One Identity partners expand in IAM security market
One Identity, a cybersecurity business unit under Quest Software, revealed that channel partners are driving a dominant portion of its sales.
One Identity, which focuses on identity and access management (IAM), said 68% of its global sales are now linked to partners, marking a 54% increase in year-over-year North American partner sales and at least a 10% increase year-over-year in global channel sales. One Identity’s expanded focus on partner sales continues a shift started in 2016, when the business unit laid the groundwork for a renewed go-to-market strategy. The strategy aimed to transition from direct sales to focus more heavily on One Identity partners.
“[Sixty-eight percent is] a big deal. If I went back a couple of years, that would not have been that high a percentage. It continues to grow,” said Roger Moffat, director of channel and alliances, North America, at One Identity, based in Aliso Viejo, Calif.
Expanding roster of One Identity partners
One Identity Partner Circle, the business unit’s channel program, was launched in May 2017 to target systems integrators, value-added resellers (VARs) and technology alliances. Moffat said One Identity is also recruiting managed service providers — a growing segment of its partner ecosystem. One Identity’s program connects to Quest Software’s Partner Circle Program and has a 24.5% overlap in its global partner base.
“The [IAM] market is sometimes a very specialized market that a lot of times requires a very specialized partner. … What we are finding is that different partners see us as [providing] solutions for their customers in different ways. We have a product line where we seem to hit on a lot of different partners,” Moffat said.
A little more than 1,000 One Identity partners have closed deals in the last 12 months, with partner-originated opportunities growing from 5% to more than 20%, according to One Identity. Over the past 18 months, the business unit increased its roster of active partners by 395 new firms. About 58% of those partners are based in the EMEA, 17% in Latin America, 14% in Asia-Pacific and 11% in North America.
One Identity Partner Circle updates
Moffat said updates to the Partner Circle program over the last 12 months have helped usher in some of One Identity’s channel growth. The program introduced a two-tiered structure for VARs and ratcheted up market development funds, partner rebates and deal registration discounts. Additional rollouts included a revised partner portal, pre-sales boot camps providing technical training and a partner advisory board.
One Identity said it also hired new solution architects, global systems integrator and alliance account leads, and partner enablement specialists. “One of the hallmarks of the program is making sure that partners have access to people,” Moffat said.
Moffat added that he plans to “continue to focus around having a two-way dialogue between our business and partners and make sure [it] remains a core component of what we do.”