Lexmark Speeds Channel AccessLexmark Speeds Channel Access

When a survey found that 71% of Lexmark International Inc.'s channel partners preferred to receive vendor information electronically rather than by snail mail, the company got the message. Six months later, the maker of printers and printing supplies is releasing a partner-relationship-building tool from Allegis Corp. that lets distributors access product information, prices, and marketing materials via the Web. It's using the preferences those partners pick to personalize the promotions it offers.

The $4 billion Lexington, Ky., company's network includes tens of thousands of resellers that were pushing for faster and easier access to information on Lexmark's products and services, says Tammie Hart, the company's E-business channels manager. Hart spent about a month this spring working with Allegis to integrate and customize the software, gave a few key reseller partners access to it in May, and rolled it out to the entire channel last month.

The system has changed Lexmark's reseller Web site from brochureware to a vehicle that keeps leads and payments flowing, Hart says. For example, a special on ink-jet printers now goes just to partners that sell that product, not to the entire list.

Lexmark's unique demands required a few modifications to the software, such as a changing the lead-management process so that it accepts three partner names rather than the one offered out of the box. That allows leads to be automatically reassigned if the first partner doesn't pick them up within 48 hours. Early feedback also resulted in tinkering with file formats and shifting from PDF files to the Excel and Word files with which smaller channel partners were more familiar. That change let them more easily customize sales materials and add their own logos before passing them along to customers.

Feedback from the channel has been overwhelmingly positive, Hart says. Especially popular are the real-time price updates. "Hard copy just wasn't serving the needs of this market, where prices often are adjusted twice a week," she says. Even better received was the electronic claims system that lets resellers report sales data online rather than submitting paper invoices and track their commissions in real time. That made it possible for Lexmark to shift its own accounting process and pay distributors twice a month instead of once.

Allegis and Lexmark declined to comment on the cost of the implementation, but Allegis says a system license starts at $600,000, or $25,000 a month through an application service provider.