Barracuda steps up partner enablement

The link between educating partners and improving their prospects of success is one that is well-established with vendors.

As a result, most pride themselves on the training and support they provide, with the launch of the Sophos Academy last week a good example of that approach in action.

Running alongside those sales and marketing efforts and certifications in specific technology has been a growing acknowledgement that the channel’s technical community needs its own offerings.

Last month, Westcon-Comstor revealed its Tech Xpert community has reached 3,000 members, and indicated that it is expanding the operation to reach more partners.

That focus on the technical community has been echoed by Barracuda Networks, which has launched its Partner Sales Engineer Community and announced enhancements to its partner success programme.

Barracuda will be providing access to training labs, scanning tools, and live product demos and sandboxes to enhance technical expertise.

“The need for always-on security operations is critical in protecting against today’s complex cyber security threats, and partners need to prioritse complete solutions that are easy to buy, deploy and use,” said Jason Beal, vice-president of worldwide partner ecosystems at Barracuda.

At the same time, the firm has made its security operations centre as a service available to all partners.

Barracuda has increased the technical enablement resources and certifications programmes around its Managed XDR and Cloud Backup offerings. It has also enhanced the automation tools it makes available to partners, making it possible to track certification achievements and renewals, as well as track performance against rebate targets.

“We have made significant advancements to the Barracuda Partner Success Programme since its launch last year to arm frontline partners with industry-leading solutions, expert security operations specialists, and the necessary training and tools to neutralise attacks and improve overall cyber resiliency,” said Beal.

“We are continuously listening to and learning alongside our partners in a truly collaborative approach, and these phase three programme updates directly address feedback to meet their evolving needs,” he added.

Barracuda introduced its Partner Success Programme last December with the aim of delivering a wide range of support for resellers, MSPs and those operating in marketplaces to make sure it covers all routes to market.

The firm shared the views of Dustin Bonn, IT solutions sales director at Marco Technologies, who said the vendor was “providing strong support and incentives that reflect their commitment to being a channel-first organisation”.