Monday Morning Impact – January 19

By Ken Presti, Senior Consultant, Channel Impact

Citrix Rolls Out New Channel Program; Heavy Emphasis on Specializations

To better support its expanding product portfolio, Citrix has rolled out a new channel program, marketed as the “Citrix Solution Advisor (CSA) program.”

The focal point of the new initiative leverages technology specializations enabling partners to focus on targeted product areas while at the same time validating vendor-recognized competencies.

The specialization program enables partners to select the technical category that best reflects their current business model, and then add other competencies as their business evolves. Each track equips partners to acquire technical expertise and best practices for implementation success with Citrix solutions in the areas of virtualization, mobility management and networking.

As part of the plan, certifications, revenue requirements and new incremental benefits and incentives have been delivered or simplified. The company is also hoping to energize collaboration and engagement between field teams and partners based on specific customer segments, and accelerated incentive approvals. To enhance partners’ marketing capacity and effectiveness, Citrix plans to help partners identify growth opportunities in target markets and enable them to better plan and execute effective multi-touch marketing campaigns.

Channel Impact:
Today’s channel program not only needs to help accelerate volumes, it also needs to support partners in becoming highly-skilled trusted advisors to the customers that they share.

Gigamon Launches Enhanced Partner Program

Gigamon, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based traffic visibility vendor, has launched its new worldwide partner program.

Key components of the program include pre- and post-sales training certifications as well as marketing/lead generation, joint business planning, and also the sales and technical tools necessary to help win deals in competitive situations.

“Our channel partners are a valued extension of our Gigamon sales force,” said Gigamon CEO Paul Hooper. “As our market continues to develop, our enhanced VAR Partner Program will enable participating channel partners to leverage Gigamon’s differentiated technology with existing and future customers to support their evolution to the next generation business infrastructure.”

The programs benefits scale based on partner commitment.

Channel Impact:
Similar to the objectives and industry dynamics described above, Gigamon seeks to enhance the skill level of its partners.

Websense Names New Channel Vice President

Websense has announced the appointment of John Starr as the company’s new vice president of channels and professional services.

With more than 15 years of industry experience to his credit, Starr joined the company in January of last year, serving as director of strategic programs with initiatives largely in the areas of go-to-market strategies and professional services.

Before joining Websense, he held the role of director of strategic programs at Vista Equity Partners and spent seven years with IBM’s strategy practice. During his tenure at IBM, he led the reorganization of the US and Canadian consulting businesses, the redesign of their global sales methodology and worked to optimize the company’s partner strategy in the hardware space.

The announcement comes on the heels of the company’s rollout of Triton APX 8.0, a new adaptive security model.

Channel Impact:
Specifics of the new executive’s strategy were not available at press time.