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Illumio listens to partner feedback and rolls out programme enhancements
Security player Illumio has taken feedback from partners on board and has introduced a number of additions to its Enlighten offering
Illumio has introduced a number of partner programme enhancements in response to feedback from partners. The micro-segmentation specialist has increased pricing options, ramped up training and introduced more support for managed service providers (MSPs) to its Enlighten programme.
Pete Wilson, director of channel sales EMEA at Illumio, said that it listened to partners via events and face-to-face meetings and had moved to respond to their demands.
“What led to it is feedback. So, feedback, over the past 12 months or so from partners, has led to us making some changes to the programme,” he said. “The changes are really around our pricing programme for partners, being able to give flexible pricing, price protection and a no-cost option for training and certification and enablement.
“We’ve released a new training-enablement programme, a new curriculum for pre-sales and post-sales training to help partners get up to speed quickly and easily, and at no charge.”
Wilson said that the appetite from partners for training and enablement had led it to make more options available: “We want our partners to to be as skilled up as possible, as quickly as possible, to deliver for our clients and our behalf, and deliver well. And we’ll be there to support them.”
In terms of improvements for MSPs, Illumio has recognised the need for more flexibility.
“We’ve seen an increase in the number of partners of ours bolting on or wrapping a managed service around it ” said Wilson. “Traditionally, they might have been reselling and then bolting on a managed or wrapping a managed service around it, and we’ve provided a new pricing or commercial model for them, and some updates to training and movement specific to managed services and their business model.”
The vendor is also leaving the door open for more MSP involvement if, as is expected, its enhancements tempt some fresh interest across the channel.
“Where we’re looking for the new MSPs, in each of the geographies in Europe and globally, [we are] absolutely open to those conversations. This is designed to appeal to those types of partner,” Wilson said.
He added that there were increasing opportunities for its channel partners, with the micro-segmentation market expected to grow over the next few years.
“The one thing that’s constant is ongoing breaches, and it never slows down the amount of cyber attacks. So, that backdrop has not changed and will continue to grow and be more complex for customers to manage,” he said.
“The analysts have started to talk about micro-segmentation. We’ve had Gartner in their Market Guide in 2023 talk to the fact that micro-segmentation will be in 60% of zero-trust programmes in 2026, up from 5% in 2023. We’ve got Forrester saying in their latest Wave that it is the ‘Golden Age for micro-segmentation’.”
Added to that are compliance demands from DORA and NIS 2 that means customers have to look at protecting datacentres and infrastructure.
“2025 should be a very strong year for Illumio, and, by default – because we’re channel-centric – we want our partners to be successful as well,” added Wilson.
