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The August 27th Telarus Tuesday call welcomed Verizon’s managing partner channels,  Linda Cole, to answer some questions about Verizon. The entire recording is available here.

Q: Tell us about what a partner should be talking about to their clients when it comes to Verizon SD-WAN. When and how does Verizon make it easy for them to not only uncover the opportunities but to help their clients understand how it will benefit them?

A: Verizon’s SD-WAN solution portfolio offers the client a range of options for leveraging this technology to benefit their business operations.. from simple WAN Management applications to full Virtual Network Service.  In addition to providing full support for embedded equipment providers (like Cisco, Fortinet, Palo Alto), Verizon also offers a white-box solution which delivers the flexibility to select the SD-WAN application providers of your choice, while leveraging the management & optimization/service chaining capabilities of Verizon.  To get started, reach out to Whitney Andrea or Josh Lupresto to engage our Verizon team, who will supply business & technical consultation support to you and your client.

Q: When a partner works with a major carrier in the industry there are differences in the way those sales are made in the channel than how they are made when they are working with a smaller or newer carrier. How can partners best work with Verizon specifically when it comes to deal registration and feeling comfortable knowing that their deals are protected? 

A: Verizon now has over 30 Territory Channel Managers across the U.S.   Together with Whitney Andrea & her team at Telarus, they will act as your ambassadors and advocates within Verizon to ensure that you get the right support – pre & post-sales – for your clients.   For Mid-Market & Enterprise level accounts, the deal registration process is designed to ensure you have proper alignment with our Direct teams as you develop strategic solutions for your clients.

Q: SD-WAN helps make networks more effective and robust, but it also capitalizes on some admittedly lower-cost forms of access that still have SLAs and high reliability. Talk to us about the benefits of sourcing those through Verizon.   

A: Rather than have the client manage the complexity of SD-WAN functionality; e.g., business continuity, network management, etc. across a number of vendors/suppliers, Verizon can aggregate MPLS, broadband, 4GLTE capability & equipment to deliver an integrated design, overall management support, volume-based pricing and a single pane of glass for billing and network management.

Q: What are the overall benefits of 5G? Why should partners be interested in helping their customers understand Verizon 5G?  

A: The benefits of 5G are yet to be realized.  Borrowing from Adam Edwards presentation at The Summit, we can only ‘see around the corner’ at this point in the evolution of 5G.  We know 5G will deliver superior bandwidth, speed, reduced latency, & lower battery usage through improved hardware (5G antenna) and compute-at-the edge capabilities.  And we know that 5G will change how people live, work & play. Verizon is working with both industry leaders and incubator companies to fulfill the promise of 5G.   As we test 5G to support SD-WAN

and deliver reliable, high-speed Fixed Wireless Access, Partners should start positioning Verizon’s existing strategic services so their clients will be on the glide path for 5G evolution as the technology evolves.

Q: What type of post-sales support is available?

A: Verizon is currently improving post-sales support with the client experience as the primary driver for the changes being made. For example, a new process is being rolled out specifically focused on new Verizon clients to ensure their first experience with Verizon is great.  More information on this process will be announced to the partner community very soon. Additional resources, both personnel and automated tools, are planned to make it easier to work with Verizon.  Our executive leadership team has heard the feedback loud and clear and they are driving post-sales improvements from the top-down as we transform our company under the initiative called Verizon 2.0.

To learn more about Verizon, visit https://www.verizon.com/business/gateway/.