Compellent Enhances All Channel Model With Launch Of Quote Center™ February 7, 2005
Online product configuration tool enables channel partners to rapidly design and quote customized storage area networks for their prospects and customers
Minneapolis, Feb. 7, 2005 — Compellent Technologies, a provider of modular, affordable storage solutions distributed exclusively through a select national network of business partners, today announced Quote Center, a Web-based product configuration tool that enables Compellent business partners to rapidly design and quote customized storage area networks online with just a Web browser and Internet access.
Quote Center is accessible from within Compellent's Business Partner Portal. Typically, storage resellers are forced to manage an array of custom forms, paperwork and details, emailing them between customers, vendors and internal management. Now, with a single click, Compellent business partners gain entry to a centralized location to rapidly build and quote new or add-on orders, easily modify or revise existing quotes, view and manage all of their quotes across their entire customer base, and create professional, partner branded invoices.
"With our all channel model, our primary goal has always been to have our business partners become an extension of our company," said Dennis Johnson, sales and marketing executive vice president for Compellent. "Quote Center provides yet another tool that makes it easy to do business with us and enables our partners to instantly respond to their clients with storage solutions tailored to their needs."
Quote Center is fully integrated with Compellent's product database and CRM system, removing complexity from the quoting process by automatically adding key accessories and cables as partners configure an order. Powerful error checking verifies pricing and part number accuracy, eliminating incorrect configurations, and built-in margin analysis tools enable business partners to analyze costs and adjust profit margin for every quote.
"A growing best practice among IT vendors is to provide channel partners with collaborative tools that help them quickly and easily build a successful, profitable practice around specific technologies," said Michael Haines, Gartner Research Vice President, Business Strategies. "These tools accelerate the ability of the channel to respond to clients in a more timely and accurate fashion – contributing to the financial success of both IT vendors and their partners."
Unlike other manufacturers who tap resellers for distribution but ultimately compete with them via direct sales, Compellent has no direct sales force and focuses all of its resources on helping partners sell and close deals. With its unique "all-channel" model, and a powerful, innovative storage product offering, Compellent has rapidly grown a national network of business partners in a highly competitive marketplace.
What Compellent Business Partners Are Saying
"Compellent's Quote Center enables me to create and deliver customized quotes to my prospects with speed and precision," said Scott Winslow, president of Winslow Technology Group. "This tool helps me quickly capitalize on new business opportunities and rapidly serve my clients."
"Quote Center puts me in direct control of how I present the Compellent solution to my customers," said Mike Cardinal, general manager of Convergent Storage Solutions. "I don't have to rely on a vendor for the information I need and I can create quotes in minutes, leaving me more time to spend with my clients."
About Storage Center
Storage Center builds on its Dynamic Block Architecture to deliver a scalable, open-systems hardware platform that is designed to allow businesses to mix and match disk drives, controllers and enclosures; an integrated foundation of core storage capabilities providing functionality previously available only in high-end systems; a suite of software applications that can optimize utilization, automating replication and speeding data recovery; and a single, intuitive, centralized management interface streamlining storage administration.
About Compellent
Compellent delivers affordable, modular storage solutions exclusively through business partners that provide companies of all sizes enterprise storage capabilities without big system costs or complexities. For more information, visit www.compellent.com.