**Editor’s Note: Click here for a list of January’s important channel-program changes you should know.**

Avaya on Wednesday announced the “next evolution” of its channel partner program with changes that will go into effect April 1.

Earlier this month, Avaya executives told partners that a nearly $50 billion addressable market awaits the company and its partners in contact center, fabric-based networking, customer care, cloud, UC enterprise, professional services and UC midmarket.

Joe Lohmeier, vice president of Avaya’s Global Partner Organization, tells Channel Partners that partner feedback on changes to the Avaya Connect program has been “largely positive, but it’s understandable that many partners still have questions, which is why we are waiting until April 1 to implement most of the changes.”

“This will give us time to take them through the details and address any questions or concerns they have,” he said.

Effective April 1, Avaya will implement performance-based growth rebates for partners that meet certain thresholds for revenue, growth and services expertise; and growth bets, which include additional performance-based investment in five strategic growth markets: networking, midmarket, contact center, cloud and modernizing the customer base.

In addition, a new deal-registration minimum of $10,000, down from $50,000 previously, will be implemented, and in the United States and Canada, the deal-registration discount also will be combinable with more promotions, but at the incremental discount rate of 3 percent.{ad}

Avaya also is rolling out more “rigorous requirements for solutions experts,” Lohmeier said.

“Experience is measured by the number of successful sales a partner has already made in this solution set and the best way to track this is revenue,” he said. “Avaya will double the revenue thresholds for each solution expert starting on April 1 to provide a higher standard of experience to match our higher standard of expertise. Note that partners who already hold solution-expert specializations as of April 1 are grandfathered until the beginning of the next fiscal year (Oct. 1).”

The program changes are aimed at putting an “even greater focus on growth — especially growth in our strategic markets,” Lohmeier said.

“Our goal is to have the best partner program in the industry, so we’ll continue to evaluate our program elements every year – based on performance and partner feedback – to make sure we stay on that path,” he said.

Paul Edwards, IDC’s director of infrastructure channels and ecosystems, said this is a time of “intense transformation for channel companies and their customers.” To stay one step ahead of market demands, “vendors need to continually assess and evolve their channel programs in ways that support, encourage and empower their entrepreneurial spirit,” he said.