New, Changing Partner Programs: Cisco, AWS, IBM, T-Mobile, More
Vendors more than ever are accommodating a range of partner business models.
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The channel continues to play a bigger role in Dell Technologies‘ go-to-market strategy.
Partners have driven 62% of Dell’s new and reactivated buyers, according to the vendor’s latest earnings.
In the meantime, Dell has simplified its channel program to make its incentives less complicated. Partners now have a single incentive structure.
Christine Horton interviewed Rola Dagher, Dell’s global channel chief.
Omnichannel contact center solutions provider LiveVox expanded its referral partner base.
LiveVox inked an agreement with technology solutions distributor Sandler Partners. That means agents working with Sandler can leverage the company’s contract with LiveVox to sell its solutions for a commission.
Claudia Adrien covered the partnership.
Google Cloud sales people and partners belong to the same organization now.
In addition to combining those forces, Google Cloud has announced plans to double its spending on partners in the upcoming years. These changes come as Kevin Ichhpurani replaces Carolee Gearhart.
Jim Anderson, managing director of the North America partner ecosystem and channels, did a Q&A with Kelly Teal.
GoTo, formerly known as LogMeIn, launched its new Partner Network.
GoTo’s global vice president of channel sales said the company took feedback from partners to refresh the channel program. Now the vendor has enhanced its marketing resources and expanded its support options for different partner types.
Read more about the rebrand.
Partners will play a more important role in IBM‘s strategy than ever.
The sale of IBM’s managed services division, Kyndryl, means that partners will no longer be competing against the division. Moreover, IBM will expand its incentive stack to include both the front and back end of the sales life cycle, according to David La Rose, general manager of IBM partner ecosystem sales.
La Rose shared his thoughts with Jeffrey Schwartz.
Cybersecurity and automation software provider HelpSystems introduced a new partner program.
Referral, VAR, distributor, MSP and technology partners can qualify for the program, which HelpSystems redesigned to reflect its recent organic and inorganic growth.
HelpSystems most recently acquired Tripwire. It also has bought Digital Guardian and PhishLabs.
Read Edward Gately’s story to learn more.
Cisco is looking to agents to generate more sales of its cloud-based offerings.
Cisco last month unveiled a new TSB partnership with Telarus. For now the agreement enables Telarus sales partners to offer their customers Cisco Webex, but some day it may expand to include Meraki and other solutions.
Kristyn Hogan, Cisco vice president of collaboration partner sales, said the agent channel gave give Cisco in-roads with down-market customers.
Read more of Hogan’s comments.
Managed security services platform provider Adlumin upgraded its MSP program.
Adlumin, which is selling only through the channel, is encouraging MSPs with any level of cybersecurity expertise to work with it. The company has added aggregated MSP pricing and renewal protection and new rebates.
Get details about the update.
Salt Security has made its channel program more broadly available.
Salt executives said they had sold exclusively through the channel since the inception of the company. However, they said they wanted to codify the key tenets of their partner strategy in its expanded Essential Partner Program.
Now more distributors, channel partners, consultancies and integrators can access the program.
Edward Gately has the scoop.
T-Mobile is looking to build on existing efforts in the channel following some personnel changes.
The carrier has hired George Fischer as sales leader for the T-Mobile for Business Group. He has replaced James Kirby. In addition, channel chief Pat Watkins has left the company.
Fischer played a role in the transformation of Verizon’s channel partner program from 2014-2017.
Learn about the personnel changes.
Stratodesk‘s partner recruitment efforts have paid off.
The desktop as-a-service provider reported that channel-led sales increased from 5% before the pandemic to 50%. Moreover, the company has benefitted from sharing more margins in the Stratodesk Edge program with channel partners.
Jeffrey Schwartz wrote about Stratodesk’s channel program.
SupportLogic is adding partners amid its rollout of its new Partner Experience Plus program.
TBI and six other partners have joined the new PX+ program. Dave Feliu, who recently joined the company as channel chief, said he worked to outline SupportLogic’s partner agreement blueprint, in addition to spearheading marketing development funds, education and enablement.
Check out Claudia Adrien’s story.
Deep Instinct is launching an MSSP program.
The endpoint protection provider brought on three new channel leaders to expand its partner programs. One hire will drive relationships with regional and global distributors, while another will help formalize Deep Instinct’s MSSP program. The vendor is pursuing a 100% channel-led strategy.
Read more about Deep Instinct.
Disaster recovery solutions provider Axcient simplified its partner program.
The MSP-focused vendor added certifications and training to the Axcient Partner Program. It also upped its available market development funds. Axcient will put its partners in one of three tiers based on twice-yearly evaluations.
Axcient also unveiled a credit-based referral program which rewards partners MSPs to work with Axcient.
Read the story.
Unstoppable Domains is working to connect partners to “Web 3.0.”
The company, which creates blockchain-connected web addresses, is building a partner program for ISVs and other partners. Sandy Carter, who recently led AWS’ public sector, is serving as Unstoppable Domains’ senior vice president for business development and channel chief. She said she hopes the company will go from working with hundreds of partners to thousands.
Kelly Teal wrote an insightful piece interviewing Carter.
Managed detection and response (MDR) provider Red Canary formalized its partner program.
The new program caters to five different partner types: technology partner, MSP, referral, incident response partners and resellers. Members can co-sell, resell or refer.
Read about the Red Canary partner program.
Difenda, which provides both MDR and SecOps as a service, is moving to a channel-first and ultimately channel-only model.
The non-tiered program allows partners to sell Difenda’s solution directly or white-label it. New resources from the vendor include technical education, co-branded materials and demos.
Take a look at Edward Gately’s story.
Gradient MSP‘s new channel program allows for integration with vendors and MSPs alike.
Gradient executives say the new Synthesize program creates a “frictionless” ecosystem experience with an open API platform. At least eight vendors have signed up for the integration program.
Allison Francis wrote about Gradient.
Another managed detection and response (MDR) provider announced a new channel program.
Pondurance opened up a new partner program for resellers, MSPs and system integrators. It features training and tools, with benefits and requirements based according to one of three tiers. Approximately 130 partners belonged to the program, as of February.
Edward Gately wrote about Pondurance.
Vultr, which provides a public cloud platform, is looking to give channel partners an alternative to the biggest hyperscalers.
The vendor was working with about 500 partners as of February and is trying to grow that number. To that end, it is offering margins that it says better that of the hyperscalers by 50%.
Kelly Teal wrote about Vultr.
AvePoint is giving its partners more technical and sales certifications.
The new technical and sales certification serves partner engineers, pre-sales teams and product specialists. In addition, AvePointe launched its multinenant MSP platform.
The governance, security and data protection provider was working with 2,800 partners as of Dec. 31, and the majority of those are MSPs.
See AvePoint’s other updates.
The expansion of the Cisco partner program joins a host of software and hardware vendor moves that are courting the channel.
Cisco’s new efforts to work with commission-based partners directly makes for an interesting team-up with a business model not normally associated with Cisco. We’re seeing more and vendors cater to a diverse set of partner business models; they’re working with resellers to systems integrators to agents.
We also saw an absolute preponderance of security providers trying to court MSPs and VARs to their program. Specifically, a handful of endpoint detection and response (MDR) providers formalized their programs.
On the telecommunications side, T-Mobile made significant changes to its sales personnel, and LiveVox expanded its channel sales force.
Scroll through the images above to see 25 impactful program launches and updates in the channel partner world.
Check out our January channel program changes if you missed it.
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