iplicit, the fast-growing cloud-based accounting solution vendor, has appointed Paula Cooper, to Head of Channel as it looks to maintain its hypergrowth. Maintaining 100% growth in ARR for the last six years is impressive. Continuing to achieve that without a comprehensive channel program is much harder.
The appointment is part of the move to double down on investment in Channel. Which Lyndon Stickley, CEO of iplicit, announced at the start of the year. Stickley hoped that this would “see a seven to eightfold growth in our accounting partner generation in 2024.”
That may have hit a slight roadblock after the previous Head of the UK channel, Alexis Gordon, left the company in October last year, joining Brightly. Cooper now takes on the role with what seems to be a global remit.
Stickley commented, “We continue to recruit talent from Sage, IRIS, Access and many others, as staff begin to see the position in the market that iplicit is assuming and we are very excited to have secured Paula – she comes with a vast amount of experience and a clear understanding of what’s important to partners in the finance software market.”
Who is Paula Cooper
Cooper spent 18 years at Sage, rising to become Head of Sales UK & Ireland, MME, Sage UK Ltd. Much of that time was spent working with or leading channel sales. She subsequently held Sales Director roles at Sage reseller K3 and job management software vendor Protean Software Ltd. She joins iplicit after taking a career break.
Paula Cooper, Head of Channel at iplicit, commented, “It was the first time in my career that I’d had a chance to review who I’d like to work for. I did quite a lot of research into other companies and I found iplicit was Head and shoulders above everyone else in product, attitude, support and vision.”
Cooper believes that iplicit offers a unique opportunity for resellers. Who are looking to help move their substantial customer base from legacy on-premise software to a cloud-based one. She believes that iplicit offers a more affordable path to the cloud with a comprehensive suite of accounting software.
Cooper added, “iplicit is a cloud product that’s powerful but easy for customers to use and it will help those customers to grow easily. I think it’s the best in the market for what it does. For the reseller, that means more growth and higher customer satisfaction. This is a once-in-a-generation piece of software. And it’s been launched by a business that wants to scale in a way that’s sustainable.
“iplicit is growing in a manageable way and is determined not to make the same mistakes that some other vendors have. iplicit may be a relatively new name in the industry but it has a team of people from the top down who have extensive experience, both in direct relationships with customers and through channels. We’re not the new kids on the block.”
Renewed focus on Channel
iplicit already has a mature channel program. This offers resellers the opportunity to work with iplicit to help retain their existing customers, in the face of other cloud-based solutions. The program offers vendors a significant revenue share both for new licenses (currently 30%-40%) and at renewal (20%-24%). Besides making those percentages public, iplicit also believes that they are substantially higher than other cloud vendors.
The programme also offers sales and marketing support as well as numerous training and tech support benefits.
To maintain its status as a partner, the firm must retain at least one salesperson and one implementation consultant and deliver six new customers a year. They should also have experience in selling and implementing accounting and ERP solutions.
Stickley concluded, “The industry has been dominated by a handful of on-premises software vendors serving the mid-market over the past 20-30 years. Their strength has stifled innovation. And most have failed in being able to bring a low disruption, cost-effective product to market.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
To have lured such an experienced leader as Cooper is a coup for iplicit. Having taken a career break, she will be refreshed and have time to reflect on her career to date. Which few have the luxury of doing. That she selected to join iplicit is a testament to the opportunity that the company has in front of it.
It is now up to Cooper to deliver the growth that Stickley expects. From her time at Sage, Cooper will be aware of many in that ecosystem. However, those relationships are now a decade old. It will be interesting to see how she approaches the task ahead and whose partner ecosystem iplicit plunders.
