While some of the channel changes announced at Citrix Summit have less relevance to Canada than in other geos, the core themes Citrix emphasized of increased focus and channel co-operation found a welcome reception.
Intel Security is going to expect more of its Platinum and Gold partners come 2016, but it’s also going to give them more in exchange for their partnership.
Salesforce introduced many exciting new solutions at Dreamforce, but for specifically partner-focused announcements, the big ones were all about training. And there were a lot of them.
Citrix denies that last week’s Co-operation Agreement will have negative implications for partners, and says that strong showings by newly-specialized partners has the company on track to achieve this year’s channel goals.
Four specializations are being announced, one of which is around OpenStack, which SolidFire believes is an industry first. .
They include changes to Professional Services training designed to increase dollar spend, up-leveling Premier partner competency requirements, and a new Demo program which reduces the cost outlay to partners.
Citrix’s major announcement at Synergy this year provides huge new opportunities for both CSP and CSA partners, and the channel strategy being finalized is designed to ensure partners who move to the cloud with WorkSpace Cloud will be treated the same way as on-prem partners.
Partners will still require a full audit to make it to upper tiers of the Cisco partner program, but once in, will only have to re-audit every three years.
ADTRAN has dumped product discount rules intended to ensure quality by limiting discounts to partners specializing in the area, while at the same time expanding training with free self-serve modules, and eliminating the deal registration revenue threshold.
In a wide-ranging discussion of where Citrix is headed in the Canadian market, their country manager also identifies key issues with competition, mobility, storage, and the impact of recent announced changes to the partner program.
Avaya will double rebate opportunities around strategic technologies for Gold partners, but will halve those same opportunities for base-level partners.
The new Citrix Solution Advisor program is a fundamental restructuring of Citrix’s partnering approach, which introduces Specialist Tracks to recognize and reward areas of focus.
McAfee rebrands partner program under the Intel Security name, announces new names for partner tiers and evolving certification and training requirements.
Taking mobility to a strategic level creates a CEO-level conversation about “business and human outcomes” of IT projects, Citrix exec says at Toronto event.
Canada is one of the countries where Unify pledges to be 100 per cent channel within twelve months – which will mean they will need to get distribution set up here.
Revised partner program from Plantronics includes formalized channel education and a new rewards program.
Avaya announces the requirements for its new speicalization-based partner program slated to debut later this year.
Symantec unveiled the details of its long-awaited new partner program at its Vision event in Las Vegas Monday.
New program to roll out over 24 months, will introduce new Cisco partner requirments for Gold around Hybrid IT, cloud, and managed services.
At its Global Partner Conference, HP announces plans to further extend the reach of its PartnerOne program umbrella, a move it says will simplify business.
