AppViewX's partner program has been remade to enable partners to sell their certificate lifecycle management machine identity solution, including selling services, through a 100% channel model.
Chris Peterson, Vice President – Global Channel & Alliance Partnerships at AppViewX
New York City-based AppViewX has announced the launch of AppViewXpert, a reinvention of their channel program designed to assist partners to sell their certificate lifecycle management machine identity solution.
AppViewX has been in business since 2004, and has focused on their present specialization since 2013.
“Before that we did network automation for enterprise accounts,” said Chris Peterson, Vice President – Global Channel & Alliance Partnerships at AppViewX. “We developed a focus on machine identity, with the biggest differentiation being the automation capability of product that gives a much smarter way to manage machine identity now we are launching our certificate lifecycle management machine identity solution. While lots of vendors do machine identity for humans, what we do, through partners with an IAM practice, also does this for machines using our Cert+ automation product.”
AppViewX does work with some smaller companies, automating the processes by which they had still been managing certificates in Excel spreadsheets, but their core market is companies with greater than 2000 employees.
“Global employees are our sweet spot,” Peterson said. “We have been extremely successful in financial services, utilities, energy – and health care with all its IoT devices to manage.”
They also have a physical presence in Canada.
“Six months ago, we put a team in Ottawa to focus on the Canadian market,” Peterson noted.
AppViewX has worked with partners for years, but with the appointment of Gregory Webb as CEO in 2019, the decision was made to shift to a 100% channel Go-to-Market model.
“This included not just product resale but delivery of all the services around us,” Peterson said. “There is a nice play in standing the product up, but the most profitable one is in services.”
The creation of the new partner program reflects both the pivot to a 100% channel strategy, and the transition of AppViewX’s service team to an enablement team to enable partners to deliver services.
“We had a partner program before, but it wasn’t very advanced,” Peterson indicated. Partners now advance through enablement and certification as well as just revenue, which it used to be before. The tiering is the standard Silver, Gold, Platinum metallic, but it doesn’t put organizations in buckets based on volume, but on specific requirements around capability, certification, and customer satisfaction.”
Training and certification have also been expanded.
“We have a combination of on demand training and some live training for implementation and integration consultants,” Peterson said. “We also shadow the partner on their first call for hands-on training with one of our people there to support them. We have launched new certifications for salespeople, and they are fully built out and running. We will be launching new ones for post-sales consultants as well. We just launched our first ten partners for that, so it will be about another quarter before I want to go there.”
Enablement support has been strengthened by a new partner portal, which has now gone live.
“We launched a brand spanking new portal that gives partners access to case studies, white papers, reference accounts and reference use cases,” Peterson indicated. “It gives partners information that they need to be successful. The portal also includes a deal registration component, as well as a system for passing leads to partners.”
AppViewX’s partner base includes security-focused solution providers like Optove, but the base is broader than that, and they are looking to expand further.
“We seek out partners who have a security practice, and who have an IAM practice,” Peterson said. “It goes beyond solution providers, as we also focus on a few key Sis. Later this year, we will branch into the managed services area as well.”
