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5 reasons why we’re Juniper’s Partner of the Year 2021

4 MINUTE READ
Insights Partnership

James Harrison

Marketing Consultant

It’s always satisfying to win awards and have our hard work recognised by channel partners. But we’re especially pleased to be named Juniper’s Partner of the Year because it shows how our focus on Partner Success is creating real value for both Juniper and our partners. So what’s our secret? Here are five reasons why Partner Success is the sweet spot for Juniper.

We’re delighted to be recognised by Juniper as their partner of the year. We would never have thought this would have been possible five years ago. However, our teams across all markets have continued to invest, focus and work together to great effect. We can do so much more together as we expand the trusted partnership

— David Grant
CEO, Westcon-Comstor

1. We build partnerships built on trust

Our trusted partnership with Juniper is about achieving long lasting Partner Success. Trust is essential to the way we work with all our vendors and partners, and it can only be built over time – there are no shortcuts. We believe that if we stand by our promises and our commitment to deliver, trust will grow.

“Our long track record of compliance and culture of transparency is one of the pillars of our trusted partnership, and one reason Juniper has selected us as their partner around the world,” Patrick Aronson, CMO

Trust has been more important than ever over the last couple of years, as both vendors and resellers have had to rely on a specialist distribution partner like Westcon-Comstor to help navigate the supply chain disruption caused by the pandemic, trade disputes and chip shortages.

It’s a great example of why partners can trust us to put their needs first to help them continue to do business and grow in a challenging environment.

2. We drive success through education and enablement

Enablement is a key foundation for Partner Success. Partners leverage our certified training and education to enable and equip them with the tools and technology they need to sell more, expand deals, and serve end users better.

When partners are well-informed and technically-adept, they are better at driving product and services offerings, so end users have the right solution, customised to their customers’ needs. Partners can access this technical know-how and sales training on demand from our market-leading Westcon Learning, Mentoring Programme and Sales Academy.

The first Westcon EMEA IMAGINE conference and Partner Summit was also a great learning experience, delivering the in-depth technical updates and commercial tips they need to grow their business with the key Juniper solutions of Mist Wired Assurance, Apstra and AI-driven networking in the high-value spaces of SASE, SD-WAN and ZTNA.

3. We create value everywhere

Unique in distribution, our team is 100% focused and fully certified to support partners with their Juniper deployments – wherever they are in the world. Our ‘Juniper Task Force Team’ is focused on driving partner success for global customers, helping them to deploy in over 150 countries around the world.

Regional partners also rely on us to manage their global opportunities with expert support services and logistics, while our ORBIT managed services combines supply chain capabilities with global trade expertise.

The automation benefits of our cloud marketplace or EDI-centric platform streamline and simplify cloud transactions and implementations, while our dedicated Vendor Business Managers give the personal touch. If partners want to self serve online or do business with us through an account manager, we make doing business easy.

We’ve helped partners win with Juniper on some of the most strategic Chinese OTT companies, including Alibaba, Byte Dance (parent of TikTok) and Tencent, while across Sub-Saharan Africa we have built strong partnerships with the local teams, achieving 30% YoY revenue growth and 50% YoY growth in pipeline generation.

We supported Juniper on strategic and complex deals in countries that require local expertise on compliance and logistics, driving disti-led opportunities in countries that aren’t a strategic focus for Juniper.

— Tidiane Lo
VP Westcon MEA

 

4. We unlock more opportunities

Value is shifting from the initial sale to the value customers get over the lifetime of their solutions. The future is digital, and we’ve adopted a data-driven, digital-first approach to help partners transform their businesses to stay ahead in our increasingly software and subscription-driven world.

We call this our ‘solution lifecycle management’ approach to Partner Success, and it’s designed to pave the way for future growth by helping partners unlock opportunities in their customer base through data and insights.

By using our digital capabilities and tools, combined with our inhouse expertise, partners can better manage and optimise their consumption and subscription-based solutions. This means they get the maximum value from each solution and their customers get maximum return on their investment,

— Marianne Nickenig
VP Networking EMEA and VP Revenue Operations EU

 

When partners need new leads, our Business Creation Team is a dedicated hunting force that works across EMEA on outbound calling, focused on identifying, developing and establishing new customer accounts and preparing partners for new technology markets such as networking and security solutions in the Cloud, AI and 5G.

5. We measure success by outcomes

Partner success is more than just about transactions. It’s about achieving business outcomes for end customers, from implementing SASE frameworks to secure dispersed workforces to streamlining team collaboration or transforming IT with AI-driven operations and support.

We take a good look at every partners’ business and strategy, and work out a tailor-made growth plan. Partners want us to deliver logistically, giving them the best price and best product at the right time, but also guide them on future opportunities that will allow them to grow and thrive.

We look at defined outcomes, performance metrics and how to gauge and measure success. We build our partnerships on mutual understanding of how and what we would like to achieve together, and then build goals around that,

— Werner Bruwer
EMEA Vendor Lead

Only with these structured go-to-market strategies in place can we increase sales, strengthen relationships and drive sustainable Partner Success.