Pulse Secure Emphasizes Training, Certification with New Channel Program

Pulse Secure on Thursday unveiled its new Access Now Partner Program, replacing the basic program it’s had in place since it spun out of Juniper Networks.

The new partner program is designed to offer partners the opportunity to establish themselves as a go-to source with its Pulse’s secure-access offerings. It provides an enhanced opportunity for “top-line revenue and bottom-line profit growth while setting them apart from the competition,” the company said.

Pulse Secure’s Aaron Moroson

Aaron Moroson, Pulse Secure‘s senior director of worldwide channel sales, tells us the previous program lacked certification and enablement to “both drive and set apart partners really interested in investing in the Secure Access story.”

“We also lacked some financial incentives that we felt would help entice partners to invest more in Pulse Secure,” he said. “We spoke to many partners asking what they wanted out of Pulse Secure and a partner program. The feedback was pretty unanimous: engagement and enablement. We sought to incorporate what the partner needed and asked for to drive Secure Access opportunity in a zero-trust world.”

Pulse Secure now will recognize three program tiers: authorized, preferred and elite. Each level represents the partner’s proficiency, expertise and growth in selling Pulse Secure services to their customers. Partner rewards and incentives are differentiated at each level and will reflect the partner’s investment in the company’s offerings.

Access Now features include: online and onsite certification and training; an interactive partner resource portal; discounted demo equipment; enhanced deal registration; joint marketing funds and sales promotions; an enhanced lead registration process; and dedicated account management and support teams.

The program also allows partners to take advantage of the Pulse Access suite packaged for managed services. The solution offers MSSPs an “accelerated, cost-effective means to differentiate and build out their service portfolio to meet the massive demand for protected connectivity to cloud applications and hybrid IT resources,” according to the company. The packaging includes virtual appliance form factors for VMware, KVM and Hyper-V, and supports deployment in hosted cloud environments such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

“We actually soft-launched an MSSP program about 45 days ago that we will be incorporating into our current Access Now partner program in [the first quarter],” Moroson said. “The program gives partners the ability to provide secure access as a service, if you will, and helps them with an answer to zero trust and [software-defined perimeter] for their/our customers.”

“While we genuinely liked the existing program, the elements in the new program allow us to further differentiate ourselves and our investments in technical certifications, resource alignment and security market leadership,” said Billy Marsh, partner management director for Kudelski Security. “The [new program] will elevate our joint go-to-market engagement. The benefits that accrue to the top partners will allow us to earn even more margin with enhanced deal registration, rebate programs and MDF investments to grow and expand our security footprint.”