Safe and secure

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Surender Bishnoi, Cyberoam.

That comes through pre-auditing and post-auditing, so before installing the UTM they need to assess threats and vulnerabilities to be able to contribute different policies.

MR: The key in difficult times is to show value within the product line, services and after-sales support. Customers still have budgets and the need to purchase, but they want to be sure that with any purchase — from paper clips to network security appliances — they buy the best they can afford.

Watchguard assists its resellers with sales tools and evidence that our products offer state-of-the-art security, fully functioning and updated security services and post-sales support to get in the ball game.

The long term value or return on investment is where we slam the door on the competition, and our resellers reap the benefit.

SB: None of our competitors offer an identity-based UTM appliance so partners are placed at an advantage. Also, our low-cost operation base in India enables us to penetrate price-sensitive markets, and partners receive benefits that include lead-locking and incentives based on market requirements through our partner programme.

In addition, we provide them with marketing support that includes roadshows, event and conference participation, lead sharing, newsletters and direct mailers that help generate greater awareness and opportunities in the market.

How do you manage your channel network and what type of expertise do Middle East partners need to work successfully with UTM solutions?

SS: We classify our partners based on their market reach, expertise and commitment to Sonicwall. It is not necessarily the case that a big name systems integrator is classified as a ‘gold partner’ and not an ‘approved partner’.

We also have some big names working as approved partners because the commitment level with them is different — maybe a mid-size or smaller integrator has committed to delivering more business and earned their position as a gold partner.

TH: We take into account the minimum routing and switching specialisation when ranking our partners. The partner must be certified to a specific level and on top of that will come the security or the voice specialisation.

We look for partners that have the capability to install a network as per Cisco best practice. The best way for us to know that this is the case is for them to have the level of certification needed.

They must have the right level of people needed and the minimum number of people certified. They must also have a minimum level of pre-sales and post-sales skills. If they don’t, they might sell the wrong box and then three months later the customer starts screaming that its network is down.

TE: We advise and work very closely with our VARs to ensure that they understand customer requirements and, more importantly, the customer’s expectations from the UTM solution that they are acquiring.

Sometimes they tend to go and build oversized project expectations and completely misunderstand what the customer actually requires. They should focus on a solution.

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