7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at Dell, Avant, Check Point, Trend Micro, More
One of the week's top stories: More than 4,300 companies want to get into marketplaces.
August 4, 2023
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Check Point Software Technologies is going all in with MSSPs and believes MSSP is the future of the vendor‘s channel.
That’s according to Francisco Criado, vice president of Check Point’s global partner ecosystem organization. He joined the company in March and replaced Frank Rauch, who served more than four years as the vendor’s head of worldwide channel sales.
Criado previously was with TD Synnex and has a long history in distribution.
Last fall, Check Point launched its global MSSP program. It offers an integrated security portfolio, automated processes and access to hundreds of company experts and researchers.
“We’re making big bets with MSSP,” Criado said. “I really believe it’s the future. I believe it’s a consumption model that’s going to be relevant for a long time. The analysts say it’s about a $51 billion market; I believe it could be even bigger. We have great technology that now we’ve put into a different consumption model. We have true consumption. There are a lot of vendors that are using pooled licenses, and we have a true MSSP consumption model, which I think is an advantage in the marketplace. You’ll continue to see enhancements; in fact, for our channel ecosystem, expect some pretty significant enhancements when it comes to pricing strategy, go-to-market and ease of doing business with Check Point to really accelerate that opportunity in market.”
Read more from Edward Gately’s interview with Criado here.
The technology services distributor (TSD) community must look outside its own ranks to bring in new partners and end customers if it wants to stay relevant, Avant CEO Ian Kieninger said.
Kieninger, who co-founded the Chicago-based firm in 2009, addressed a share of hot button topics in a new interview with Channel Futures.
Many TSDs face pressure to increase the amount of commission dollars they pass through to their sales partners from vendors. Kieninger said that while price compression will naturally happen to some extent in any consolidating and maturing industry, he warned of “share-shifting” that could hold back the industry.
“The lifeline to our success in the future is creating and growing market share for the vendors,” Kieninger said. “If our community of TSDs is not doing that, and we’re just share-shifting between each other, the vendors are going to run out of patience. That’s not what they want. They want us to grow the pie, not just chase the pie between each other.”
Read more from James Anderson’s reporting here.
New data from technology solutions brokerage Telarus shows an openness from CIOs to engage more with technology advisors. However, the channel must make more strides to achieve mainstream acceptance.
Telarus commissioned a study from Constellation Research on how technology decision makers perceive the technology advisor – historically known as the telecom agent – channel. The study, featuring responses from CIOs, chief digital officers, chief technology officers and chief digital and artificial intelligence officers, showed widespread interest in using some form of a technology advisor for their purchasing decisions. Constellation vice president and principal analyst Dion Hinchcliffe said about 93% of CIOs rely on trusted technology advisors or want to. The survey concluded that “broad interest” exists for technology procurement advisory from people whom peers have recommended or possess deep expertise.
However, Constellation in its 2023 Digital CXO Survey found that 48% of the top digital CXOs spend 25% or less through channel partners or other consultants. For Hinchcliffe, that gap points to an unmet need.
“Channel is underutilized. There’s an open opportunity, and there’s a hunger for it,” Hinchcliffe told an audience of Telarus channel partners in Dallas. “They just don’t clearly identify it as much as they could.”
Find out why technology advisors say that nobody is better aligned with the customer outcome than they are.
B2B subscription commerce provider AppDirect has acquired carrier and hardware-focused managed services provider and long-time AT&T partner ADCom Solutions for an undisclosed sum.
According to AppDirect, the deal will give its network of technology advisors (agents) the ability to leverage the VEEUE solution. According to ADCom, the VEEUE solution leverages ServiceNow and Zenoss to give partners a view into any device with an IP address. VEEUE stands for “visual end-to-end user experience.”
Moreover, the companies stated that customers of 35-year-old ADCom will not see any disruption to their services.
“We’re excited to join forces with the AppDirect team to continue to deliver relevant, high-touch managed solutions to customers, strategic providers, partners and advisors moving forward,” ADCom president RJ Chapple said. “AppDirect’s investment, market-leading vision, B2B platform expertise and development teams will accelerate our time to market with new enhancements that add significant value to the customer experience. The future shines bright with this announcement for all parties.”
Find out why ADCom has a strong relationship with AT&T.
By teaming up with Nvidia, Dell Technologies says it’s helping organizations simplify the adoption of full-stack generative AI (GenAI) with large language models. The company on Monday introduced new offerings to customers that aim to help them quickly and securely create GenAI models on-premises, assisting organizations no matter where they are in their AI journeys.
