ORLANDO, FLA — A week after its former company-mate Symantec debuted its post-split partner program, Veritas followed suit, introducing a program is calls Partner Force.

The new program was introduced at the company’s PartnerLink conference here, which is being held together with Symantec’s PartnerEngage event.

According to Veritas North American channel chief Rick Kramer, the new program was designed to meet partner requests to reduce complexity and become easier to do business with.

“Our problems came down to complexity. It was hard to get data, there were gaps in enablement, and there were boom or bust rebates,” Kramer told partners, then adding that the company “wanted to make changes sooner than now, but because we had one program up until last week, we couldn’t make them.”

Like Symantec’s new program, Partner Force revamps Veritas’ growth accelerator rebate, removing the annual limit and replacing it with a quarterly target. The revamped program rebates one per cent of partner revenues up to its revenue target, 20 per cent or revenues from 100 per cent of target to 120 per cent, and 30 per cent from 125 to 140 per cent of target.

Along with that change, the company introduced changes to its opportunity registration program, doubling the deal cap from $500,000 (U.S.) to $1 million, streamlining the approval process, and introducing a 60-day grace period for partners who have a registered opportunity, but then lose one of the “expert” staff members required to qualify for that opportunity registration.

The company has also decided to make pre- and pos-sales services delivery spend eligible for partner development funds.

Requirements for the program change as a result of the Symantec split, with top-tier Platinum partners now requiring expert competencies in just two fields instead of three, the result of only five competencies being included in the Veritas program, as opposed to 13 competencies under the previous combined Symantec program. And all of the company’s technical accreditations have been combined under one roof in the Veritas certified specialist designation.

The company has also removed customer satisfaction survey requirements for upper-tier partners, but will not require partner to nominate a customer for a case study.

“We love the intent of a customer service requirement, but we’re trying to make that more relevant,” said Erin Daly, director of Americas channel operations and programs at Veritas.

The program follows Veritas’ strategy of “placing bigger bets on fewer partners,” announced a year ago and continuing today, Kramer told attendees. Currently, the company counts some 30 platinum partners and 57 gold partners in its partner ranks.

“We want partners that will provide choice and value to our customers,” Kramer said.