CHANNEL CHIEF
VAIDY PANCHABIKESAN , Regional Sales Director , Kissflow , is an India headquartered Digital Workplace built in 2012 by OrangeScape . The company offers a unified Digital Workplace for all organisations ’ work needs including Process Management , Custom Workflow Process , Workflow for Google Apps and Collaboration . Panchabikesan describes his management philosophy as the “ Power of Simple ” and believes in providing his team , channel partners and end-user customers with tools that simplify processes and best position them for success . He explains to us how the low-code , no-code platform vendor is developing its business and growing the channel in the Middle East and Africa ( MEA ) market .
Describe your current job role and the parts that are somewhat challenging ?
As regional sales director , I am in charge of all aspects of Kissflow ’ s business across the Middle East and Africa . My first objective has been to grow the regional team and we now have dedicated sales and channel development managers on board . As part of our growth strategy , we are also looking to hire regional customer success managers in the near future .
Kissflow has traditionally generated business through inbound activities . Our established customer base in the region has largely resulted from our online presence and brand reputation that have led organisations to approach us , sign up for a subscription and subsequently build a long-term relationship . Over the last year
Currently , we have a scalable channel model wherein we work directly with channel organisations who resell our low-code , no-code platform to customers . however , we have actively moved towards an outbound sales strategy with the appointment of a 40-member channel sales team based in Chennai , India . This channeldriven go-to-market strategy is especially relevant to our operations in the Middle East where our objective is to move towards a model wherein 90 % of billing is through our channel within the next two years . This of course translates to a tremendous opportunity for our channel partners .
Can you explain how your company works with channel partners ?
Currently , we have a scalable channel model wherein we work directly with channel organisations who resell our low-code , no-code platform to customers . However , our intention now is to empower our partners to enhance their value proposition by themselves , leveraging our platform to rapidly develop innovative and custom solutions which they can then package for their end customers . We are therefore keen on recruiting system integrators ( SIs ) that are focused on custom development into our channel ecosystem .
How do you ensure channel partners flourish in a highly competitive market ?
One of the benefits of utilising our low-code , no-code platform is that it can drastically shorten solution development cycles for our partners . Applications that would otherwise
Vaidy Panchabikesan , Regional Sales Director , Kissflow
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 42 61