The new program, which replaces a traditional one, is a single tiered program which gives margin rather than discount, emphasizes partners bringing in the deal, and awards bonus Loyalty Points to add to margins for additional actions that show commitment to the company.
The certification program will eventually be a key component of the Hunters partner program, which is currently being designed.
A key element is the reintegration of channel and alliances strategy into one overarching approach, even though they are managed by two separate executives.
Aruba also reviewed recent partner-focused announcements, including the new Aruba service packs announced at the HPE GreenLake event on March 22.
Gavin Osters, who designed SentinelOne’s original channel program, joined Randori as Head of Channel to drive the company to being 100% channel sales.
A key benefit for traditional AV partners who have sold Zoom Rooms in the past, but been largely excluded through regulations from selling phones, is that they will be able to resell Zoom Phones with Native Capabilities. This will be phased in by geos, and while the U.S. and Canada are not in the first wave, they are on the road map.
Orit Shilvock just joined Prevention-as-a-Service provider Perception Point as their VP of Channels and Strategic Alliances, and while the company has already begun its transition to a 100% channel model, her job is to take them there more quickly and efficiently.
The program adds new tiers for GSIs, ISVs and OEMs, to move beyond the original VAR partner base and deepen the enterprise focus, and also enhances partner benefits across the board.
Other priorities include more emphasis on partner business plans, and making it clear to partners how switching to the RingCentral partnership for their UCaaS puts both Mitel and their partners in a stronger position than before.
Zebra’s new specialization is not targeted at a broad partner base but at a fairly select number of partners who already have an SMB practice, and is focused on making those practices even more profitable and effective.
HP Amplify Impact is a partner assessment and training program that leverages HP’s Sustainable Impact strategy, and has a goal of enrolling 50% or more of their global partner community by 2025.
Mark Osmond, who came to Checkmarx from Veeam Software, talks about what he sees as the challenges facing application security testing partners moving from on-prem to the cloud, how he intends to make things easier for them, and other elements of the company’s channel strategy for the year ahead.
Difenda is expanding its channel to bring their Difenda Shield powered by Microsoft in front of more customers, and so is looking to use the new program to selectively add quality partners.
Solarwinds has not had a full global partner program in the past, but new global channel leader Jeff McCullough is working on one, for the second half of this year.
MDR provider Ponderance has had partners for a while, but started to get serious about building out a powerful, profitable channel only in late 2020, and the new partner program is the next step in this strategy.
Red Canary has typically worked with Incident Response partners in the past, but the new Red Canary Partner Connect Program also provides support, using a common framework, for MSPs, Solution Providers; Technology Partners, and Insurance and Risk partners.
The HelpSystems partner program was created years ago when the company’s focus was on IBM AS/400 tools, and while support for security partners through the program has been enhanced in recent years, the program redo is designed to spur security partner enablement through a more rigorous training and cross-selling strategy.
Sysdig is transitioning from a direct model to a hybrid but channel-first one, which will see all sales outside the Global 500, about 90% of their business, go through partners.
Jon Peppler, Salt’s new Vice President of Worldwide Channels, sees extraordinary growth in the API Security market as almost certain, and that an enhanced channel program is needed to help partners meet demand.
Stratodesk began transitioning to a channel-first model last year, which saw more than half of all sales go through partners, a percentage which had never been above 5% before.
