Vectra stepping up partner enablement

Having settled on its channel make-up, Vectra’s focus now is to increase enablement and support for partners.

The security player is keen to keep its channel momentum going and grow market share via partners, with customers looking for more artificial intelligence (AI) threat prevention tools.

“In the UK, we’ve going through quite a change in the last two years. Some people left and some people joined. We’ve kind of recategorised and revalidated our partners – Vectra is 100% channel,” said Andy Forshaw, regional partner manager for UK&I at Vectra.

It covers a range of areas, offering different angles for partners to take. “We’re in an interesting position, with network detection response, cloud detection and response, and threat detection and response,” added Forshaw.

“Last year was all about recruitment. This year is all about enabling certification and making sure people are very comfortable. We’ve been doing a lot of work around demystifying, and the reaction from partners has been amazing, particularly Microsoft partners, because they all know security is important,” he said.

Forshaw revealed that the channel team had been actively canvassing partners to establish their needs. From this, he said, it had become clear that making it easier to sell the technology was one of their desires.

As a result, the firm is supporting partners that want to get certified on the technology, and guiding them through technology that can be pitched to hybrid and off-premise cloud environments.

Vectra has been working with Nuvias as its sole UK distributor since September 2022 to increase support for partners and is building a quality channel base.

As part of the enablement, Vectra is also supporting partners with marketing. Jennie Rogers, regional marketing manager UK&I at Vectra, said it would be ramping up efforts over the next few months.

“Enablement is the key. I can roll out marketing activities, but unless [the partner can engage with those programmes they don’t succeed], so the first half of the year is really all about enablement,” she said.

As part of that enablement push, the vendor is planning workshops and one-on-one partner sessions, and increasing technical support.

“If we don’t get their trust and we don’t teach them how to do this, they are not going to be able to help us grow,” she said, adding that even if a partner did not want to immediately sell a network detection response service, they would be in a better position to ask the customer the right questions about their security strategy.

Forshaw said that, as an industry, the channel would also improve its position by building long-term partnerships with users, taking the time to investigate their needs and specific market conditions.