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Deal protection for channel partners is key to partner-vendor trust and working together effectively. That’s why ALE, operating under the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise brand, on Wednesday announced a deal-protection program to complement its existing deal-registration program.

Both programs will help partners work more effectively with ALE in delivering cost-effective technology experiences for end customers, the company said.

ALE’s Lisa Simpson

Deal registration offers ALE partners protection for new business and helps them manage competition while running the business more efficiently and effectively. Partners register the opportunity with ALE, which helps provide forecasting and promotes increased collaboration and loyalty. The deal-protection program provides some compensation to a certified/approved partner that has secured an approved deal. It ensures a partner is compensated for bringing in the opportunity, even if that partner doesn’t eventually win the deal, the vendor said.

“As part of my goals, we will continue to create opportunities that benefit our partners and make it easier to do business with ALE. The addition of Deal Protection strengthens our relationship with our partners and enables us to recognize the valuable work they do. Deal Registration secures that, and Deal Protection rewards the partner in the event the deal is lost. The investment our partners make in an opportunity has value and we want to encourage that behavior,” said Lisa Simpson, vice president, channel sales and distribution strategy, North America, at ALE.

ALE’s Enterprise Partner Program includes its business partners, who are core players in the vendor’s enterprise go-to-market strategy. ALE also has an Application Partner program and a Technology and Strategic Partners program.

The Enterprise Partner Program requires that business partners get trained and accredited in order to sell, deploy and support the vendor’s communications solutions.

Simpson is fairly new to her position at ALE, although she worked at Nokia for almost 20 years. Nokia finalized its purchase of Alcatel-Lucent in November 2016. News of her appointment was made in March 2017. She’s responsible for developing strategy to grow business through channel partners and distribution, grow revenue in targeted verticals, particularly education and transportation, while expanding the VAR, distribution and reseller base. Prior to her new stint at ALE, she was senior director of partner sales at Nokia.

ALE’s vertical focus on transportation and education represents two key growth markets in North America. Technology in transport is shifting from legacy systems to scalable LAN and WLAN IP solutions, while higher-education and K-12 districts continue to move to connected learning environments.

In transportation, ALE’s portfolio of IoT network components is positioned to support transport operators during the transition to intelligent transportation systems. In education, ALE is able to provide new consumption-based models that meet the market’s seasonal variations in service demand, the company said.

After it was acquired by Nokia, ALE launched a new business strategy, which focuses on industry-specific sales, cloud and services. The vendor also made some changes to its partner program, which it calls “initiative value,” making it easier to business with the company.