Resellers buy products from a manufacturer, and sell to consumers.  They are an important factor in many industries, including the one in which I work.  Maplesoft operates through a network of resellers throughout the world (apart from North America and a few other territories).  Some may suspect I’m somewhat biased in promoting the importance of resellers; I spent seven years working for Adept Scientific, Maplesoft’s partner in the UK.

The largest resellers are based in larger, better developed markets with a strong manufacturing and research base (like Cybernet and Scientific Computers in Japan and Germany).  Conversely, many smaller resellers, like Multi-On and Czech Software First in Mexico and the Czech Republic, operate in markets with significant growth potential.

Resellers manage the sales and marketing of our tools in their territories, and also provide some level of technical support.  For example, as a part of their marketing activities, Maplesoft often asks their resellers to organise “launch events” to mark new software releases.  I recently returned from an intense ten days at 5 events organised by our European partners to mark the release of MapleSim 3.  The Italian event, held at the Fiat Research Center in Turin was the most impressive, with over 50 delegates attending. I demonstrated MapleSim, and gave a presentation that highlighted the benefits of symbolic computing in generating high-speed plant models for real-time execution.

A few resellers offer a specific skill set; Teoresi, our Italian partner, has a strong automotive consulting arm, Adept Scientific are experts in marketing, while Cybernet has a rich history in model-based engineering design.

Our most productive resellers use their experience in the local market at a strategic level; some have slipstreamed Maple into standard academic site license agreements (such as CHEST in the UK, and SURF in Holland), developed relationships with senior engineering managers and heads of University departments, and presented at conferences on our behalf.

Maplesoft also shares some resellers with other technology focused companies, like Quanser – a manufacturer of controls experiments. This is significant because purchasers of Maplesoft’s tools could potentially be Quanser users as well, and vice-versa. Resellers will often use technological overlap between different manufacturers to generate a highly-profiled customer database that they can cross-sell to.

As I remarked earlier, I used to work for a Maplesoft reseller, Adept Scientific.  This was eye-opening for someone with a freshly minted degree in Chemical Engineering.  It wasn’t a “traditional” engineering role, but one that was equal parts technical, sales and marketing.  Adept Scientific had a business strategy that focussed on high levels of pre- and post-sales technical support, while not explicitly marketing themselves as a technical consultancy; this is better explained by the managing director, Paul Bragg, in this video.

Interview with Paul Bragg of Adept Scientific from Chris Rand.

 Maplesoft views its resellers as partners in the business. They’re our representatives abroad, and they provide an important revenue stream that supports the ongoing research and development that’s critical to technology-focused companies.  Sometimes the relationship between a manufacturer and supplier grows very close; our relationship with Cybernet grew so close that we were bought by them. 

Resellers of technical software are dynamic, exciting organizations to be a part of.  If you’re considering working for such a reseller, then jump at the opportunity; you’ll develop relationships with manufacturers and customers across a broad range of industries, while gaining experience that might take you further than you expect.