Partners now have a much broader opportunity across SMBs and enterprises, says Verint India MD

Anil Chawla says the new India partner programme gives Verint and Calabrio partners access to the combined portfolio, enabling cross-sell opportunities, broader customer reach and services-led growth.

Verint has expanded the addressable market for its partner ecosystem in India after bringing together the Verint and Calabrio portfolios under a unified partner programme that allows partners from both sides to sell across the combined customer experience technology stack.

“The integration is creating broader opportunities for partners by extending their reach across SMB, mid-market and enterprise customers while opening new cross-sell and upsell opportunities within existing accounts,” Verint India managing director, customer engagement solutions, Anil Chawla told CRN India.

Partners that previously focused on either Verint or Calabrio solutions can now position the combined portfolio, enabling them to expand customer engagements and increase wallet share through a wider range of customer experience automation offerings, he said.

Verint has traditionally focused on large enterprises, including banking institutions, BPOs and other organisations requiring deeper customer engagement capabilities, while Calabrio has been stronger in the SMB and lower enterprise segments.

Chawla said bringing the two portfolios together allows partners to address a significantly larger market opportunity than before.

“The Calabrio partners continue to be part of the Verint brand, which allows them to cross-sell and upsell Verint products alongside the Calabrio portfolio,” he said.

He added that partners are no longer restricted to the market segments they previously served.

“Starting from an SMB and mid-market opportunity through to enterprise-scale engagements, partners now have a much larger space to operate in.”

The company launched its new India partner programme last month, giving Verint partners access to the Calabrio portfolio while enabling former Calabrio partners to sell Verint solutions.

According to Chawla, the programme is “designed to help partners grow” within existing customer accounts while also pursuing new opportunities across different customer segments.

New programme focuses on enablement and go-to-market support

Beyond portfolio access, Verint is positioning the programme around partner enablement. Chawla said partners receive access to sales documentation, implementation resources and support materials designed to help them take the combined portfolio to market more effectively.

The company is also providing access to the Verint Marketplace, where partners can publish custom-built solutions that can be discovered and purchased by customers across different geographies.

Another area of investment is Verint Labs, which allows partners to demonstrate solutions and business outcomes in real time without having to build their own demonstration environments.

“Partners are now given the capability of using the Verint Labs environment so that they can showcase capabilities and outcomes to customers live,” Chawla said.

The programme also includes certification pathways designed to train partner teams on deployment, implementation and maintenance of Verint technologies.

Alongside technical enablement, Verint is working with partners on joint go-to-market activities, including customer awareness programmes, technology forums and marketing initiatives aimed at expanding customer engagement around customer experience automation.

Services opportunity extends beyond product sales

While portfolio expansion forms the foundation of the programme, Verint also sees services as a major growth opportunity for partners.

Chawla said the company's long-term investment in India provides partners with access to resources across pre-sales, professional services, cloud operations and development support through Verint's Global Innovation Centre (GIC) in Bengaluru.

According to him, the objective is to help partners move beyond product positioning and support customers throughout implementation and ongoing operations.

“Pre-sales is a critical part of the sales process because it helps partners position the right solutions,” Chawla said.

“Beyond that, we provide implementation documentation and implementation support. If a partner encounters any challenges during deployment, we work to resolve them quickly.”

The company also provides cloud resources for customers running services in India, allowing partners to leverage local expertise during deployments.

Chawla said these capabilities help partners deliver a broader set of services while reducing the need for them to build all supporting resources independently.

Platform approach creates a longer-term growth path

As competition intensifies across the customer experience market, Chawla argued that “partners should evaluate vendors” based on long-term platform capabilities rather than individual point solutions.

He said many emerging providers address a specific problem area, while Verint's strategy is built around a broader platform approach that allows customers to expand into multiple areas of customer experience automation over time.

According to Chawla, customers can begin with one deployment and gradually extend into additional automation, self-service, customer experience and employee experience capabilities without replacing existing investments.

“Customers can invest in the platform today and then expand into different areas of CX automation over time,” he said.

He argued that partners should consider factors, including scalability, long-term viability and the ability to support enterprise-wide deployments when deciding where to build their practices.

For partners, the opportunity extends beyond India.

Chawla said Verint's partner programme operates globally, allowing partners with international operations to sign global agreements, obtain global certifications and support customers across multiple regions.

He further mentioned that the combination of the Verint and Calabrio portfolios, together with the company's investments in enablement, services and partner support, creates a broader opportunity for the channel ecosystem.

“With the new partner programme launched in India, which brings together the Verint and Calabrio portfolios, partners now have a much larger market opportunity to deliver customer experience automation solutions,” he said.

He added that Verint's investments in support services, innovation resources and demonstration environments are intended to help partners accelerate customer engagements and bring solutions to market faster.