News

New Customer Advisory Boards, Advocate Program and online Resource Center foster dialogue within the user community, give customers influence over product direction

Concord, N.H. – July 27, 2010 – Bradford Networks, a proven leader in securing today’s heterogeneous networks, today launched “Team Bradford,” a multi-pronged initiative intended to help ensure customers’ success as they implement network security strategies.

Team Bradford has four main elements:

• Invitation-only Customer Advisory Boards intended to help ensure Bradford is aware of and responding to current needs and trends within its customer base;
• An Advocacy Program that provides customers with discounts and other incentives in exchange for acting as a reference for Bradford Networks;
• Regional in-person user conferences, called XCHANGE events; and
• A new online Resource Center to enable Bradford customers to instantly access all the information resources they need from Bradford staff as well as partners and other customers.

According to Bradford Networks’ CEO Gregg Bjork, Team Bradford was created at the suggestion of several key customers who had already connected, and felt Bradford’s other customers would benefit from similar connections. As discussions continued, Bradford’s leadership team broadened the scope of the effort to include the Advisory Boards and Advocate Program. A key principle of Team Bradford is “Information Transparency” – which simply means making available all the necessary information and resources to fully enable and empower members of the Team Bradford community to be effective, efficient and self sufficient.

“We loved the idea of developing a community for our users, and also wanted to ensure that we were doing everything we could to gather early insight into customer needs and market trends,” said Bjork. “The Customer Advisory Boards – populated by customers such as Bryant University, Central Michigan University, Luther College, Pepperdine University and Taylor University – will be a vital part of that effort.”

“Team Bradford has come to represent the collective resources of Bradford customers, partners, resellers and employees,” Bjork added. “It takes a village, to coin a phrase – and at Bradford we’ve assembled a vibrant village that’s completely focused on ensuring customer success.”

Bradford customers who participate in the Customer Advisory Boards and Advocate Program receive several valuable benefits including advance copies of software, influence over product direction, discounted training and services, and the opportunity to be recognized by media and analysts for their network security achievements.

While the Customer Advisory Boards are invitation-only, all Bradford Networks customers are invited to join the Advocate Program, utilize the Resource Center and attend regional XCHANGE events. Interested customers should contact their Bradford account representative for more detail.