Samsung’s new Samsung One partner programme has seen “brilliant” initial engagement since it launched at the start of November, according to B2B director Joe Walsh.
Speaking to Mobile News, Walsh said the programme, which aims to incentivise Samsung’s B2B partner base to up its performance through a portal that provides product training, reward schemes, and a four-tier certification scale (Registered, Authorised, Advanced, and Elite), had been well received since launching on November 5.
“The level of engagement has been brilliant,” he said. He declined to specify the exact number of partners that had signed up, but Onecom and Carphone Warehouse Business are confirmed inaugural Elite partners. “We’ve certainly brought on board all of the key partners that we would have hoped to, so it’s been fantastic,” Walsh added. “We’ve had some very positive responses about how we’ve taken the time to listen to all aspects of training, educating and rewarding those businesses, so it’s been very positive.”
Walsh believes the programme comes at an important time, with businesses working remotely. “Our vision stands to build a best-in-class collaborative platform and build a community that fuels the development and growth of our partners no matter their size, and the pandemic has certainly outlined the need to address the challenge of remote working through collaboration and mobility,” he said.
“Key B2B themes like security, remote working, and digital transformation have started to blur and and that presents a challenge to upskill and educate partners remotely, which is why we’ve introduced a dedicated learning zone that condenses and simplifies key Samsung solutions like Knox, ruggedised, or Enterprise Edition and puts them into bitesize, interactive learning sessions that provide accreditation and rewards for the sole purpose of giving the partner the best chance of articulating and promoting those solutions.”
Additionally, he said, the certification system will be helpful for customers who can see that a Samsung partner has achieved a certain level of certification in the programme.
Although Samsung One is currently exclusive to Samsung partners in the UK, Walsh says there are ongoing discussions around expanding it to other territories, subject to its performance.
