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CRN®, a media brand of The Channel Company, awarded the mySchneider Panel Builder program with a 5-Star rating in its 2021 Partner Program Guide, only 1 year after its launch at our Barcelona Innovation Summit. The highly competitive 5-Star rating is awarded to an exclusive group of companies that offer solution providers the best of the best by going above and beyond in their partner programs. Each year CRN develops its Partner Program Guide to provide the channel community with a detailed look at the partner programs offered by IT manufacturers, software developers, service companies, and distributors. Vendors are scored based on investments in program offerings, partner profitability, partner training, education and support, marketing programs and resources, sales support, and communication.
As highlighted in a previous post, today’s panel builders are challenged to remain competitive under new market conditions. From economic socialization and evolving social needs to technology revolutions, learning and embracing how the digital transformation can help support and grow their business is luckily not something that has to be to be done alone.
The value of the Schneider Electric and Panel Builder Partnership
Lou: Winning a 5-star accreditation for the first time in the CRN Partner Program Guide is an honor, and with leadership comes responsibilities. The mission of our program is simple: create more profitable growth opportunities for our most loyal and best-performing Panel Builder partners. Nadège, what does this reward symbolize for you?
Nadège: Let me start by saying that partners are at the heart of Schneider Electric’s ecosystem. Today, Schneider Electric teams with more than 500,000 partners worldwide. We have always valued partnerships, and have refined our programs by listening to their business needs and collecting feedback that is turned into actionable ideas. Every day more than 45,000 panel building companies trust our teams globally. The core values of the partnership remain, but how we deliver them to our partners is adapting to the new experience-based economy.
Over the next 20 years, together we will shape the new electric and digital world, one that is significantly different than the world we’ve experienced until now, and this new electric world will affect panel builders. The market is calling for change: with more systems and more integrated software built into architectures that target growth segments. What this means to a Panel Builder owner is that they will have to make a business choice to adopt a new mindset. The big picture is that the total growth of electricity is going to be massive, about 62% by 2050. As end users increasingly demand greater efficiency and control over their energy, panel builders will need to create meaningful value for their clients. Those who will thrive in the new electric world will also focus on developing their reputation as trusted advisors – coming with future-ready solutions that consider their customers’ CapEx and OpEx.
Growing business opportunities with sustainable models
Lou: And with mySchneider Panel Builder program we are working towards connecting application expertise, igniting growth, and enabling success for our partners by supporting them and delivering to them best-in-class services and solutions to better serve their customers. Today we work closely with 40,000 Panel Builders in electrical distribution and 6,000 in process automation. What message would you like to give to our Panel Builders for their future success in these ever-changing industries?
Nadège: I’d like to deliver a message of encouragement and empowerment. We have plenty of examples in our business path that demonstrate what partnership means: growing together based on common values with sustainable models. Sometimes, we might lose together too, and what’s important is to work constantly and mutually on trust. Learning together from your failures and then winning bigger again is part of the partnership philosophy. As the stakes grow, so does the competition. I believe that in our industry, which undergoes constant change, investing in meaningful partnerships can increase a panel builder’s pull-through and extend their business into new activities. This can further help them to differentiate from the competition to become more international and access more complex and profitable business, it can help them address complex challenges with effective support and benefits are endless.
Listening and Learning from Partners
Lou: The CRN 5-star rating will help us broaden our reach and extend the value of mySchneider Panel Builder program. Simply put, the awarding of 5 stars means that our program is among the best of the best, by delivering support and resources to both our partner channel and our valued customers. As the CEO of The Channel Company, Blaine Raddon, states, “As innovation continues to fuel the speed and intricacy of technology, solution providers need partners that can keep up and support their developing business.”
Nadège: So, while Schneider Electric is certainly proud to be awarded 5 stars from CRN, we want to share it with those who helped us achieve it—our Panel Builders and our teams. We must also continue to learn and to listen to the needs of our customers. What they tell us could become an innovative idea or a daily pain point to resolve. Our diverse and global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. Schneider Electric delivers solutions through leading-edge technology and design. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the partners’ organization, fueled by the goal of helping our Panel Builders thrive and enabling them to grow with purpose and in a sustainable way.
Lou: Wondering what it takes to join the mySchneider Panel Builder program – or where to find a certified Panel Builder for your next project? Visit our program page or watch the below video.
