Channel Sales Manager
Fingerprint Consultancy
Total years of experience :17 years, 11 Months
Designation Chronology:
• Jul 2011 to Present: Sales Channel Manager
• May 2008 to Jun 2011: Project Manager
• Jun 2006 to Apr 2008: Systems Engineer
Awards and Recognition:
• 2016: Received the Excellence Award for expertly negotiating and concluding the first Cloud deal for HPE in KSA.
• 2016 / 2015 / 2014 / 2013: Exceeded sales targets posting record sales figures for HPE Solutions.
• 2015 / 2014 / 2013: Declared HPE Best Channel Partner for consistent performance across the 3-year period.
Partnership Programs: Succeeded in fulfilling partnership requirements, met eligibility conditions and participated in Partner Programs of prestigious companies that included:
• Platinum Partnership Level - HP Enterprise
• Gold Partnership Level - Oracle
• Gold Partnership Level - Microsoft
• Gold Partnership Level - Cisco
• Silver Partnership Level - Cloudera
• Silver Partnership Level - Hortonworks
• Silver Partnership Level - IBM
• Professional Partnership Level - VMware
Key Projects to Credit (Role - Project Manager):
• Alinma Bank (KSA)
• Al-Maktoum International Airport (UAE)
• Smartworld (UAE)
• Mobinil (Egypt)
• Wataniya (Maldives)
• Bank Du Caire Bank (Egypt)
Key Responsibilities as Sales Channel Manager:
Sales Planning and Business Development:
• Report to the Managing Director and interact with the Board of Directors to ensure accurate policy decisions pertaining to sales and marketing, brand management, tackling competition and new market entry.
• Prepare the annual sales plan, obtain management sanctions on the final sales and marketing budget, appoint teams for each market and customer segment and implement the sales strategy.
• Discuss performance requirements with sales teams and ensure defined commercial targets are satisfactorily met.
• Present the marketing agenda to senior executives, outline advertising and promotion plans, market company’s products and services and acquire new customers; collaborate with channel partners to execute marketing plans.
• Under Partnership Programs, promote products of Principals (HPE, Oracle, Microsoft, Cisco, VMware etc.) and implement action plans to achieve sales targets in a time-bound manner.
• Steadily grow customer-base through regular interactions, design and hold client engagement initiatives to secure more business from existing clients and build a solid database of prospective clients across KSA.
• Ensure delivery of excellent services to key accounts, communicate with client representatives at major corporate enterprises to obtain new business requirements and resolve issues (if any) promptly.
• Lead business development initiatives, scan markets to identify opportunities, pitch company’s offerings, leverage Principals’ brand value to market products and close high-value deals.
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Key Responsibilities as Sales Channel Manager:
Partner Program Administration:
• Liaise with authorized distributors, business associates and on-field sales teams to boost sales volumes, gather inputs regarding product specification demand and revise strategies to combat competition.
• On-board eligible channel partners to reach new / remote markets, allocate targets and monitor performance.
• Facilitate sale of products as per defined terms under contract with Principals (HPE, Oracle, Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, Cloudera etc.) and submit reports for review to the senior management and Principals.
• Train System Integrators, Technicians, Sales and Client Relationship Executives to efficiently handle assigned tasks and deliver quality IT solutions, services and products in line with Principals’ established brand image.
• Regularly hold review meetings to understand hurdles in achieving sales targets, address issues (finance, HR, marketing and distribution) to streamline sales operations.
Vendor Management:
• Manage vendor performance to ensure that system integration orders / jobs are completed within deadlines at client locations at optimum costs to maximize profit margins.
• Enable delivery of products and services in the areas of enterprise application integration, software programming and business process management solutions through effective vendor coordination and control.
Key Responsibilities as Project Manager:
Project Planning and Implementation:
• Gathered business requirements to outline the scope of projects, presented Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to finalize the project schedule and outlined project controls for deployment on commencement of projects.
• Executed project activities as defined in the Project Charter, maintained project documents - statement of scope and project goals, stakeholder involvement and rights and responsibilities of the Project Manager.
• Discussed and implemented project controls and set up formal communication and reporting mechanism to enable close monitoring of each project until closure.
• Coordinated procurement activities, administered vendor performance for compliance with cost, quality and delivery parameters and expedited orders to maintain project timelines.
• Communicated with the Project Management Office (PMO), secured approvals from stakeholders in case of revision in key factors affecting project completion such as finance, manpower, technology, procurement etc.
• Handled change requests, discussed modifications with clients, held meetings with project teams to implement changes as per revised project schedules and prepared daily activity reports.
• Delivered projects in time to customers on receipt of approvals and ensured customer satisfaction.
Project Risk Management:
• Identified project risks across the project life-cycle, segregated risks in terms of product, technical, customer, business environment, process, legal risks, and other business risks causing adverse impact on revenues.
• Estimated the probability of risk occurrence, devised the risk management process, assigned budgets and contingency funds, finalized proven risk response measures and tracked potential risks until completion.
Project Monitoring and Review:
• Headed project review meetings to track project progress, resolved technical glitches and operations bottlenecks, rationalized processes as required and monitored performance of teams.
• Submitted project review reports to stakeholders, responded to queries / concerns raised by the management / clients, communicated additional fund / manpower requirements and noted recommendations, if any.
• Assigned responsibilities to project teams, obtained updates through project dashboards, maintained special provision worksheets, set Earned Value Measurements for performance appraisal and increased accountability.
Key Responsibilities as Systems Engineer:
• Handled pre-sales, scheduled meetings with clients to present company’s products and services, communicated the value proposition, prepared and submitted project proposals and acquired orders.
• Coordinated assigned projects, participated in system integration at client locations, applied technical expertise in setting up key enterprise applications, contributed to programming and provided after-sales support.
• In-charge of system installation, upgrade and maintenance, set-up IT infrastructure to facilitate system upgrades, reduced system down-time, identified bugs and ensured bug fixes for software applications.
• Conducted research to track latest trends and evolving business requirements in IT infrastructure building, IT services and solutions management, software applications and products across different sectors / industries.
• Provided IT consulting to assigned clients, enhanced customer satisfaction and built excellent business relations with active key accounts.