Centrify partners get new program, customer success focus

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The program also focuses on go-to Centrify partners that provide services to customers. Centrify works with more than 1,000 partners globally, but most of its channel business comes through around 60 to 80 partners, Peterson said. The main services partners offer around Centrify include product implementation, integration and Centrify's Health Check offering.

Integration is particularly important, Peterson said, because Centrify "is just one part of the security ecosystem for the customer." Accordingly, integration is also a focus of Centrify's partner enablement efforts, which include skilling up partners to integrate products into customers' networks and Centrify's ability to develop integrations with its key vendor partners, he added.

The Health Check service, meanwhile, combines a checklist and an automated tool that lets partners assess product utilization and discover what features the customer is using or not using.

"A lot of times, when a partner performs a Health Check, the customer is underlicensed," Peterson said. "It is an opportunity to take a look at areas in the customer's network that may be unprotected, assets that may require additional licenses."

The Health Check can uncover potential add-on sales, which can "grow the implementation of Centrify in the network," Peterson said.

In addition, partners can wrap consulting services around Centrify in the area of compliance and security audits.

Three tiers for Centrify partners

The Centrify Reliance Partner Program is arranged in Silver, Gold and Platinum Partner tiers. Placement in the program is based on customer satisfaction levels, certifications and revenue goals. Centrify measures customer satisfaction through surveys and other measures such as renewal rates.

Centrify certification includes a sales and technical program. Peterson said the program doesn't specify that a partner must have a predetermined number of certified employees to qualify for the various partner tiers. Instead, Centrify works with a partner to determine the right number of certified resources based on the partner's size and geographic coverage, he said.

Partners in all three tiers of the program qualify for deal registration discounts, but partners in the top Platinum tier receive the most competitive discounts along with the highest level of education, customer support and services.

Centrify partners include security resellers such as CDW and Optiv; partners that have built identity management practices; and global and federal systems integrators, Peterson said. Peterson has worked extensively with channel partners during his career, previously developing channel programs for ArcSight, Sourcefire and Tenable.

Wipro, IBM ink cloud partnership

Wipro Ltd., a consulting and business process services, is collaborating with IBM to assist customers with hybrid cloud deployments.

Wipro said it will create hybrid cloud offerings that aim to help organizations migrate workloads and applications to the cloud and then manage them. The arrangement also includes the Wipro IBM Novus Lounge, which is based in Wipro's campus in Bengaluru, India. The center will provide offerings that use cloud, AI, machine learning and IoT capabilities. Wipro said it will tap IBM Cloud technologies, along with in-house services, to create industry-specific offerings for clients in financial services, energy and utilities, retail, manufacturing and healthcare.

IBM in March formed an alliance with Infosys, a digital services and consulting firm. That arrangement also focuses on IBM's cloud offerings.

Boz Hristov, professional services senior analyst at Technology Business Research Inc., a market research firm in Hampton, N.H., said the Wipro-IBM partnership is similar to other alliances hyperscalers and systems integrators have forged over the last couple of years.

"I see it more of IBM trying to make a push, similar to the way Google Cloud has been, to catch up in the war for IaaS/SaaS dollars against AWS and Microsoft Azure," Hristov said.

He said the Wipro IBM Novus Lounge is a development to keep an eye on, noting that exclusivity around technology partners can prove a double-edged sword, if the messaging becomes misaligned. On the one hand, enterprise customers demand that integrators demonstrate service quality and standardization through certifications, he said. Joint offerings could help alleviate those types of concerns. However, enterprise buyers also like to maintain control over purchasing decisions, he added.

"If they sense that an SI is pushing a particular technology, that can quickly turn them off," Hristov said.

Wipro has also partnered with CloudKnox Security. The companies will provide a joint offering for protecting and managing hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure. Wipro's corporate investment arm has invested in CloudKnox.

Digital Shadows revamps Americas partner program

Digital Shadows, a digital risk protection company based in San Francisco, has overhauled its partner portal and program in the Americas region, creating a tiered structure and offering a new certification program.

Davitt Potter, director of MSSP and channel sales, Americas, at Digital Shadows, said the changes aim to "help partners accelerate growth, simplify the partner program requirements and criteria, and create tiers for our partners to have clear goals for their revenue, [market development funds] and certification requirements at each partner level." The program is geared toward value-added resellers (VARs) managed security services providers.

The program is structured with bronze, silver, gold and platinum tiers. Partners qualify for tiers based on revenue objectives and the number of certified employees they have. Meeting the requirement for certified sales and technical personnel lets partners take full advantage of the program's MDF and advanced engineering resources, Potter said.

Digital Shadows' ShadowCert program offers business and technical online modules in the partner portal, Potter said. Additional courses are in development and will be added over time, he noted. Those courses will cover advanced features in Digital Shadows' SearchLight digital risk protection offering.

The partner program's MDF component focuses on virtual events, although Potter said the company hopes to be back in the field. Virtual events include webinars, Discord events, point panel events and virtual cooking shows, he added.

Other news

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• CompTIA's annual top 10 emerging technology list puts AI in the No. 1 spot, followed by 5G and IoT. Those technologies finished on the podium in 2019 as well, with IoT taking first place. Natural language processing and quantum computing made the 2020 list, overtaking 3D printing and drones. Virtual reality/augmented reality made the biggest year-over-year improvement, moving up from ninth to sixth in the ranking. Here's the complete ranking: 1. AI; 2. 5G; 3. IoT; 4. Serverless computing; 5. Biometrics; 6. Virtual reality/augmented reality; 7. Blockchain; 8. Robotics; 9. NLP; 10. Quantum computing.
• Netsurion, a managed security services provider based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., launched Remote Workforce Threat Detection. The security feature is built into the company's EventTracker SIEM platform at no charge to EventTracker customers and Netsurion's managed service provider (MSP) partners.
• A Barracuda survey of 750 IT decision-makers found cloud providers hold a decisive edge over other sales channels when it comes to SD-WAN technology. According to the poll, 52% of respondents want to acquire an SD-WAN offering through a cloud provider. Independent vendors got the nod from 16% of the respondents, with 15% preferring a telecommunications partner and 12% opting for a value-added reseller. Six percent reported no preference.
• NinjaRMM released the latest version of its remote monitoring and management software. NinjaRMM 4.6 features enhancements to its built-in scripting engine and automation capabilities; a new API to connect with more data types and professional services automation products; and updated security options for TeamViewer and end-user sharing. Additionally, NinjaRMM 4.6 provides support for Spanish-language localization, the company said.
• CoreView, a SaaS management platform provider, entered a partnership with Client Solutions, a Gold Microsoft partner in Ireland.
• Anexinet Corp., a digital business solutions provider, has unveiled a packaged network operating center and security operating center service.
• Axcient's x360Sync file sync-and-share server offering for MSPs now includes native support for Microsoft 365.
• Distributor Synnex Corp. partnered with Lubrizol to provide the company 3D-printing material, powder thermoplastic polyurethane, which Synnex said is suitable for products requiring skin contact. The material can be used in applications for personal protective equipment in the healthcare field, Synnex noted.
• Acunetix, an automated web application security software vendor, has tapped Synnex Corp. as a U.S. distribution partner.
• Chicago-based distributor Telecom Brokerage Inc. said it added DataBank, a data center, connectivity and managed service vendor, to its portfolio.
• Syntax, a cloud-managed ERP services provider, introduced Customer Experience Hub, a multi-cloud portal that lets its customers view and manage their cloud products from a centralized dashboard.

Market Share is a news roundup published every Friday.

Additional reporting by Spencer Smith.