Acronis launches social media platform for top channel partners to expand online audience reach and drive more digital leads

Survey* of over 1,100 resellers highlights huge opportunity for the channel to integrate their social media campaigns with those of their key vendors

SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland, December 18, 2012 - Having discovered that most channel partners have yet to fully embrace social media either as a technology educational platform or as a means to collaborate jointly with vendors on outbound marketing campaigns, Acronis has launched AcronisGoSocial, a white-labeled version of socialondemand® from purechannelapps™ to help its top performing resellers reach wider online audiences, generate more leads and drive higher revenues.

The launch of the new social media platform closely follows the release of the latest findings of an annual survey of over 1,100 Acronis resellers across Europe, including more than 350 from the UK.

Even though social media is an ideal tool for joint collaboration, just six percent of UK resellers chose social media as their preferred channel for receiving information from vendors. Instead, the majority of resellers are still relying much more heavily on traditional communications channels to get their information such as: online technology and channel publications (65%); vendor websites (54%); and even print media (20%).

However, in this all encompassing digital world, resellers should be considering leveraging social media, even if it is in parallel with other communication tools. Starting two way conversations and creating networks, otherwise resellers may be left behind and out of touch with vendor and market developments.

Alan Laing, Vice President EMEA, Acronis, said: "Most industries are still grappling with how to leverage social media for commercial gain. We've chosen not to wait, but to lead. Testing our social media solution with a small handful of our resellers has led to impressive results. The survey shows that there is already demand from many early adopter resellers, with over one in five (23%) wanting joint social media programmes from us. We expect the rest to quickly follow suit."

Acronis is one of the first vendors to use the innovative solution worldwide. With the AcronisGoSocial platform, Acronis' channel partners can easily and automatically publish Acronis content directly to their own end-users using their own social media accounts. Acronis believes that this approach will encourage its top performing partners to re-assess the competitive advantage that social media platforms can bring to their business.

Supporting materials:
To learn about socialondemand, please read the solution overview at http://purechannelapps.com/uploads/socialondemand_solutionoverview.pdf

About purechannelapps:
The Acronis socialondemand® platform was developed by purechannelapps™.

purechannelapps Limited delivers innovative, revolutionary and channel-focused web- and app-based solutions that help vendors - be it hardware manufacturers, software editors or other suppliers - better influence and collaborate with their channel partners and intermediaries. purechannelapps' motto is to simplify many of the vendor-to-partners business processes found in complex channel eco-systems and to increase vendor profitability. For additional information, visit www.purechannelapps.com.

* The survey is an annual barometer of Acronis' partner's perceptions and vision of market trends. Over 1,100 Acronis EMEA partners across 10 European countries, including Germany, France, UK, Italy, and Netherlands were surveyed in March 2012.