Cequence Security, a pioneer in application and API security, has officially announced the expansion and formalization of its Partner Program, reinforcing the company’s commitment to a channel-first business model. With 74% of net-new revenue already flowing through partnerships, and a desire to do more channel business, in a sector with many direct competitors, Cequence remains one of the few API security and bot management companies fully committed to a channel-first strategy.
“This program reflects our commitment to empowering partners with the tools, enablement, and incentives they need to lead in application, API, and AI security while driving growth for both Cequence and our partners,” said Sydney Weber, Director of Channel Sales, at Cequence Security.
That being said, Cequence’s channel is pretty select.
“We had 20 authorized partners, most of whom are VARs, and two additional strategic partnerships currently in onboarding,” Weber said. “We have been cutting ties with many partners. When I came on, we had signed quite a few partners, but none of them were really activated. They weren’t. They seemed to be a lot of one off deals, and we didn’t really have enough we didn’t really have enough resources in the channel, in my opinion, to be honest, to execute the enablement that they really needed to get off the ground.
So when I came in we did a refresh of our partner portal, and how we were engaging with and kind of tracking the partner success, as well as kind of a refresh on, okay, hey, who have we talked to and spoken with or done a deal with, a deal reg with in the last year, or in the last two years? We found that there were quite a few that weren’t even around any more. So in the refresh of our partner portal, we were able to kind of really cut that down, if I remember correctly, I think we had like 42 signed up, but we were really only actively talking to like maybe 10. So we went through, we eliminated the ones that were just not active or no longer even in business. I did quite find quite a few that weren’t even around anymore.”
Weber said that Cequence honed in where the company could find success.
“We found that we were the best fit with security VARs, so we did a refresh of our portal and where we could track partner success, as well as who we had spoken with or done a deal reg with in the last year, or the last two years, we were able to track those down. We found that there were quite a few that weren’t even around any more. But I found that all security, especially VARs who focused on security, were our best bet, so Guidepoint and Defy were my top two. That was where I felt were my best fit. And then we have got 6 or 7 that also play in the networking space. It was where we found strategic partners as opposed to authorized or generic partnerships.”
Weber said that the really hard part in building a channel was how do you get from predominantly channel to channel-only.
“Channel-only is hard, and my real goal is channel-first,” she said. Companies who have a legacy where they did a lot of direct sales find it harder to break into the channel. We do have hopes that channel-first is going to enable partners. Channel-only is hard because it’s an unrealistic goal. Some companies are not channel, and there are some who will only buy direct and will not buy a channel deal. We will not turn down a big deal, but it becomes less attractive if they’re not going to be willing to go through the channel.”
So when I came on, we had signed quite a few partners, but none of them were really activated. They weren’t. They seemed to be a lot of one off deals, and we didn’t really have enough we didn’t really have enough resources in the channel, in my opinion, to be honest, to execute the enablement that they really needed to get off the ground. So when I came in, we did a refresh of our partner portal and how we were engaging with and kind of tracking the partner success, as well as kind of a refresh on, okay, hey, who have we talked to and spoken with or done a deal with, a deal reg with in the last year, in the last two years? And so we were able to kind of really cut that down, if I remember correctly, I think we had like 42 signed up, but we were really only actively talking to like maybe 10. And that really is that was kind of a big deal for us. So we went through, we eliminated the ones that were just not active or no longer even in business. I did quite find quite a few that weren’t even around anymore. Really wanted to hone in and focus on where we could find success. So I looked for all security, you know, vars that focus solely on security. For instance, guide, point and defy were my top two. That was where I feel like we were. We were the best fit.”
Weber acknowledged that becoming channel-only, while a stated goal, is also one that is very hard to reach.
“It’s going to be a very difficult lift to get us there,” she said. “in an ideal world, I would love to be channel only. The more research that I have done, and, you know, the years of experience I do have in this, it’s a little bit of an unrealistic goal. My goal, really and truthfully, is channel first. We are always going to have the struggle of becoming channel only. If we can go channel first, and I can get that with our resellers and with our sales reps and our customers that know like, hey, Cequence does business through the channel, that is where we will find value. I also hope it helps enable our partners to add more value to our customers. All our competitors are channel, but some think that they can go through the channel as well.”
Some geos are easier to do channel than others. The United States is hard. Canada is not quite as hard, but it’s still a challenge.
“It’s much easier to adopt channel in Brazil than it has been in the United States,” Weber stated. “It’s the name of the game down there, and brought in a new level for us. We’ve been able to leverage distribution in Brazil, which also has brought in a new level for us, because when we are enabling, for example, our distribution partners, they are now going out and enabling their channel partners. So it’s, 4x extension of our sales team, is what I like to call it. And Brazil has been a great example of how we can successfully do that.”
“Japan, ever since I’ve been in the technology business going on 40 plus years, you Japan has always had a very different end tier channel, versus a two tier channel, versus versus Latin America,” said John Dasher, Vice President of Marketing at Cequence Security. “And of course, we go out of our way to be very culturally aware, if you will.”
Cequence defines itself as having three core objectives. One is ensuring that specialized partners deliver Cequence’s Unified API Protection platform.
“We have some partners including services partners, who are solely focused on API assessments and consulting,” Weber said. ”They understand that world very well. We are building out certifications right now. At this stage, it is more sales. The road map is technical, and we are not there yet but that’s very much the goal. Anything that we can do to be a channel-first company is really my big initiative. The other side of that coin would be that we’re picking the partners that we’re actively going to market with and we are specializing them. So we are finding a lot of people have a SME that’s really devoted to either APIs or bots, and we’re making sure that they are certified and trained and enabled to understand Cequence, to deliver the Cequence demos, and hopefully, the goal is to get them to do execution and not just enablement. We’re building out the training right now. So I do have, within our partner portal, a whole training series for partners, to become certified on Cequence. But that certification is really more heavily on the sales certification side versus the technical it is in my my roadmap and my plan to enable them to be technically certified. I’m just not quite there yet.”
The second core objective addresses limited in-house expertise by providing customers access to managed services comprised of trusted advisors and turnkey solutions.
“API security can be complex but bad guys now have very sophisticated ways to detecting APIs,” Dasher stated. “As a result, many customers will want to augment their own security teams by working with ours or one of our partners security services. Even Fortune 100 companies will leverage a managed services practice. Some want to find out what their attack surface looks like. We can do that for them without taking our eye off the ball.” This objective also provides instant access to training modules, datasheets, marketing resources, as well as certifications.
Incentives & Growth Programs: Access to SPIF programs, margin protection, and co-marketing support – making it easier to ensure partners are rewarded and enabled for success.
The third objective eliminates fragmented security approaches by consolidating capabilities into a single unified platform.
“The platform exists today,” Weber stated. It was part of a partner program with structured tiers, enhanced enablement, and profitability incentives. It also provided access to SPIFF programs, margin protection, and co-marketing support. This makes it easier to ensure partners are rewarded and enabled for success.
“We didn’t have distinct tiers before,” she said. “Now we have the Authorized and Strategic. We expect they will bring us into deals, and it’s working.”