Progress Partner + Program Strengthens Foothold in Latin America With New IT Training Partner Fast Lane

Award Winning Partner Program Shows Growth and Innovation

Progress Partner+ program, will now offer greater support to its members in Latin America through its newest education and training delivery partner Fast Lane. Progress will take classroom based IT training modules and translate them into Portuguese and Spanish and offer them to 14 Latin American countries. Recently awarded a 5-Star Rating by CRN, the Progress Partner+ Program offers partners access to experts to solve business and technical challenges, and resources, workshops and tools to help them meet customer needs, and grow and sustain profitable businesses. With an ecosystem of more than 2,000 partners, the program supports over 5,000 applications, 4 million users, and 47,000 businesses. The program covers five key areas: marketing, empowerment, enablement, technical and business. Fast Lane will be a cornerstone partner in the enablement area, bringing a rich catalog of e-learning and classroom training to Progress partners in Latin America to support them in both technical and sales practices.

The mission of the program is to help partners maximize growth, increase revenue potential and drive new opportunities. For example, Progress partners FDM4 and B&L Information Systems, have recently leveraged the program to achieve dramatic business results. Industry leaders like Shark and alphabroder, rely on FDM4’s integrated ERP, WMS, eCommerce, and CRM applications to support thousands of users and stay ahead of the competition in fiercely competitive markets, such as apparel, footwear, and industrial parts. Mike Cutsey, President, FDM4 International Inc. said, “Not only do we have access to programs that can help us optimize our business and operations, but we also have the opportunity to collaborate with Progress business and technology experts. That level of access and interaction is not something you get with most large technology vendors. The value we receive from the Progress Partner+ Program is truly priceless.” With over 400 customers across five countries, B&L provides integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM) systems that enable metalcasters to drive increased efficiencies and improve profitability. According to Matt Gacek, Vice President of Business Development for B&L Information Systems, “the Progress Partner+ Program has provided a variety of strategies, tools and tactics over the years to help improve sales, marketing and management techniques. As a result, we quadrupled the number of deals we closed this year and reduced the average sales cycle by 50%.”

Executive Quotes:
Kimberly King, vice president, global partners and channels at Progress, said, “The Partner+ Program has grown to include many business empowerment offerings. Our Program isn't just about enabling partners to create innovative apps, it is about supporting the whole business and making sure our partners succeed in their fields. Working with Fast Lane is the first step in our broader training delivery strategy to identify partners around the globe to bring our IT solutions to life locally.”

Luis Campbell, Vice President and Managing Director LATAM at Fast Lane said: “We are thrilled to form a strategic alliance with Progress to establish a formal education and training program for their customers and partners across 14 countries in CALA. Working together we will be able to offer Progress users access to invaluable business, sales and technical training within their own region, language and currency.”

Additional Resources:
About Progress Software Corporation
Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) is a global software company that simplifies the development, deployment and management of business applications on-premise or in the cloud, on any platform or device, to any data source, with enhanced performance, minimal IT complexity and low total cost of ownership. Progress Software can be reached at www.progress.com or 1-781-280-4000.
Progress, Pacific and Corticon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Any other names contained herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

About Fast Lane
Fast Lane is a worldwide leading provider of IT Training courses, offers complete authorized training solutions, and our instructors are all Vendor Certified. They have expertise with the most advanced technologies and train and advise major companies in all industries, leading service providers, and government agencies in twelve languages. Serving customers worldwide, Fast Lane will ensure companies gain the knowledge and skills to help increase their goals. Fast Lane also develop a range of advanced technology courses that ensure access to the most up-to-date training for IT careers. Learning with Fast Lane means real-world experience that translates from the classroom to the job with ease.