LAS VEGAS – At this year’s Intel Security Partner Summit, the company reiterated its goal to be No. 1 with both customers and channel partners, and is continuing to fine-tune its programs to reward solution providers who align with its goals.
The 2015 channel priorities to accelerate partners and RTM, increase partner profitability, and provide technology and service enablement are now, said head of global channel operations Richard Steranka, table stakes. For the 2016 fiscal year, it’s all about shared priorities.
“To be number one to customers, we need to be your number one security partner,” he told attendees. “We want to earn the right to be your number one partner.”
To that end, he said, Intel Security is working on a number of initiatives to make it easier to do business with, including building a new partner relationship portal, and moving to Salesforce. “We have work to do,” he acknowledged, promising to focus on improving systems and field engagement.
The market is changing, he noted. It’s moving from selling products to selling outcomes, from offering only protection to protection, detection and correction, from on premises to the cloud. The emphasis now will be on rewarding key partners who embrace all of the threat defense lifecycle.
To do that, he said, requires investments from both partners and Intel Security. “We need you to be the experts that can deliver the technology to the market,” he said, adding that in addition to selling products to the market, he asked partners to sell themselves to Intel Security’s sales force, to make them aware of each partner’s strengths.
Lisa Matherly, head of worldwide partner programs, marketing, and operations, provided an update on the progress of the revamped programs so far, and offered a look at what’s to come. She said over the past four quarters, top named partners grew over 22 per cent, managed services bookings were up 50 percent, and top named commercial partners grew 15 per cent. Partners earned over 300,000 continuing education credits.
The online Intel Security Solutions Center hosted over 2000 demos, saving the partners 90 minutes per session. It is, she said, still available through the partner portal.
The company has added 72 service delivery partners since the program launched in August, and it is now open to all partners. “We believe that as attacks become more sophisticated, services will be more important,” she noted.
“We’re reinventing Intel Security,” Steranka said, requesting that partners engage and execute the new strategy, and sell the new products and solutions rather than clinging to the old.
