Quadrant And Mainline Seal Partner Deal

March 19, 2012 Dan Burger

Quadrant Software, makers of document management and fax products for IBM i and other platforms, and Mainline Information Systems, one of the largest resellers of IBM Power Systems, mainframes, and System x machines in the United States, have a new partnership. Mainline gains a product line that fits in well with the infrastructure its customers have in place and that will meet customer needs relating to business process issues, productivity, improved efficiencies and lower costs. Quadrant benefits by gaining access to a new and quite large customer base that has come to trust the Mainline name and way of doing business.

Quadrant, which already has a partnership with master IT distributor Avnet that involves marketing an appliance-type product, likes its fit with Mainline because Mainline is committed to IBM platforms and the agreement with Mainline involves the selling of Quadrant software. Avnet sells through its own reseller chain. Mainline sells directly to the end user without any resellers involved.

Mainline’s overall business philosophy with regard to customer support earns points as well, says Quadrant CEO Steve Woodard. Customer surveys at Quadrant, Woodard says, prove a very high level of customer satisfaction, which is directly related to customer support. Linking with a partner that also places an emphasis on customer support was important, the CEO says.

Another important aspect of working with Mainline, Woodard says, is that company’s involvement in charitable community activism, a shared belief that the employees at Quadrant take part in as well.

“We have a three-tiered strategy for our partnership and channels effort,” Woodard says. “We are building new relationships with ERP vendors and system-specific software vendors where we can add OEM vendors. We have a pretty strong relationship now with Infor.”

“A separate tier is working with companies like Mainline. They have a broad reach. They are adding software solutions to go along with their hardware solutions. They want to go to their customers and prospects and bring along solution partners like Quadrant. And they want to be services oriented. Again, that’s what we like to hear.”

“The third rung on this partner strategy is the technology partner. For instance, we have a strong relationship with RVI [Real Vision Imaging]. We’ve worked with them on a remote signature capture capability for Apple iPhone, iPad, and iTouch. And we sell their solutions and they sell ours.” Other technology partners listed on the Quadrant website are: VAI, Retalix, Troy Systems International, and Dialogic.

“We are continuing to execute on our strategy of partnering with industry leaders to deliver world class solutions for document output management customers,” Woodard says.

In any partnership deal, it’s important that your partner be your advocate. Toward that goal, Quadrant’s formalized training of Mainline sales staff is about to begin.

Existing Quadrant customers will continued to get service from Quadrant, except in instances where a customer wants to switch over to service from Mainline because it fits in well with other services that Mainline is providing.