Mumbai: Network security solution provider, SonicWall, which recently announced its split from Dell is heavily focusing on its channel enablement after becoming an independent company. Sonicwall’s CEO Bill Conner said that the new SecureFirst partner program has taken the best bits from its former owner.
“From my outside perspective, and now inside, what they [the SonicWall management team] were able to do is take the best of the old SonicWall program, the best of the Dell program and create one program that is 100 per cent channel now, 100 per cent security and 100 per cent us – and that’s exciting,” Conner said.
SonicWall was acquired by Dell in 2012 and migrated to a Dell partner program but was sold to private equity this year to become independent once again. Partners are now being asked to move to SonicWall’s new SecureFirst partner program which is up and running in North America and will go live in EMEA in February next year.
According to Conner, around half of SonicWall’s partner base has already moved to the new program, with the rest expected to follow soon – adding that partners can expect to see the benefits of the pre-Dell program revived, as well as elements from Dell’s own program.
“We will go to market exclusively partnered with our channels,” he said. “We will still have direct touch that we’ll partner with our channel for so they can sell together [with us] and win business, but we won’t be fulfilling that on our side, it will be in partnership with our channel, even if we have direct touch. In certain complex environments the customer themselves want a direct touch from us, so we’ll work with our partners in that effort”, he said.
Also Read: SonicWall Will Regain Market Share Post Split: Partners
SonicWall’s partners in India have given a thumbs up to SonicWall’s move to become independent. Partners believe that the new entity would be more agile and focused on its business and channel strategy and hoped that it would soon regain its position in the UTM and Firewall market in the country.
The company has clarified that while it will retain its direct-touch resources for key accounts, such as large enterprises, government, or distributed networks or campus environments, 100 percent of fulfilment will be through the channel. Earlier talking to Channel Times, Scott McCrady, Vice President, SonicWall said that an independent entity will be quick in its response to changing market conditions.
SonicWall is always known as a channel focused company and post-split, the company intends to bank on its strong channel engagement worldwide. The SecureFirst Partner Program provides a multi-tiered approach for partners that offers up-front and backend rewards designed not only to incentivize partners to sell SonicWall’s solutions, but also to reward that growth and drive new business.
According to McCrady, this program accelerates partner’s ability to be thought leaders and game changers in the ever evolving security landscape. However, Dell will continue to resell SonicWall’s entire product portfolio.
SonicWall has a traditional channel with about 10,000 partners worldwide. In India, it has over 400 partners. On an average 250-300 partners do regular business with the company every quarter.