The VAR Guy

I’m at the first-ever Juniper Networks Global Partner Conference here at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino in Las Vegas, where the networking company is laying out its channel strategies for the next year. The biggest announcement: the rebranding of the company’s partner play to the Juniper Partner Advantage program, a so-called “pivoting” of its channel strategy aimed at helping VARs stay relevant in a changing market.

Juniper’s Partner Advantage program has three pillars:

• Reach – Juniper’s channel team will be helping partners master the skills required for the so-called “new network” — the company’s name for the new market created by enhanced mobility, the cloud and other modern IT trends. That includes sales and technical education through Juniper’s Learning Academy portal, new accreditations and hands-on training.
• Accelerate – Juniper plans on enhancing its ability to generate leads for partners, generate marketing collateral and communicate with its VAR base. And as a nice side-benefit to that, the second quarter of this year will see the launch of the Partner Enablement App for the iPad.
• Reward - Probably the biggest new feature of this part of Partner Advantage is the introduction of deal registration. But it also includes a revamped reward schedule for partners, new catalogs, back-end rebates and more.

I spoke to Juniper VP of Worldwide Channel Development and Programs Steve Pataky here at the conference, who noted this complete rebranding has been in the works for months. Between the rise of the cloud, the boost in mobility and BYOD and so on, partners really need to develop their skills and their sales pitch if they’re going to stay relevant. Juniper wants to be the company that helps them get there, he said.

“The market trends are real — customers have to figure this out,” Pataky said.

Interestingly, Pataky noted these changes don’t signify a major channel recruitment drive. One statistic mentioned a lot at the conference is Juniper’s partner program has “only” grown 10 percent since last year — but business has accelerated out of that proportion. Of course, no one mentioned Juniper’s profit warning, and I didn’t get a chance to chat with anyone who could discuss it authoritatively.

Pataky said that statistic backs up the notion that Partner Advantage is the deepest investment into its channel strategy since the launch of the original Juniper Networks Partner Program. Every aspect of the channel was examined (and changed if it was felt to be lacking). Fewer partners doing more sales across various vertical segments is preferable to a market flooded with Juniper partners fighting each other for deals.

I’m hoping for more perspective on Partner Accelerate before I hop my plane back to California tomorrow, so stay tuned.

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