Proficio Enhances Partner Program, Appoints Check Point, Fortinet Alum as New Chief

**Editor’s Note: Click here to see which channel people were on the move in January or here for our most recent list of important channel-program changes you should know.**

Managed security service provider Proficio is enhancing its Synergy Partner Program and has appointed channel veteran Lee Sher as its senior director of channel sales.

The Synergy Partner Program provides multiple relationship opportunities that are aligned with partners’ business models. Partners get recurring revenue, collaborative sales engagement, deal registration, co-marketing support and training programs, the company said.

Sher will oversee channel sales policies, objectives and programs, and “maximize customer and partner success.” He has more than 20 years of leadership experience in partner sales with companies like Check Point, Fortinet, Imperva, Solutionary/NTT and Bay Dynamics.

Sher tells Channel Partners that it’s important to make Proficio “as easy as possible to do business with.”

“Our plan, No. 1, is to build a very simple program that people can connect to and start to sell with,” he said. “So we don’t have a lot of levels. We don’t have a bunch of training requirements. We have training that we provide, but we don’t make you jump through hoops to do work with us. We’re developing a program that has full access to the resources you need, and based on me being in this industry before, what I know that partners like is recurring revenue, good margins. I think we’re in a very advantageous spot in that, because we use so much technology, we’re pretty agile, we’re very efficient and we can offer a solution that’s pretty profitable for partners as well.”

In all of the divisions within Proficio, “we’re doing channel training and transferring, and getting the relationships hooked up in legal, finance and delivery, and trying to offer a flexible program so partners can get actively engaged in not only the sales cycle, but the delivery of services,” Sher said.{ad}

The partner-program expansion was made possible by a $12 million funding round led by Kayne Capital. The funding also has supported international expansion in both Asia-Pacific and European markets, in addition to expanding marketing investments with the hiring of Dustin Ritter as chief marketing officer.

“We have 10 partners today and I would expect by the end of the year to have a stable of maybe 20-25, and then we’ll be looking to start that expansion outward, the United Kingdom and Asia Pacific,” Sher said. “A lot of the work today is putting the tools in place to be able to support that.”