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McAfee Gains SMB SaaS Momentum Amid Upsell, Cross-Sell Push
Owned by Intel (INTC), McAfee says Q3 deal registrations with security partners nearly doubled, and SaaS momentum in small business is accelerating. Next up are new partner rewards.
The VAR Guy
October 31, 2013
3 Min Read
McAfee Channel Chief Gavin Struthers.
McAfee Channel Chief Gavin Struthers hosted a partner webcast this morning, offering security VARs an update on opportunities and trends for Q4 2013. The VAR Guy apparently muscled his way into the virtual room today and then stuck around for a chat with Struthers. Here's the recap.
As you may recall, Intel (INTC) owns McAfee. In a prepared statement, Intel President Renee James said the Intel/McAfee partnership is "on the verge of enabling a new era of hardware-based security." Struthers said in Q3, McAfee's commercial growth continued, deal registration surged and SMB SaaS momentum continued.
In fact, deal registration nearly doubled in Q3 2013 vs. Q3 2012. Plus, Security as a Service is generating strong double-digit growth. McAfee partners also are winning business as customers seek alternatives amid Google's transition from Postini to Google Apps, Struthers said.
Some other key themes from the webcast:
Execution Rigor: It takes a plan, commitment and cadence to succeed with the channel. McAfee's partner support organization now manages 40,000 support activities per quarter.
Fierce Engagement: It's about being honest and listening to drive profits, optimization and enablement.
Disruptive Growth: The idea is to innovate, upsell and displace rivals. Struthers pointed to McAfee's growing influence in the firewall market. "Innovation is alive and well at McAfee," said Struthers.
Partners that are growing 20 percent or more are working with fewer vendors, he added. "We're doubling down. We're going to go fast and we're going to go hard. We don't want to do this alone. We want to do it with our partners."
Partner Program Enhancements
Next up was Lisa Matherly, VP of worldwide partner programs and marketing. She recapped McAfee messages from the company's recent partner summit and offered additional updates:
No Cap: McAfee is removing a cap on its volume incentive rebates. This will be effective April 1, 2014.
Displacing Rivals: McAfee is crediting $200 to McAfee partners that register deals involving rival swap-outs. There are also $2, $4 and $6 per node rewards as part of the swap-out wins.
Enablement: New demand generation kits and sales tools for partners have surfaced.
SMB Suite: McAfee SaaS Total Protection is now McAfee Security for Business.
New Partner 360 Dashboard: Displays deals registered by partners, status and more.
Then, McAfee's Charles Ross described McAfee's approach to advanced threat defense
The big focus involves find, freeze and fix.
Find: Quickly and accurately detect sophisticated threats.
Freeze: Tightly-integrated McAfee security products will stop infiltration attempts and contain infected endpoints.
Fix: Easily initiate remediation actions across endpoints.
Two-Year Channel Journey Continues
Struthers is an 11-year McAfee veteran, and has been channel chief for 21 months. From the partner growth to the program adoptions, Struthers sounds pleased with McAfee's progress. He also believes McAfee's hardware-based security innovations will differentiate the company for years to come. "When you start looking at the Internet of Things and embedding security into purpose-built appliances, Intel will be at the heart of things there as well."
So, too, will McAfee's partners, Struthers asserted.
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