Riverbed Technology, which provides application performance infrastructure, has retooled its channel partner program: Partners who invest in certifications and training will now receive increased benefits, with enhanced features to reward high performance and growth. To move this along, the company is moving from a traditional revenue-attainment pyramid model to a competency model, and has adjusted its partnership tiers.
The four competencies that are part of the 2014 program are WAN optimization, 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 program benefits relating to those products. Riverbed is also aligning opportunities and leads to partners with a certified solutions focus.
Riverbed said that 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.
In tandem, Riverbed has reduced the previous four partner levels down to three:
- Elite Partners – These partners 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.
- Authorized Partners – Partners at this level are authorized to resell Riverbed products and services, but have minimal training requirements and receive the lowest-level benefits.
Riverbed has also improved sales opportunity workflow and policies and is implementing a “Deal Desk” to drive best practice sales engagements globally. 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.
The company has meanwhile updated online sales and technical pre-sales training on all Riverbed products and solutions for accreditation, and is investing in additional virtual labs, field roadshows and advanced certification training for both pre-sales and post-sales.
“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 program, 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.”
