Partners Converge, Collaborate, and Celebrate in Orlando at Viavi’s 2015 Global Sales University

One word comes to mind when reflecting on our recent Global Sales University (GSU) event.

Inspired.

I’m inspired about the enthusiasm I felt from our partners as they envision a bright future working with Viavi. I’m inspired about the feedback I heard from our manufacturing reps throughout the event. I’m inspired about our new channel program, Velocity, that we launched during GSU and I’m convinced will reinvigorate our channel. Inspired about the inflection point we in the industry find ourselves as customers big and small look to upend legacy networks for modern, virtual infrastructure.

The primary goal of the GSU is to provide Viavi’s sales teams and partners with the tools, skills and knowledge they need to win. This year’s training courses taught how to:

• Leverage the Viavi story to open up further discussions with prospects and customers;
• Look into Viavi’s entire Solutions portfolio to solve our customers and prospects biggest challenges;
• Align the right resources at the right time to collaborate, build, and deliver the right solutions for our customers; and,
• Leverage the current set of sales tools for greater productivity gains.

Monday brought general sessions where presenters began to breathe life into the event’s “Adapt, Transform, & Thrive – Together” theme. Then we got started on our first set of classes where partners got an update on Viavi’s Channel Strategy and Program in the Partner Kickoff Session and received:

• An executive update on the Viavi Channel Strategy and new Velocity Partner Program
• An overview of the essential role Channel Partners play in the future of Viavi
• A demo of the new Partner Portal which will go live on/after November 23rd as partners that sign their new contract
• The list of Pinnacle Award nominees
• An update on sales effectiveness and improvements from Susan Schramm, Viavi’s Vice President of Sales Effectiveness and Channels

During our big Awards Ceremony on Monday night we recognized our first ever set of Partner Star Team Award winners and Pinnacle Award winner!

The Star Team Award winners are partners that were in the top 10% of partners in their region as measured by a combination of FY15 over-quota performance and year-over-year growth from FY14.

Allow me to introduce you to our FY2015 Star Team Award winners:

North America

• ANIXTER INC.
• TESSCO TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
• TESTEQUITY LLC

Latin America

• COMERCIALIZADORA de TELECOMUNICACIONES S de RL de CV
• COTENER S.A.C.
• TECNOUS S.A.

EMEA

• ANEDIS GMBH
• BEST ACTIVITY PRODUCT LTD.
• BLUE HELIX LTD.
• ELSINCO BUDAPEST KFT.
• LASER 2000 (UK) LTD.
• NORMANN ENGINEERING GMBH
• OOO VILCOM HOLDING
• TECON S.R.L.
• TELENCO DISTRIBUTION
• TEST SOLUTIONS EOOD

APJ and Greater China

• BEIJING COMTEST CO. LIMITED
• BEIJING NEW HIGHLIGHT PHOTO-ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
• BOMYUNG I & C CO., LTD.
• COMIT CORPORATION
• EAGLETEK CORPORATION
• NTT-ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
• RICKLEE ENTERPRISES, INC.
• SAVITRI TELECOM SERVICES
• ZHONGTONG INFORMATION SERVICE CO. LTD.

Now, onto the top partner award of the night — The Pinnacle Award. The Pinnacle Award is given to the Star Team Partner who in addition to exceeding quota has shown exemplary behaviors by being a partner that has the ability to drive the entire sales cycle, positioning our full breath of portfolio while investing in the training, demo gear and marketing.

We are delighted to announce that Peru-based strategic partner Cotener is Viavi’s first ever Pinnacle Award winner. Cotener doubled their business in FY15, built the Viavi brand in their market, positioned and sold a wide range of Viavi solutions with key customers and new accounts in the region. They also invested in demo gear and added sales managers who are exclusively focused on selling Viavi.

Jaime Piddo, owner of Cotener was in attendance at the GSU and was brought up onto the main stage to accept the award for his company.

All award winners were invited to attend an exclusive yacht trip during GSU. Hosted by me and Dion Joannou, the yacht trip was an opportunity for the winners to celebrate their success and network with Viavi executives, the Network and Service Enablement team and other winning partners from around the globe. Once aboard, partners enjoyed a cocktail reception, spectacular views of the Hillsborough Bay from three separate decks, and music from a DJ and an unplugged acoustic duo. Winning partners will also receive a special award logo and award statement from Viavi that they can use to highlight the performance of their company in collateral, sales tools, public websites, customer communications or other promotional activities.

Congratulations to all our winners on their excellent achievements!

Tuesday brought another day of stimulating general session presentations and classes followed by the Solutions Expo that night. Hundreds stopped by the Viavi Velocity booth at the Expo where our team was wearing bright orange “Partner Pit Crew” shirts and giving out Velocity-branded F1 matchbox cars to match the “velocity” theme.

Visitors to the Viavi Velocity Partner Booth could get:

• Hands-on live demos of the partner portal;
• Guided tours of the Marketing Development Fund (MDF) and deal registration tools;
• Information about upcoming training opportunities; and
• All of their Velocity Partner Program questions answered.

Another great thing about the Solutions Expo is that three of our Elite partners – Anixter, Graybar, and TESSCO – took advantage of Viavi’s first time offer for Elite partners to exhibit at GSU and each had a booth at the event.  This is a significant investment that our top partners are making with Viavi Solutions.

There’s a real and evident momentum and excitement surrounding our new company and new Velocity partner program and we plan continue to do the right things to keep it growing. All in all, the event left me and other attendees with whom I’ve spoken feeling very positive, optimistic and connected.

Oh, and inspired of course.