IT monitoring software maker ScienceLogic debuts channel program
ScienceLogic, a maker of IT monitoring tools, has launched a channel program, as it looks to increase its business in the value-added reseller market segment.
ScienceLogic, a maker of hybrid IT monitoring software, today rolled out a channel partner program, as it seeks to ramp up reseller sales to enterprise customers.
The company, which could sign about 50 North American partners this year, has been selling to managed service providers (MSPs) for much of its 12-year history. MSPs use the company's monitoring tools as a foundation for providing network discovery, monitoring, automation, reporting and dashboards for their customers. A $43 million round of financing in 2015, however, came with a new directive. Goldman Sachs, which led the venture capital infusion, tasked ScienceLogic with pursing the VAR market, in addition to the MSP space, to spur growth.
Steven Kazan, senior director of channel development at ScienceLogic, based in Reston, Va., joined the company in November 2015 to develop its channel strategy. He said the company's new partner program, dubbed ChannelLogic, doesn't aim to recruit hundreds of channel partners off the bat, but will instead seek out a smaller number of companies willing to commit to ScienceLogic products.
Partnering philosophy
"Our strategy is to find the channel partners that have the technical ability and skills to get their customer bases onto ScienceLogic, and are committed to the technology," Kazan said.
Our strategy is to find the channel partners that have the technical ability and skills to get their customer bases onto ScienceLogic, and are committed to the technology.
Steven Kazansenior director of channel development, ScienceLogic
He said recruiting 40 to 50 such partners this year would be better than bringing on 200 partners who lack that commitment.
ChannelLogic offers participating partners training materials, a market development fund allocation for lead generation programs and deal registration, among other features. