Data integration software provider Informatica is launching a new worldwide partner programme.

The Inform programme is a revamp of Informatica's previous Alliance programme. There will now be three tiers of partners: Foundation; Elite; and Global. There will also be a new partner portal, called beInformed, which aims to educate partners about Informatica products and offers deal registration and lead management schemes.

Partners will also be able to utilise Informatica's direct sales team. Harry Gould, Informatica's senior vice president for worldwide alliances claimed that upwards of 50 per cent of his company's UK business comes from the channel, although much of that comes from partners working in conjunction with Informatica's direct sales force.

Gould also indicated that Informatica currently has around 75 UK partners and he expected that number to increase in the near future.

He said: "We have a fairly small direct sales force and we absolutely need partners to penetrate the global market. Inform is not really about recruiting more partners, we want to provide more value to the partners that we have, although we would welcome new partners.

"We realised that not all partners are created equal. There are partners that want to dip their toe in the water and we welcome them, but we also want partners that will jump right in."

Gould also claimed that data integration specialists like Informatica had an advantage over larger competitors like IBM, who recently acquired data integration provider Cognos, SAP, who agreed the acquisition of Business Objects in October, and Oracle, which acquired Hyperion last year.

"Cognos and Business Objects are arch competitors. Customers are really smart to this and understand that they need a neutral technology, like Oracle used to provide in the 80s.

"We see ourselves as the Switzerland of data integration firms – we provide t hat neutrality that no other company can provide in the data integration market. "

Further reading:

Informatica launches on-demand data integration suite

IBM to announce Cognos plans

SAP leaps into BI with Business Objects purchase