New Channel Resources, Cloud and Services from Juniper
New Channel Resources, Cloud and Services from Juniper by UCStrategies Staff
In addition to numerous announcements regarding its software-defined networking (SDN) strategy, Juniper has recently updated its Partner Advantage program which offers new cloud, services and distribution-specific incentives.
Juniper’s former J-Partner program was re-tooled to create Partner Advantage, and the latter was released last year at the company’s Global Partner Conference (GPC). New features have been added, such as Advantage Services (which covers support and professional capabilities) and Advantage Cloud (segmenting and rewarding the cloud capabilities of partners).
It has been acknowledge that the infrastructure company has resolved the problems it was having last year in its data center and security areas, and has also strengthened its higher-tiered program requirements. Elite Portfolio, top partners of Juniper, must complete more coursework and now have a tighter alignment with the company.
According to the senior vice president of worldwide partners and alliances at Juniper, Emilio Umeoka, these changes have allowed for increased capabilities in Juniper’s channel enablement, and last year led to record satisfaction scores in the company’s annual partner survey.
The CEO of the company, Kevin Johnson, also stated that there will be more additions to the channel this year. The Partner Advantage program is set to join the new Software Advantage program, and will manage how Juniper software platforms are sold throughout the channel.
Two specializations (Support Services and Professional Services) will be added to Partner Advantages Services. “Troubleshooting workshops” will be offered later in 2013, and will allow for services to be maintained; service provider routing, enterprise routing, enterprise switching and security will all be included. The partner services opportunity is potentially a $40 billion market, and needs to be addressed, according to Umeoka.
Additionally, training, marketing, financing and other incentives to distribute Juniper cloud capabilities (for specific partners) will also be provided by Juniper Advantage Cloud. A Juniper Cloud Innovation is set to be established soon, and this will help develop cloud infrastructure solutions. $100 billion TAM is represented by cloud services for the Juniper channel, according to Umeoka.
New incentives and MDF for distributors will make Juniper VARs better equipped, and Juniper has met with its leading distributors (such as Ingram Micro and Arrow) to discuss this program. This week, new programs are also being announced by Juniper’s distributors; for example, Arrow will merge Juniper’s QFabric data center products with IBM converged infrastructure.
New programs and offerings will also be provided as the result of partner feedback. For example, to aide with solution design through the use of Juniper’s Junos platforms, solution providers can access Juniper’s quarterly product road maps and Junos Jump Start.
Juniper Teaming Standard, which allows solution providers to have a more formal escalation approach to channel executives at Juniper and strengthen collaboration with account mapping and resource planning at Juniper, will also be released by the company.
By managing the company’s base (of around 12,000 partners), the new programs will assist in meeting this end.
Juniper’s vice president of worldwide partner development, Steve Pataky, said: “Our strategy is to go deeper with fewer. We want to better enable those top partners such as Elite Portfolio, but not at the expense of our broad channel. We also want our distributors to be part of our broad channel coverage in a more meaningful way.”
According to Pataky, partners who are unable to meet the performance targets will be cut by the company.
He added: “We're definitely continuing to weed out the partners not achieving at the compliance level. If someone wants to sell something with a Juniper logo, we will always make sure we can find the best way to make that happen. But we're also truer to the partners that [strategize] with us.”
Being transparent about the challenges present at Juniper and the proposed measures to overcome them has ensured that Juniper’s partner satisfaction surveys are much better this year, according to Umeoka and Pataky.
Pataky stated: “We were determined to have an open dialogue. This is a trustful relationship which is why you haven't seen a partner drop-off. They can give us their candid feedback, and the feeling in the [Partner Advisory Councils] this past year was let's get out of this together.” (CY) Link