program to help partners reduce the barrier to entry in this managed power services market. We’re really trying to help them capture that recurring revenue, which is so important to their success.”

The program is part of the mySchneider IT Solutions Partner Program, formerly known as the APC Channel Partner Program. The new Edge Software and Digital Services Program provides lucrative financial incentives, support tools and two certifications to enable channel partners to create net-new service revenue from managing their customers’ power infrastructure.

With its sights set on the growing services opportunities at the edge, CRN breaks down the five things Schneider Electric channel partners need to know about the new partner program.

Ongoing Life-Cycle Rebates, 1.5X Additional Revenue

The Edge Software and Digital Services Program takes a unique approach to providing partners who invest in the new program with incentives. Fredrickson said partners can earn “double-digit” financial rebates throughout the life cycle of the solution they provide the managed service for.

“It’s a multistep rebate process. It’s around a few parts in the life cycle. The first is attaching and selling our contracts, a life cycle for that initial sale. But then when you activate those licenses and connect them to the power hardware, there will be another portion of the rebate. Then finally, we will incent them on the renewal as well,” said Fredrickson. “So we’re trying to make sure we are really giving them financial incentives all the way through that customer life-cycle journey.”

Schneider Electric said about 27 percent of solution providers offer a managed power service. However, the addition of these power services adds 1.5X additional revenue over the life cycle of the product.

Premium Certification

The new partner program has two certification paths. Schneider Electric’s more advanced certification is dubbed the Premium Edge Software and Digital Services certification, designed for partners looking to invest in building their own managed power services practice.

“This one is truly designed for those looking to incorporate their own managed power practice. Premium is for those partners who say, ‘It’s great that [the company] can do these things and I can pass it through, but this really needs to be part of my recurring revenue stream and my services offering. I want to manage this for my customers. How do I do that? What type of technical training do I need in order to be able to manage and monitoring my customers assets on my own?’” said Fredrickson.

Select Certification

The second type of certification is the Select Edge Software and Digital Services certification. This certification is for channel partners who just want to buy and resell Schneider Electric’s solutions and services. Partners get access to sell Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure IT Software and Digital Services offering that provides 24/7 remote monitoring as well as remote and on-site support.

“Select is for our partners who are looking to do a more of a buy and resell on the services. For example, if you take our monitoring and dispatch offer—that’s where we monitor and dispatch on the customers’ access—that is a sell-through offer,” said Fredrickson. “Then the training for Select will allow them to capitalize on those types of offers, really making the most of the services that Schneider Electric has to offer.”

Step-By-Step ‘Playbook,’ Access To Business Development Team

Schneider Electric has created a step-by-step operational e-guide dubbed “The Essential Guide to Growing Your Business with Managed Power Services.”

“This is truly the playbook of how you can grow your managed power services,” said Fredrickson. “It is comprehensive. It was developed with our first-in partners. So it’s everything from how to select an offer package to how do you price this and train your staff. And then how do you make sure you have the right documentation in place for your customers in order to have a successful practice. It’s very comprehensive. It’s not a quick reference guide.”

Partners in the new program also gain access to Schneider Electric’s business development team.

“So if you are one of those newer partners looking to get into this and you need more than just a self-guided step-by-step guide, we have a business development team who will work with you to make sure it’s a collaborative process, you have somewhere to ask questions and someone to really hash out the details with,” she said. “We will be there every step of the way.”

Access To Schneider Electric’s Partner Success Managers

Partners in the Premium certification program will be provided with support from Schneider Electric’s Partner Success Management team. Channel partners will gain access to a Partner Success Manager who will help guide them through their development journey while also accelerating their time to revenue.

“So once you are up and running, our Partner Success Managers are there to continue that support as you move through the maturity cycle,” said Fredrickson. “We’ll have our Partner Success Management team work with you to make sure you’re successful. Having that touch and that subject matter expert alongside you is something that partners really need as they embark on this because it’s such a new type of managed service.”

Partners also get access to a Software and Services community in the Exchange Platform, an open business platform that connects industry experts and technology partners to increase competitive positioning and business innovation.

Fredrickson said channel partners are the “heart and soul” of the company.

“We primarily go to market via our channel. So we don’t want to put out a program and say, ‘Best of luck.’ This is a new offer. There is nothing like this program in the industry,” she said. “We want partners to build this long-term business together with us.”