Eamon O'Doherty, Logitech
Eamon O'Doherty is the European channel & alliance director at Logitech. Over his ten-year tenure at Logitech, Eamon has managed over 100 countries across EMEA ranging from emerging markets to Logitech's largest countries and regions.
Eamon joined Logitech for Business in September 2013 from Jabra where he held several senior management positions over a seven-year period, including sales manager, head of sales & marketing & account director.
Prior to Jabra, he worked in telecommunications and consumer electronics for six years with Hutchison 3G and the Dixons store group in a variety of sales management positions. Eamon has over 25 years of experience in sales, marketing, and business development across several organisations.
Number of years in current role:
1
Number of years in current company:
10
Number of years involved in indirect/channel sales:
10
Reports to:
Crystal Ferreira, global head of channel & alliances, Logitech
Number of employees in channel organisation:
50
What percentage of overall sales come through the channel?
99 per cent
What is your personal channel philosophy?
At Logitech we only refer to our reseller and distribution channel as partners. If business partnerships are to prove successful, the foundation upon which they're built must be trust.
We focus on partners that are aligned to our values and committed to enhancing end user experiences.
We believe in a "you then I" relationship, based around three pillars: educate (through our Logitech University), motivate (with healthy margins, and a partnership without friction) then generate (building business together). This philosophy helps partners become "sticky" with customers, helping us to drive higher value business together.
What were your biggest personal channel accomplishments over the past year?
A personal achievement was spearheading Logitech's new partner programme. Personally meeting with our top partners across the regions, I listened to their changing needs and made sure this feedback was core to the programme. I wanted to ensure the programme was tailormade, educational and motivational, which we achieved!
What were your organisation's biggest channel accomplishments over the past year?
A top accomplishment of 2023 was our Channel Champions event. Taking place over three days in Portugal, it was fantastic to get close to 80 of our top partners together to recognise them for their achievements and reward them for their hard work. During the event, we also held our Channel Awards and Advisory Board to recognise, listen and continue to strengthen our partnerships.
Another top accomplishment was the launch of our new partner programme, Logitech Connect. After six years of the previous programme (Logitech One), we decided to rethink our programme so it equipped our partners with the tools, resources, and support needed to help them thrive in the evolving remote and hybrid working landscape that many customers are adapting to.
We also rethought and provided a new partner track with a robust incentive stack to keep our partners motivated and excited to work with us. There's also been a lot of work behind the scenes on a new MDF platform for our partners. It's still to launch, but we're confident it's going to be a huge hit when it does.
What areas would you like to see your channel partners invest in in 2024?
Whilst we continue to innovate and expand on our channel partner programme to meet and exceed the needs of a new world of work, our goal for our channel partners in 2024 is to remove end user friction and enhance adoption.
With only 15 per cent of meeting rooms equipped for video, we want to see our partners invest in the meeting room space, making it more attractive to lure employees back into the office. Investing in collaborative technology will not only enhance the meeting room experience, but overall performance of work and business outcomes.
What are the biggest challenges facing your partners in 2024?
Whilst most organisations have rightly decided that hybrid working is the way forward, there's still a lot of indecision on how this looks. Many are finding that their business continuity plans continue to change, and overall, there is a lack of continuity in the hybrid journey.
This means that there is no consistent layout and channel partners need to be adaptable. Being able to offer rock solid collaboration tools is a must however, and with a market leading position Logitech should be the de facto choice for customers looking to invest in hybrid collaboration technologies.
In what ways do you use your role to build equity and inclusion?
Promoting equity and inclusion is a key priority at Logitech, and sits cleanly within our defined values to be open and ourselves, hungry and humble, to decide and do, collaborate and challenge.
My priority is to maintain our hands-on approach to get our team involved in all that they can. Every year our team are given four volunteer days where they can go and support their local community. For example, last year our team took part in a beach clean in Cork and volunteered at a local food bank in Windsor.
Describe how your use of market development funds (MDF) is changing this year?
We're excited to be working on a new MDF platform which should be live next quarter. Historically our MDF strategy has been more ‘pay to play', but now we're moving to more value-based, account-based marketing, with targeted results.
We'll be ensuring that MDF allocation is more intelligence led, and that it will be provided with a more tailored plan and expectations ultimately partners will be more accountable for what they're given. Of course, as a partner, their mission is our mission, so we'll still be supporting them to a common end goal.
What are your biggest channel priorities in 2024?
In 2024, we are looking to revamp our existing channel programme, launch new certifications and partner levels and increase partners' customer satisfaction ratings.