I am really excited to write this blog post.  Why?  Because we have put a tremendous amount of work into creating a partner program that benefits our partners and our customers.  I am proud of the work of the entire Alcatel-Lucent team and firmly believe you will find unmatched value in working with Alcatel-Lucent.  I have learned many things in my career in sales and one of the most important takeaways is relationships matter, and relationships that truly take into account the needs of others are the most successful.  That is exactly what we have tried to do with our new program. 

We've reinvigorated Alcatel-Lucent Partner Program. Our program is based on a fundamental belief that our partners play an important role in our market success. They are a key part of our sales force. We will work cooperatively with select partners to develop the right solution to fit every customer. If we do this right, Alcatel-Lucent, our partner and our joint customer will all prosper from each sale.

Unlike many partner programs, our approach is based on a two way value exchange.  It is focused on value creation through long-term collaboration, rather than on a pure project-based relationship. To that end, we want to engage with a limited number of select partners in a given area. We are looking for solid relationships with like-minded organizations. And we want to leverage those relationships to create mutual opportunities to jointly expand into new markets while continuing to maintain and improve business with existing customers.

How does this approach enable market success?

By creating market differentiation around a partner's specific expertise with solutions built on world-renowned Bell Labs innovations and Alcatel-Lucent R&D. This expertise allows us to work with partners to jointly propose complete, integrated solutions that best meet a customer's needs. It simplifies market efforts and investments so we can all be more competitive.

Our program is structured to enable our partners to create market differentiation based on specialization. Partners choose the products and solutions that complement their expertise and bring a differentiated offer to the market, they then develop their organization's specializations in that area to achieve certification and accreditation in three tiers:

  • Advanced, for partners who have trained their employees on products in one technology specialization
  • Master, for partners who have trained their employees on more than one technology specialization and can sell and support more than one Alcatel-Lucent application and network solution
  • Expert, for partners who have established deeper expertise in one specialization and are capable of performing more complex functions based on increased knowledge.

Specializations enable our partners to leverage our complete portfolio of end-to-end transport solutions, fixed access solutions, and network services, as well as our professional, managed, and support services.

Partnership is not a new concept. But I believe that our approach is the best way to create market differentiation and work together to deliver the right solution to every customer.

distributed by