Silver Peak today announced it had revamped its channel program as part of an effort to accelerate growth by making it more transparent to solution providers how they benefit from partnering with the provider of software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) software and appliances.
After a review of the existing Silver Peak channel program, it became apparent that overall program was not easy to navigate or use, says Michael O’Brien, vice president of worldwide channel sales. In addition, it was discovered partners were unclear about the level of financial rewards being provided and their return on investment, says O’Brien. There was also a clear need for a more predictable engagement, adds O’Brien.
To address those issue the Silver Peak Partner Edge program is now structured around three tiers that make it simpler for partners to avail themselves of not only double-digit margins on product sales but also multiple sales incentives and accelerator programs, says O’Brien.
Silver Peak is also adding Deal Edge, a programmatic approach designed to enable Silver Peak inside and field sales teams to pass active leads directly to gold and silver partners in a more collaborative manner.
Finally, Silver Peak has created a Silver Peak Technology Experience Center to give Platinum partners access to an online environment where they can prototype, test and demonstrate the advanced technical features and capabilities of the EdgeConnect SD-WAN edge platform. That capability complements a refresh of the training materials the company provides to all partners.
“We’re leaning into the channel,” says O’Brien.
In addition, O’Brien says partners can also uniquely benefit from being able to sell additional wide area network (WAN) optimization capabilities that can be added to the core SD-WAN platform at the touch of a button.
Silver Peak customers were all primarily gained through channel partners. O’Brien notes Silver Peak routinely approves four out every five deal registrations. But the SD-WAN category is red hot, and Silver Peak faces intense competition from Cisco, VMware and a host of others it’s clear the channel will play a critical role in determining winners and losers across the category that is expected to be valued at $8 billion by 2021.
The challenge Silver Peak faces in the short term is making sure that as many partners that already have allegiances elsewhere consider the value in adding Silver Peak offerings to an already crowded portfolio of networking platforms and services.
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