Akamai Channel Program Gets New Discounts, Deal Management, More

The Akamai channel program is getting some updates on the security and delivery side. The changes do not yet apply to the company’s cloud computing offerings via Linode.

For now, Akamai channel partners can expect new discounts, and smoother onboarding and deal management, the company said.

To the first point, Akamai said the enhanced pricing affects new deals up front. This spurs more incentive to register opportunities, Akamai said.

Akamai’s Paul Joseph

“We listened to our partners and the expectations of the market,” Paul Joseph, executive vice president of global sales and services at Akamai, told Channel Futures. “Driving incentives for partner field sales professionals is critical to align with their financial rewards. Up-front discounts for qualified new businesses provide greater motivation to hunt and register new opportunities.”

The Akamai channel upgrades further will feature simplified onboarding processes. Those will roll out over the coming months, the company said. Look for capabilities including easier registration and deal management. Partners also will get more tools and metrics for business planning and their own performance management (think preparation for quarterly reviews).

Plus, Akamai is promising to bring channel partners in earlier on product announcements, and give them more access to its experts. Akamai partners already could reach out to Akamai people, Joseph clarified. However, he said, “we’re increasing the scope and frequency of forums and avenues in which they can learn from and interact with our subject matter experts alongside our internal sales teams.”

All in all, Akamai noted, “This will strengthen the role of channel partners as an extension of the Akamai team.”

What About Linode Within the Akamai Channel?

Meanwhile, when it comes to channel updates on the Linode cloud computing side, Akamai has yet to introduce those. Akamai continues to “listen to our partners’ needs and recommendations to expand our program in the future,” Joseph said.

Akamai bought Linode in 2022 for $900 million. It did so after making its name as a global content delivery network provider that now also offers security and edge computing. It goes after big organizations. Linode, on the other hand, positions itself as an alternative to the hyperscalers – Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform – for developers and smaller managed service providers. Akamai’s rationale in buying Linode was that the addition makes the CDN “the world’s most distributed cloud services provider.”

Along those lines, Akamai in February introduced its Connected Cloud platform, its first big public step in the integration of Linode. Yet when it comes to more insight into Akamai channel efforts regarding Linode, there’s not a lot to discuss yet.

Ongoing Evolution

As for why Akamai chose now to update some of its channel particulars, it just seems to be a matter of ongoing evolution. Akamai launched its partner program in January 2021; Joseph took over channel responsibilities the following month.

“A couple of years is an acceptable timeframe to make improvements, especially when benefiting the partners,” Joseph said. “It is paramount to keep in place the building blocks of a program long enough to underpin the delivery of a joint success plan. At the same time, we must stay up to speed with the market, constantly listen to our partners, and ensure the program offerings remain competitive.”

On the whole, the Akamai channel program enhancements boil down to two things. Those are “financial incentives and partner ease of doing business with us,” Joseph said.