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WatchGuard adds specialisations to partner programme
The security player has taken steps to try and help partners increase their skill levels with three specialisations
Security player WatchGuard has expanded the number of specialisations that partners can go for and the financial incentives on offer for skilled resellers.
The vendor has made some changes to its WatchGuardONE partner programme with the emphasis on helping its channel base increase technical epertise around a handful of specific product areas.
The vendor has been charting the issues in the MSP market, where developing skills in the salesforce are a challenge for many of those service providers, and is taking steps to help ease those problems.
There are now network security, secure Wi-Fi and multi-factor authentication (MFA) specialisations that individuals can take, with a number of financial incentives on offer to those that go through the training.
A partner can gain WatchGuardONE status by gaining expertise in just one of the three areas but would gain more rewards for achieving multiple accreditations.
“Partners don’t want to jump through hoops to reach lofty revenue thresholds or achieve vendor portfolio adoption criteria that doesn’t fit their customers’ needs – they just want to run their business efficiently,” said Michelle Welch, senior vice president of marketing at WatchGuard.
“Whether they’re focused purely on network security, secure Wi-Fi or MFA, partners that invest the time can easily capitalise on the same financial incentives and support as our largest partners, regardless of their size, business model or revenue capabilities. We pride ourselves on continuing to make WatchGuardONE accessible to every partner," she added.
This is the second recent evolution of the way the vendor works with partners after last month ushering in a cloud platform that brings together security management and reporting into an interface that can be used by MSPs to make it easier to manage an unlimited number of customer accounts.
WatchGuard is not alone in increasing the focus on specialisms with plenty of other vendors also looking to get their partners skilled up. VMware was one of those that recently indicated that it would be using Master Certifications as a key plank of its enhanced partner programme, rolling out next year.
