Juniper's European channel director talks revamped partner programme

The programme refresh banks heavily on services through new designations, an advisor focus and enhanced GTM capabilities

Secure networking vendor Juniper Networks has unveiled significant enhancements to its Juniper Partner Advantage (JPA) programme, staking a claim on AI-driven solutions for enhanced reliability, agility, and profitability.

Juniper's horse in the AI race is in AIOps and its revamped JPA programme introduces several key features to aid partner capabilities across the customer lifecycle.

The highlight is the Partner Assured designation, validated by Information Security Systems International (ISSI)

The vendor has also introduced a Managed Network Provider designation, a New Advisor designation, rewarding partners for influencing customer decisions, and the integration of environmental sustainability.

Go to market capailities have also seen a refresh through account mapping, GTM concierge services and dedicated planning, as well as a new tool - the Deal Central dashboard, consolidating partner deals, quotes and marketing leads.

'We've listened to the market'

According to Dale Smith, channel director, Europe at Juniper (pictured), the enhanced JPA programme reflects the vendor's commitment to meeting partners' evolving needs.

"We've listened to the market. We talk regularly to our partners, resellers, they want more flexibility. They want more consumption models, they want to add their own services around our technology, which is great to hear," he tells CRN.

"And we've been busy trying to create the platform and we've announced that now we've launched that in our JPA.

"The managed service provider aspect of the programme is now live and available for our partners to drive greater business traction with this sort of option.

"And we're excited about it really, because the partners are telling us it's needed. The market is ready."

In 2024, Juniper plans significant investments in the partner programme, focusing on scalability, profitability, and vertical expertise, according to Smith.

"A lot of [the 2024 investments] centre around our partners ability to scale with us through services their ability to increase their profitability.

"Those things are delivered through the managed network provider aspects of JPA.

"But we're also introducing things like a new advisor role within JPA, which can reward our partners that can influence decisions or tenders in a sort of ecosystem. approach to working with juniper and our partners.

"We have been doing a lot of work around vertical go to markets, aligning our sellers and our partners to work in very vertical way to drive business in certain sectors which we're seeing increased demand and that's working for us tremendously."

Regarding AIOps adoption in 2024, Smith says he has seen significant traction, with Juniper's AI business unit experiencing 36 per cent global growth.

"So for us that sector and that business need is in hyper growth mode over a prolonged period, which we're really happy with.

"But clearly the challenge for us and our partners is to continue that and to continue the adoption at a greater speed because we believe the opportunity is massive, and we're really just scratching the surface."