Extreme Networks this week launched a Lending Enablement and Assistance Program (LEAP) designed to help channel partners to continue to drive sales during the economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
LEAP makes it possible for channel partners and their customers to defer payments 180 days in addition to providing access to loans that have interest rates as low as zero percent.
In addition, LEAP ensures current channel partners can maintain their existing competency certification levels through the balance of 2020, while providing additional access to free online training options and extended training requirement until June 30th, with any leveling of the partner program not occurring until January of next year.
The goal of the initiative is to provide channel partners and their customers with access to financing to drive, for example, deployments of pop-up clinics at a time when organizations of all sizes are trying hold on to as much cash as possible, says Wes Durow, chief marketing officer for Extreme Networks.
In fact, providing access to low-cost financing presents a unique opportunity for Extreme Networks and its partners to gain share during the downturn, notes Durow.
“They say share is gained in the turns,” says Durow.
It remains to be seen just what the appetite for additional networking equipment might be through the rest of the year. Many organizations clearly needed access to additional network bandwidth to make applications accessible to all the employees working from home. Longer-term, however, it is not clear when organizations will be investing in wireless access points, routers and switches. The only thing that is certain is more organizations will be relying on managed service providers (MSPs) to manage that equipment simply because they may not be able to hire and retain full-time IT staffs, says Durow.
The one thing that is probable is the rate at which the management plane for those platforms is shifting into the cloud will accelerate, says Durow. Many organizations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic have discovered that cloud-based management planes are easier to remotely access, which serves to make the overall IT environment more resilient when the IT staff is unable to access a local data center.
No one knows for certain what lies ahead for channel partners, but at the very least being able to finance a deal may not as big an issue as it might otherwise have been prior to the pandemic.
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