RedDot /OpenText Hates Partners

RedDot Hates Partners

Some software companies love partners. Think Microsoft. Or Sitecore, for that matter. RedDot ain’t like that.

RedDot claims their professional services don’t compete with partners. What they mean is “Our professional services team hangs onto the technically simple, high value, high profit customers and doesn’t compete when a project looks like a train wreck, or the client has spent all of their budget on our software and has nothing left for implementation services.”

Partner of the Year one Year – Non-existent the Next

One way you can tell that a company really doesn’t like partners. Turn over. Partners win “partner of the year” one year. And they’re gone the next. Look at RedDot:

• Telus Mobility wins the 2005 “partner of the year.” By 2007, they’re not even a Premium Partner anymore.

I heard from a client that RedDot shot one of their very best partners because they dared to recommend a client spend $2000 on Google Mini as a search engine rather than $50,000 for LiveServer. It seems that partners that care about the success of their clients, rather than lining RedDot pockets, have very short lifespans.

Why Should Buyers Care?

Because it means there’s no one to call when things go sideways. Your stuck with RedDot pro services at $2200 per day. When they’re available. And when they return your phone call.

The only useful “best practices” documentation that’s available was written in 2004 by a company that isn’t even a RedDot partner anymore.

If can find a company that claims to be qualified in RedDot, they can charge a fortune because there’s no competition. And they can run away from failures and move on to the next project.

Bottomline – you better be prepared for your IT team to become a fulltime, in-house RedDot consulting group. Because you won’t find one outside of your walls.