New Dell generative AI solutions span IT infrastructure, PCs and professional services and help organizations of all sizes and across industries.
Jeff Clarke, vice chairman and co-chief operating officer, Dell Technologies, said businesses are taking advantage of AI to enhance major systems.
“Generative AI represents an inflection point that is driving fundamental change in the pace of innovation while improving the customer experience and enabling new ways to work,” Clarke said. “Customers, big and small, are using their own data and business context to train, fine-tune and inference on Dell infrastructure solutions to incorporate advanced AI into their core business processes effectively and efficiently.”
Find out how the company plans to accelerate GenAI adoption to improve customers’ operational efficiency and advance innovation.
Trend Micro saw a massive surge in sales in the AWS Marketplace during the pandemic — and that acceleration continues, providing a lot of opportunities for channel partners.
That’s according to Louise McEvoy, Trend Micro’s vice president of U.S. channel. Trend Micro has been on the AWS Marketplace for at least five years.
Demand for Trend Micro on AWS Marketplace is being driven by customer preference, McEvoy said.
“But I do want to make it clear that we still see a lot of on-premises customers and there are a lot that are hybrid,” she said. “We launched our Vision One platform and … that really is opening up that platform for our on-premises customers, for our hybrid and for those who want to go to the cloud. Before, we really heavily leaned into the cloud, but we recognize there are still a number of customers who are very much on premises and they plan to stay there for a period of time, and those who are looking to go on premises and cloud. So there is an incline for marketplace, but I think it’s an incline in the market in general for cybersecurity. So where is that going to go? It’ll likely go into this new modern world, and modern in so many ways is really through the cloud. Marketplace is how we buy, how we procure, how we license just in our everyday lives. And we’re seeing that in the IT space or software.”
Which companies are benefiting from the rush to the marketplace? Find out here.
Generative AI is hitting the channel hard. And it’s challenging for partners to keep up with the rapid AI changes, particularly in the contact center space.
For vendors, it’s about utilizing large language models (LLMs) created by firms such as OpenAI to bolster their existing tools. With the help of these LLMs, vendors can create unique AI offerings.
But is that message getting out to partners?
Select Communications president and CEO Jerry Goldman said he’s skeptical about messaging from vendors.
“Every supplier in the portfolio says they have the best AI. And you kind of cringe. You dig into it and say, ‘No, you don’t,’ or, ‘You’ve just relabeled, rebranded or redone what you’ve always done,’” Goldman said.
Partners spoke with Channel Futures about the concerns they have regarding vendors’ generative AI messaging, as well as the uneasiness they have going to market with the new technology.
Generative AI is hitting the channel hard. And it’s challenging for partners to keep up with the rapid AI changes, particularly in the contact center space.
For vendors, it’s about utilizing large language models (LLMs) created by firms such as OpenAI to bolster their existing tools. With the help of these LLMs, vendors can create unique AI offerings.
But is that message getting out to partners?
Select Communications president and CEO Jerry Goldman said he’s skeptical about messaging from vendors.
“Every supplier in the portfolio says they have the best AI. And you kind of cringe. You dig into it and say, ‘No, you don’t,’ or, ‘You’ve just relabeled, rebranded or redone what you’ve always done,’” Goldman said.
Partners spoke with Channel Futures about the concerns they have regarding vendors’ generative AI messaging, as well as the uneasiness they have going to market with the new technology.
Channel People Making Waves highlights the perspectives of the individuals behind our stories. This week that includes people at Dell, Avant, Check Point, Trend Micro and more who make up our most-read articles.
Readers were particularly engrossed with our coverage of Trend Micro and the surge in sales in the AWS Marketplace. Trend Micro has been in the AWS Marketplace for at least five years and officials with that company have noted some interesting progressions. Scroll through the slideshow above to learn how the company’s on-premises customers fit into the marketplace.
There’s a lot of generative AI stories floating around these days. However, Dell and Nvidia had some substantial news to share this week. By teaming up with Nvidia, Dell Technologies will assist organizations to simplify the adoption of full-stack generative AI with large language models. This should help companies introduce offerings regardless of where they’re at in the AI journey.
Finally, senior news editor Edward Gately checked in with Francisco Criado, vice president of Check Point’s global partner ecosystem program. In an interview for the Gately Report, Criado talks about big bets Check Point is making with MSSPs. In some way that’s no surprise. It’s a $51 billion market, he said.
There’s more news to read in our Channel People Making Waves roundup. If you didn’t catch the previous edition, you can do so here. Until next time.
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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