Netsurion’s channel in the past has been overwhelmingly MSPs, but the new Netsurion Npower Partner Program is also making a push for VARs, who the company hopes will become committed Netsurion partners as they gradually expand their business into managed services.
Marco Albano, vice president of Channel, Netsurion
Today, Managed XDR provider Netsurion has announced the rebranding and reshaping of their channel partner program. The new Netsurion Npower Partner Program has a new Authorized Tier designed to attract smaller and less experienced MSPs, as well as to attract VARs, the first time the company has given a high priority to VARs in their partner recruitment. The new program has other enhancements as well, such as a flexible partnership model designed to incentivize growth.
The new Authorized Level tier in the Netsurion Npower Partner Program is a key to the restructuring. While Netsurion’s partner base has traditionally been primarily MSPs, as well as a much smaller number of MSSPs, the Authorized Tier opens resellers to the Partner program, as well as entry level MSPs.
“We have grown and have a base of good partners,” said Marco Albano, vice president of Channel at Netsurion. “With the new Authorized Partner Tier, we wanted to create an avenue which would let us meet the partner where they are at in their channel journey. Introducing that lower Authorized level lets us reach out to the reseller channel which has been more product-driven in the past, and introducing the reseller channel lets us bring those resellers on board, and as they develop their own MSP practice, we can come along with them on their journey, and they can shift if they like into the managed services pieces. They may not be comfortable yet to drive in this space on their own, so partnering with us is a good way to do it.”
Before the restructuring of the Partner Program, the number of resellers among Netsurion’s hundreds of partners as been limited.
“We have a small number currently,” Albano said. “We are trying to develop a true reseller program. Traditionally our partner base is MSPs. The number of MSSPs has definitely grown, with some of that being traditional MSPS rebranding as MSSPs.”
The most attractive type of traditional resellers that Netsurion is seeking is traditional boutique partners who have still not yet made their move into managed services. “Boutique partners are really the ones who we want to bring on,” Albano said. “They tend to have closer relationships with their customers, and if they have chosen Netsurion as their managed Open XDR platform, we are likely to get that business.”
Entry level MSPs are the other principal target for the Authorized Level.
“These traditional MSPs are hearing the noise around security and know that they have to build up their security stack or lose customers to competitors who already have,” Albano indicated. “They have a gap, which they can’t do on their own, spending money on a SOC and the people and dealing with things like compliance. What we can do with our decade of experience is deliver these things to MSPs at a more efficient rate than other competitors in the market.
Albano stressed that for prospective partners, it all comes down to need.
“We aren’t saying that Netsurion will fit the need for every single prospective partner,” he said. But for those who fit, we can do it at a fraction of the cost with a team that has been around for a while.”
In addition to the new tier, Netsurion is also introducing a more flexible, consumption-based pricing model that MSPs will be more familiar with.
“The back end of the program changes, is what we have done with pricing and billing,” Albano said.”We have opened it up to the consumption model as well. It bills MSPs for what they are actually using.” The idea here is to enable partners to start small and gradually build up their cybersecurity offering.
The program features a personalized partner portal with the expected enablement tools, including deal registration, easy access to deal tracking and sales materials, NFR licenses and on-demand sales and engineer training, including technical account managers tied to top partners.
The new name of the program — the Netsurion Npower Partner Program – reflects what Albano said are significant changes within the program.
“We have put in a lot of resources, and added benefits that weren’t there before.” he stated. “We wanted to empower our partners better to go to market with us. We wanted to make our existing partners happier, and show them that we are easier to do business with. We believe that this will both attract the right partners and let us support them the right way.”
