Ciena, a provider of optical networking equipment consumed mainly by carriers and large Web-scale companies, has revamped its channel program as part of an effort to create a more individualized set of goals for partners.
The goal is to work more closely with partners by eliminating the company’s previous one size fits all approach to managing the channel, says Sandra Glaser Cheek, vice president of channel sales and alliances for Ciena. The timing of this shift follows a spate of acquisitions that brought new partners into the Ciena fold, adds Glaser Cheek.
Unlike companies focused on Enterprise IT accounts involving thousands of customers, the market Ciena address is much more narrowly focused. That difference makes it possible for Ciena to craft a Ciena Partner Network (CPN) program that aligns with the specific business models of a partner, says Glaser Cheek.
“Partners are evolving,” says Glaser Cheek. “There are a lot of changing dynamics.”
Much of the focus Ciena will provide will now be focused on creating more individual business plans with the top 20 percent of Ciena’s partners that drive 80 percent of the company’s revenues. But Glaser Cheek notes that smaller partners, if they want, can also voluntarily participate in a custom channel program. That customized planning also extends to the training Ciena makes available to partners via the Ciena Partner Academy. Ciena also makes available Solution Enablement Toolkits (SETs) that provide a collection of sales, marketing, and services development resources to help partners to build specialized Data Center Interconnect (DCI) and Ethernet practices.
There’s always been a natural tendency to apply a programmatic approach to managing channel partners that usually span multiple tiers. But in many cases, it often turns out the number of channel partners being managed doesn’t justify the time and effort to create a programmatic channel. Instead, a vendor such as Ciena is finding that working working hand-in-glove with the channel partners that are closet to them tends to drive better results. In the case of Ciena, those partners include Anycomm, CenturyLink, Comcast, Kapsch, LightRiver, Windstream and Zayo.
Ciena, of course, is already locked in a major battle for control over next-generation 5G networking services. While having the right products and services to compete in that space is critical, the difference between success and failure usually has as much to do with having the right channel partners as it does the core technologies being made available.
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