Assumptions that a software partner equates to trained, qualified consultants may be wrong. Consulting companies promote themselves as Microsoft, Oracle, SAP or other software company “partner”. You may see them even refer to being a “Global” partner or “Certified” partner.  What does this mean to the buyer looking for professional services related to particular software and what are the things to look out for?

First, most partner programs have specific product/service focus areas or categories in which their partnership relates, which can include education, specific software, infrastructure, or certain types of service (such as security, hosting, or support).  Be aware that if a company says they are a partner, their training or experience may be in one particular product or service.  For the purposes of this article, I focused largely on the services providers.

Generally speaking, when an organization is a “partner” it does not necessarily mean that they have qualified persons in the product or service you are interested in.  Most of the software companies have three main levels such as “partner; “certified partner”, and “gold certified partner”.  In some cases, the first level does not have staff competency requirements1. Some software companies have programs that are nothing more than signing up for a program account and getting access to some materials on their website that could not be accessed without the account.  Some have a partner level that requires signing up, applying and obtaining approval for partner status and paying a fee, which grants the partner some benefits, but still do not require that the partner have certain staff competencies in the software products.  The higher levels generally require the partner organization to have reached and on an ongoing basis maintain professionals with certain qualifications, which may include certifications.  The key here is, as with any professional services, it is the people who obtain the qualifications and therefore, when picking a professional services provider, what matters most.  Even when staff competencies are required for an organization to be a certain credentialed partner, the individuals put forward to work on a project for you may not have the credentials.

Software partner arrangements include these types of benefits to the partner in varying degrees depending upon their level and the software company:

• Associating the software brand with the partner
• Access to training that may only be given to customers or partners
• Discounts on training
• Access to online knowledge base or support
• Access to the software company’s support staff
• Free software to develop and demo your solutions
• Access to free software upgrades
• Marketing materials and resources
• Listing as a partner on their website

Some benefits generally reserved for partners with a strong relationship or advanced partnership arrangement include:

Below summarizes the partner programs of three of the major software companies with respect to professional services.
 
ORACLE

MICROSOFT



SAP

1 Required staff competencies means training, experience and/or certification in related products. 

The most important question to answer when selecting a service provider is: What is the experience and expertise most relevant for the service I require?  If you are in the process of selecting a software product, keep in mind that a service provider who is a partner to a software company may be biased toward recommending that product because they resell, or get a referral fee, or would prefer to provide services related to that product.  If you are looking for a consultant to help resolve issues that you are having and it’s unclear whether its software issues or process issues, consider that some software consultants may be experienced implementing a product but not how the process works that the software supports.

Questions to ask a company who says they are a partner:

• How long have you been a partner?
• Which specific products or services are you certified or have qualifications in?
• How many people do you have who are certified or have qualifications in the product?
• Who would work on my project and what are their qualifications (training and experience) in the product?
• What is your experience with ____ process?  (the business process that the software is supporting)

The top things to remember:

1. If they are not a “Certified” partner, they are not necessarily required to have any qualifications in the product.
2. Ask for specific qualifications of the individual persons who would work on your project before you engage a consultant.

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