CDC Software, a wholly owned subsidiary of CDC Corporation (CHINA), today announced its Franchise Partner Program, which includes US$20 million earmarked for investment in channel partners.
CDC Software will establish strategic relationships with selected franchise partners to accelerate mutual business expansion.
The Franchise Partner Program will be co-managed by Eric Musser, executive vice president, strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and chief technology officer for CDC Software, and the local CDC Software executive in each targeted geography.
CDC Software says it will select participating partners in high-growth geographies including Eastern Europe, Middle East, Latin America, India and China.
For participation in the Franchise Partner Program, CDC Software will select partners with long-standing, successful track records in CRM, ERP and SCM. Additionally, the company will consider the more than 450 authorized distribution partners of c360, a recently announced pending acquisition of CDC Software.
"With our more than $217 million in net cash, we are actively expanding the breadth of our industry-specific enterprise software solutions through targeted acquisitions," said Peter Yip, chief executive officer for CDC Corporation and executive chairman for CDC Software. "We will also use our substantial cash reserves to expand our global distribution footprint with investments in strategic partners in key geographies. We believe this approach is unique in the mid-tier enterprise software markets and will help to ensure our competitive success in these targeted geographies."
Through direct cash investments, equity investments, lines of credit or a combination of these, CDC will invest up to $20 million in selected distribution franchise partners on a case-by-case basis. The investments will be used to help these partners grow their businesses through expanded marketing and sales programs, and accelerated product localization.
Additionally, CDC Software often sells enterprise applications to multinational companies with operations in the same targeted geographies. These customers will benefit from local support and services that will be provided in the future by the CDC Software franchise network.
