Monday Morning Impact – February 1

Avant Releases 2021 State of Disruption Report Measuring Shift to New Technologies

Avant Analytics, the market research division of Avant Communications, a Chicago-based master agent, has released its 2021 State of Disruption Report which looks at the rate at which newer technologies are displacing older ones.

The report surveyed 500 US-based enterprise technology decision-makers at either the C-suite or management/VP level in IT, security, or finance. The State of Disruption Report was designed and executed to reveal the state of digital transformation efforts, the increased role of the Trusted Advisor and the rate at which disruptive technologies are replacing their predecessors.

Key takeaways from the report include:

• Nearly half of the respondents intend to grow their usage of SD-WAN
• Nearly 60% of respondents expect to increase or significantly increase their use of MPLS.
• Customer interest in UCaaS surged 86% at the outset of the COVID-19 crisis
• The highest uptake and growth for CCaaS is currently in the Healthcare/Medical vertical with an anticipated 40% rate of displacement.
• Nearly two thirds of the respondents report working with Trusted Advisors in support of their IT decision-making process
• Roughly 70% of respondents fear that a successful security breach could cause them to lose their jobs.

“2020 exposed the leaders versus the laggards when it came to digital transformation in an enterprise setting. As IT decision makers evaluate their success in 2020 and aim to improve in 2021, those falling behind should lean on the Trusted Advisor movement to enable powerful IT decisions,” said Ken Presti, Vice President of Research and Analytics at AVANT. “Key technologies like SD-WAN, MPLS, UCaaS and CCaaS will take center stage in 2021 paving the way for vast disruption in the IT space. Investing in adoption of these technologies will enable businesses to recognize immense growth opportunities.”

While disruptive technologies are rapidly replacing their predecessors, some enterprise IT decision makers are still holding onto legacy systems for a variety of reasons, but most notably, according to the 2021 State of Disruption Report, were security concerns.

Security concerns have dominated national headlines, however, with well-advised decision making, adoption and implementation, enterprise decision makers can mitigate those issues.

Channel Impact^®
The study provides a guide into how channel partners may re-focus their sales efforts to support higher success, based on their customer base.

“High Value,” The Focal Point of New Akamai Partner Program

Akamai Technologies, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based content delivery network, has rolled out a new partner program intended to expand and support channel partners’ ability to deliver high-value services to their customers.

Partners can choose Basic or Advanced Certification levels, with additional training options and pricing incentives for Advanced Partners. Organizations can align their Akamai partnership with their own business models. Solution providers now have the ability to serve all of their customers’ Akamai product needs independently—from sales to service and support.

Financial incentives have also been realigned to emphasize greater rewards for partners that deliver greater value to their customers with Akamai solutions. Certified partners that deliver more services to customers benefit the most, maximizing the return on their investment in service delivery resources. In addition, Akamai’s tiered sales value structure has been updated to provide globally consistent benefits.

“We have designed our program to offer partners more flexibility, the opportunity for better profitability and more resources to deliver value-added services to their customers.” said Micheal McCollough, Global Vice President of Channels and Alliances at Akamai. “Certified partners that deliver more services to customers benefit the most, maximizing the return on their investment in service delivery resources.”

Channel Impact^®
The new program provides greater flexibility, support, and financial incentives, as well as a new enablement program that offers training, certifications and support.

Versa Networks’ ACE Partner Program Targets SASE and Secure SD-WAN

Versa Networks, a San Jose-based SASE and SD-WAN vendor, has unveiled the Versa ACE (Accelerate, Captivate, Engage) Partner Program. It is the company’s first formal global channel partner program for VARs, SIs, SPs and MSPs, coming on the heels of the expansion of the company’s channel sales and channel marketing resources.

The new program, which focuses on the company’s Versa Titan, Versa Secure SD-WAN and Versa SASE solutions, provides formalized sales, pre-sales, and technical training focused on enabling partners to build specialties within those three product lines. Partners also gain access to the Versa Academy, a global learning platform with more than 26,000 hours of instructor-led training.

“Versa Academy imparts industry-leading technical knowledge and certifications for the most versatile and full-featured Secure SD-WAN solution in the industry,” said Chitresh Yadav, Global Head of Sales Engineering at Versa Networks. “The rapid growth of Secure SD-WAN and SASE has generated strong demand for engineers and architects to learn how to design, administer, manage and operate SASE and Secure SD-WAN networks.”

The program’s structure and framework are built on three core concepts to accelerate time-to-revenue by building skills and expertise in partners’ area of specialty; captivate and retain market attention through the delivery of unique, differentiated customer value; and engage with customers to build trust and foster customer loyalty and preference for Versa SASE, Versa Secure SD-WAN, and Versa Titan.

Channel Impact^®
New Global Versa Partner Program is intended to provide a program structure which fosters a synergistic relationship for growth and new opportunities. Partners must complete a prescriptive sales, pre-sales and technical training initiative in order to qualify.