Changes include:
•Enhanced partner benefits. Partners who invest in certifications and training will receive increased benefits, with enhanced features to reward high performance and growth.
•Simplifying business processes. Riverbed has improved sales opportunity workflow and policies and is implementing a Deal Desk to drive best practice sales engagements globally. Riverbed is also aligning opportunities and leads to partners with a certified solutions focus. In addition, new partner dashboards and quarterly reporting will provide partners with up-to-date status on program compliance, discount levels per product, opportunity tracking and more.
•Streamlining training and certification. Partners can take advantage of updated online sales and technical pre-sales training on all Riverbed products and solutions for accreditation. Riverbed is investing in additional virtual labs, field roadshows and advanced certification training for both pre-sales and post-sales.
•Changing to a new competency model. Riverbed is also moving from a traditional revenue-attainment pyramid model to a competency model. This will allow the company to align its investments and resources to partners that either have a specific solution focus or can go wide and deep with Riverbed solutions.
The four competencies as part of the 2014 programme are WAN Optimisation, Storage Delivery, Application Delivery and Performance Management. Partners must be certified on the products that are part of a specific competency in order to receive programme benefits relating to those products.
•Simplifying partner levels. In addition, Riverbed has simplified the programme by reducing the previous four partner levels down to three:
Elite Partners – These partners at the highest level show commitment to the breadth and depth of Riverbed solutions and are required to have a minimum of three competencies in addition to a bookings requirement.
Premier Partners – These partners are making investments to develop a minimum core competency in a particular product solution or solutions.
Authorised Partners – Partners at this level are authorised to resell Riverbed products and services, but have minimal training requirements and receive the lowest-level benefits.
Authorised Riverbed partners can find more details on the 2014 program on the Riverbed partner portal.
“This is an exciting time for Riverbed and our partners,” said David Peranich, president, Worldwide Field Operations at Riverbed Technology. “We are investing in key areas to simplify the programme, improve partner opportunities and differentiate and reward partners based on their competency and investment in Riverbed products and solutions. We are making these enhancements to accelerate growth, expand into new markets and better serve our customers.”
Piers Carey, chief executive officer, Teneo, commented, “Riverbed has always been a very channel-centric organisation and the time and effort they have invested in this new programme really demonstrates this. I think it’s fantastic that they consulted with partners first before developing a programme to deliver mutual success. I also appreciate the focus the programme now places on the importance of the partner’s expertise in different technology areas. By moving to a competency based model underpinned by investment in training and certification, partners will be rewarded for their commitment and high performance.”
“As a longstanding Riverbed Distributor, Zycko has witnessed Riverbed grow from being the front-runner in WAN optimisation to becoming a leader in many other areas of IT performance, including storage delivery, application delivery and performance management. The new, integrated partner program allows Riverbed to differentiate, protect and comprehensively drive partner focus and profitability. In addition, it will ensure a greater protection on investment and also assert their status as a trusted advisor in the fast-paced and ever-changing world of IT. The new partner programme categorically reinforces Riverbed’s commitment to a channel strategy that rewards those who provide true value-add and those who deliver best-in-class solutions to their customers,” said David Galton-Fenzi, chief executive officer, Zycko.