7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at Pax8, TBI, Dell Technologies, More
The rollout of one tech giant’s new partner program is causing turmoil within the channel.
May 6, 2022
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There’s no denying the almost nonstop M&A frenzy among cybersecurity providers. So where does this M&A whirlwind among providers leave partners? How do channel leaders make sure they’re not left with the short end of the stick? These were the questions Channel Futures asked during the cybersecurity roundtable at the Channel Partners Conference and Expo. Justin Crotty, Netenrich’s senior vice president of channels, participated in the roundtable. He makes waves for describing how smaller companies get rolled up into big private entities in platform plays.
“There’s a lot of debate whether the products and the services decline after that happens and what’s left. And for the MSPs and MSSPs that they serve, is it a good thing or is it not. We don’t really judge that. But this is not stopping. Is it good for MSPs and MSSPs is the question. And sometimes I think some are not affected, and other times you’ve got switching out tooling and people migrate to other platforms, and it can be disruptive to the partners that are consuming those services and products.”
Find out more from the cybersecurity roundtable participants here.
It was big news this week at Dell Technologies World 2022 in Las Vegas. During the event’s Global Partner Summit, Dell Technologies representatives said they wanted to transform how the company works with channel partners.
VP of global channel strategy Lukas Bedi made waves for detailing Dell Technologies’ efforts to be easier to work with. In February, the company announced it was eliminating different benefits and requirements for different partner types. Instead, it is introducing one incentive structure, one tier structure and one set of tier requirements for all partners.
“Each of you here will have one status, [so] more transparent,” he told partners. “That’s one stepping stone in terms of how we are building our transformational journey.”
Also in the cards, he said, is a new global partner status to support companies’ cross-functional international business.
Read what other executives at Dell Technologies had to say about efforts to reach out to partners.
Telco and cable company earnings continue to present a mixed bag of wireless growth and wireline decline, according to first quarter earnings for AT&T, Comcast, T-Mobile and Verizon. All four companies reported gains in wireless that in most cases helped them prevail over slumping wireline numbers.
TBI solution engineer Justin Foxwood made waves for his insight about why fixed wireless is growing. Foxwood said fixed wireless has re-emerged in the channel after channel partners commonly sold it more than a decade ago. Foxwood said 5G helped fill in line-of-sight problems that fixed wireless connections previously faced.
“You now have multiple avenues to pull and send data to,” Foxwood told Channel Futures. “It just so happened that 5G has come along and [boosted] this hipster technology.”
Read more from James Anderson’s reporting here.
Eleven top CMOs convened at this year’s Channel Partners Conference & Expo to discuss the challenges facing marketing in the channel.
Pax8’s Amanda Lee made waves when she discussed how to get a team on board with the marketing message.
“The goal is to keep everyone together and to make sure that our leaders have bought into the strategy as well,” said Lee. “It’s multifaceted. I own the AR (analyst relations) and PR (public relations) side of the house. We collaborate with marketing and the social media teams to get our message out.”
She added: “But it’s really about getting everyone on the leadership team in agreement with the strategy. Then keep everybody in line with regular brainstorming sessions and making sure everyone’s aligned with the message.”
Learn more about what the other channel CMO’s had to say about marketing here.
What’s another weekly segment without a cybersecurity story? This time it’s the steady growth of IoT and how it’s providing attackers the ability to leverage and create botnets.
Babur Nawaz Khan is A10 Networks’ senior product marketing manager.
“This, coupled with the widespread use of malware in the automated exploitation and creation of botnets, has fueled the surge of DDoS attacks in recent years. A recent example of this is the use of the Log4j vulnerability in DDoS,” said Khan.
Khan made waves for explaining how the popularity of the well-known Log4j vulnerability among malicious hackers has helped fuel the surge in DDoS attacks that A10 Networks has been monitoring. The scale of its use potentially extends to billions of devices worldwide, Khan said.
“At the same time as the disclosure of the Log4j vulnerability was being made public, A10 Networks’ analysis of hosts affected by the [vulnerability] revealed that 75% of all scanning was sourced from Russia,” he said.
Read more from Edward Gately’s piece about how these attacks will only intensify.
David Wright founded Disruptive Innovations in 2018 as a “consultative sales organization.” That meant providing audits and assessments of customers’ technology environments, addressing current challenges and aligning more closely with the business goals of the organization.
Wright made waves this week for speaking candidly with Channel Futures about how technology advisory firms large and small are seeking to move beyond procurement and into more strategic roles with their customers.
“Especially in the midmarket enterprise arena, we were encountering more and more large consulting firms that were working with companies on cloud strategy and IT strategy. In order to level up as an organization, we felt we had to augment what we were doing when it came to our initial offering.”
Learn about how other companies have moved away from the traditional telecom broker channel and why.
By far the most far-reaching story of the week was the headache caused by looming changes to Microsoft’s partner program. Partners say the revamped program has unrealistic conditions to achieve the same recognition they now hold. Adding to partners’ angst is the Oct. 1 date Microsoft has established for the new program to take effect. Because that’s less than six months from now, partners say they have little time for them to prepare.
Tyler Bryson, Microsoft’s corporate VP for U.S. global partner solutions, made waves for saying that the pushback didn’t surprise him. Speaking to a ballroom of partners during a keynote session at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, Bryson said: “We know change is hard.” He went on to emphasize: “This is not the removal of benefits for anyone. This is about starting, in October, a means for our partners to really start to differentiate themselves in our six course solution areas.”
Read Jeffrey Schwartz’s story to discover what criticisms partners have about the program.
By far the most far-reaching story of the week was the headache caused by looming changes to Microsoft’s partner program. Partners say the revamped program has unrealistic conditions to achieve the same recognition they now hold. Adding to partners’ angst is the Oct. 1 date Microsoft has established for the new program to take effect. Because that’s less than six months from now, partners say they have little time for them to prepare.
Tyler Bryson, Microsoft’s corporate VP for U.S. global partner solutions, made waves for saying that the pushback didn’t surprise him. Speaking to a ballroom of partners during a keynote session at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, Bryson said: “We know change is hard.” He went on to emphasize: “This is not the removal of benefits for anyone. This is about starting, in October, a means for our partners to really start to differentiate themselves in our six course solution areas.”
Read Jeffrey Schwartz’s story to discover what criticisms partners have about the program.
Our weekly Channel People Making Waves ranks the most popular stories of the past seven days. We feature the individuals behind the articles, this week highlighting people at Pax8, TBI, Dell Technologies and more.
First up, M&A hasn’t let up in the channel, including for cybersecurity providers. Meet the experts raising the critical questions about whether this influx of capital is helpful or disruptive for MSPs and MSSPs.
Next, channel marketers and their companies have faced a host of concerns in the last two years — whether it was the pandemic, the changing face of decision-makers, or increased security needs. Channel Futures spoke to nearly a dozen CMOs about the challenges and how their companies stay on message.
Last, we spoke to David Wright, founder of Disruptive Innovations, about the changing nature of technology advisory firms that seek to move beyond procurement and into more consulting roles with their customers.
Check out our slideshow above for the people who made the top stories of the week. Also, don’t forget to check out last week’s roundup, which you can find here.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Claudia Adrien or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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