This audio was created using Microsoft Azure Speech Services
At its Xperience Efficiency 2013 event early this month in Washington, D.C., Schneider Electric announced two new partner programs: the EcoStruxure Technology Partner Program for technology partnerships and its EcoStruxure Alliances Program for global strategic alliance partners.
An EcoStruxure Alliance Partner is the highest level of partnership with Schneider Electric. These partners, which currently include IBM, Microsoft and Cisco, collaborate with Schneider to drive innovation and technology development, shape market trends, and develop a joint go-to-market strategy around energy efficiency. EcoStruxure Technology Partners develop solutions that can connect and add value to the Schneider Electric EcoStruxure architecture.
One of the driving forces behind the programs is Kim Tremblay, Senior Director of Global Alliance Marketing for Schneider Electric. I caught up with Tremblay at the event and she agreed to a short video interview to talk about the new programs and the benefits they provide to customers and partners.
“We’ve been partnering for a very long time at Schneider Electric in each individual business unit,” she says. “These partner programs are going to roll them up to a higher level and give our partners increased visibility inside Schneider Electric and with our customers.”
For partners, the benefits include access to Schneider Electric’s huge global footprint and an increase in scope of how they can work with Schneider Electric.
“They have the ability now to not only work in one business unit but across multiple business units to develop joint solutions,” Tremblay says. “We have a structured way within the program that partners are able to develop joint technology and get it tested and approved.”
Partners can now earn the StruxureWare Tested and Approved logo, which gets to another benefit partners receive: visibility through Schneider Electric marketing programs. That includes the Xperience Efficiency event, during which partners including Microsoft and OSIsoft were displaying their products.
Customers likewise benefit in lots of ways, Tremblay says. “First, the solutions we jointly create [with our partners] are going to solve some of their energy problems,” she says. “They’re going to be integrated, so no longer will you be going to disparate companies to get different solutions. We’ll be doing that integration work for them, so it’ll be much more seamless for the customer.” With the integration work already done, customers will also be able to complete projects more quickly, she says, and have peace of mind that the products will work well together.
As we’ve covered before in this blog, Schneider Electric also sees partnering as a way to address some serious issues.
“The energy dilemma facing our world today is more than any one person or company can tackle on their own. Collectively, working together with our partners, we’re going to help to solve some of those problems,” Tremblay says. “There are lot of great minds out there wrapping their heads around the energy challenges and we want to be working with them.”
You can see Schneider Electric and its partners first-hand at the Xperience Efficiency 2013 event in Dallas this week, which runs through Thursday, June 20.
