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Jeff Hiebert, CEO of ROI Networks, a San Juan Capistrano, Calif.-based solution provider, said he hadn't much investigated Juniper's new marketing resources but he did sign up for the first InnoVAR session.
Asked what he hoped to get out of it, Hiebert said, "Simple. How does ROI Networks, an elite Juniper VAR, clearly communicate our mutual value proposition in a clear and concise way."
Hiebert said it's all about "relevance, relevance, relevance" and learning about what will separate his solution provider business from others.
Dan Wilson, co-founder and vice president of partner alliances at Accuvant, a Denver-based solution provider, said Accuvant is focused on building its own brand and capabilities, and that he'd like to see Juniper take a more hands-on approach to helping with that.
"We're hearing a lot of good things about how do we enable Accuvant in the market as a Juniper player," Wilson said. "In the past, it was a lot of 'build your own brand' and 'good luck with that' and 'we'll support it with MDF.' But in terms of providing direction, there wasn't much there."
In addition to marketing events, Juniper in May 2012 will host its first-ever global partner conference. The company has long had partner conferences specific to sales theaters, but with an expanding channel team in place under Emilio Umeoka, Juniper's senior vice president worldwide partners, it made sense to bring Juniper's global partner base together to expand the networking opportunity, Tierney said.
"The other theaters can benefit from peer-to-peer sharing," she said. "And in terms of the format, it will be a mix of global vision, strategy and some product roadmap, and then specific breakouts for the theaters to make sure they still get what they came for. It'll be cost effective and we can be more global."
Tierney didn't confirm the specific location of the summit, but it will kick off May 8, 2012, in a major East Coast U.S. city.
"To get all the right people at the one right event, that's the big thing," she said.
Another new Juniper event being organized by Tierney is a Women in Channels event, set to happen in October. Tierney said Juniper will invite female executives from Juniper partners, and they will be asked to invite female executives from their customers, too.
"We'll bring in some outside speakers and do a lot of networking," Tierney said.
Finally, said Tierney, Juniper is starting to promote Partner Executive Advisory Councils, which means Juniper is bringing the top 25 to 30 Juniper partners in each theater in for tight-knit discussion and time with Juniper's top executives. The partners involved aren't necessarily the top regional Juniper partners by revenue, and will be hand-picked by Juniper, she explained.
Those Council meetings, which will begin in September for the Americas, October for Asia/Pacific and November for EMEA, will be invitation-only, and allow partners to hear about the company's vision, product roadmap and what Juniper will do to drive "the technology conversation," Tierney said. The Americas event will be in Southern California, location to be announced, she added.
Accuvant's Wilson said he's encouraged by Tierney's efforts so far, as well as her embrace of newer marketing techniques, like helping VARs leverage social media.
"I hear she's someone who takes advantage of the new mediums and that's something we're certainly exploring more and more," Wilson said. "There's a huge, largely untapped market there, without a vast expense to [tap] it."
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