Display specialist ViewSonic has officially launched a dedicated partner portal for its channel partners, Finch Club.
Benefits for approved members include ViewSonic product information, images and marketing materials, promotions, project registration, as well as sales and marketing support.
The launch coincides with the firm’s bid to increase its share of the audio visual (AV) market. With ViewSonic’s channel split 50/50 between IT and pro AV resellers, it is currently working alongside distributor Ingram Micro to court AV specialists.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work on developing that channel,” says Mark Lufkin, managing director at ViewSonic Europe (pictured here with some finches, the company mascot). “It’s a market that’s growing rapidly; the margins are better and you can sell a whole business around it.”
Lufkin is particularly targeting smaller resellers who may feel neglected by ViewSonic’s competition. “We have an interest in working with the next tier down from the big guys – being close to them and helping them build their business,” he says.
“There are a lot of smaller partners out there that feel they’re not big enough to warrant a badge of approval from our bigger competitors,” adds Nilu Karavadra, ViewSonic’s head of marketing for Europe. “We want to hand hold those guys; we see them as bigger fish.”
Lufkin is adamant though, that any prospective partner must add value to the relationship. “I’m interested more in specialisation than any volume accreditation for partners,” he explains. “None of this gold, platinum, silver, bronze; I think they’re missing the point a little bit.
“I’m interested in partners that can deliver us a value, and it doesn’t really matter how big they are...The programme is about finding partners that can do the installation, explain the product, do the cabling, do the services around it.”
To date ViewSonic’s portfolio has mainly comprised projectors and PC displays. However in response to the shrinking market for PCs, it is now moving further into large format, interactive and intelligent displays – those which can connect to the internet without a PC.
“The primary reason for having a display was to display what’s on a PC. With mobile devices that’s changing; the display will become a secondary display,” explains Lufkin.
