Kaspersky survey shows how partner/vendor relationships are evolving

Matt Courchesne, head of SMB and channel for Kaspersky North America

Like every aspect of every life and business, the relationship between technology solution providers and their vendor partners has changed due to the COVID19 pandemic.

Kaspersky has decided to take a deeper look into just what partners are feeling about their business and vendor relationships, probing their North American channel partners with questions about how the pandemic has impacted their business thus far and where they see it going from here. In this edition of the podcast, Matt Courchesne, head of SMB and channel for Kaspersky North America, joins us to discuss what partners say.

We discuss:

why Kaspersky decided to do this kind of a survey of solution providers;
the highlights, big numbers, and surprises they found in their polling;
why channel relationships, training and event are going to stay hybrid;
how partner sales models have evolved, and how they’ll continue to evolve in the long term;
what are the biggest challenges solution providers report in dealing with their vendors;
the balance of the respondents to the survey — 50 percent U.S. and 50 percent Canada;
why he feels Kaspersky needs to be ready for how things may change the next time they do this kind of a survey;
how Kaspersky’s thinking about bringing back in-person partner events; and
why leads are important, but maybe not as important as those who design partner programs might think.

All this and much more in this edition of the ChannelBuzz.ca Podcast.