In addition to expanding its global enterprise channel business with the launch of its Global Partner Program, certificate authority (CA) GlobalSign is adamant about getting some of its Canadian value-added resellers (VARS) to raise the bar and provide end-to-end integration services.
It’s a tall order for Tony Krasniqi, GlobalSign’s enterprise sales representative based in Ottawa, who is the only person from the company actually present in Canada, where the competition has a strong foothold in the CA space. But he’s got a dedicated team of engineers and consultants backing him remotely, he says, and more importantly, a strong portfolio to pitch that includes web and server security, managed PKI encryption, document signing, access control, and more.
“We’ve stepped up our partner game as well,” he told CDN, citing the global program’s accredited training and 24/7 technical support resources and partner benefits.
The company’s latest push to get a Canadian partner to achieve certified regional partner (CRP) status is one of his main goals. But the expectations from GlobalSign are high. Partners will need an existing reach within the enterprise or government sector, have an understanding of digital certificates and privacy laws and have the ability to communicate with customers in French, specifically in French-speaking regions such as Quebec.
“We are very selective in who we are onboarding,” explains Krasniqi, noting this is an excellent opportunity for Canadian partners to add new revenue streams to their business.
He adds GlobalSign has a number of Canadian VARs reselling their technology, such as HostPapa.ca. But with the number of connected devices expected to hit 75 billion by 2025, according to Gartner, it’s difficult to expect GlobalSign to perform all the legwork when it comes to integrating end-to-end solutions, which is why the company considers its CRPs as extending members of the GlobalSign family and is doing its best to align its partners with GlobalSign’s business, says James Whitton, regional partner program manager for GlobalSign.
“Rather than a traditional reseller approach that is taken across the industry, we are now looking towards how enterprises actually make their technology purchases, how they interact with either vendors or third parties that can provide an end-to-end solution, have deep knowledge of the technology market whilst also being sensitive to how the local market works,” he explains.
Last month, GlobalSign became a recognized Qualified Trust Service Provider under European law. While this has few implications for Canada, Whitton says this makes them one of the first global CA’s capable of issuing qualified digital certificates to users and organizations for the purpose of applying qualified electronics signatures and seals to documents across the European Union.
Correction: A previous version of this story indicated that GlobalSign partner with domainscanada.ca, a provider of SSL certificates to businesses across North America. This, however, is not the case at this time. CDN apologizes for the error.