Kennedy noted the goal was to have about "a dozen or so" around the world and that there are 10. The Master VAR program was designed to enable smaller resellers to remain active in the Microsoft channel program by becoming sales affiliates of the larger companies – the SBS Group, Socius and Tribridge in this country. Affiliates can benefit from the margins the Master VARs receive. Kennedy noted one goal that remains unfulfilled is the level of sales. "We have struggled in getting the volume of transactions up," he said. By the way, Wickham, who exited about five months ago, never updated his LinkedIn page to reflect his experience with Dynamics.
KENNEDY: MASTER VARS ON TRACK Featured
The program launched with the naming of three North American Master VARs in October 2010 is still on track, Doug Kennedy, VP of enterprise partners and sales for the Dynamics program, said this week. (There is one large caveat at the end of this item.) Kennedy is no longer responsible for the program he launched, but "I am sort of pinch hitting," he noted at Microsoft Convergence this week. Kennedy, who handles primarily enterprise partners for AX, is pinch hitting in the GP, NAV space because Rich Wickham, who took the partner sales VP job a year ago, transferred to the Window group after about seven months "with a big bump up," one VAR said.
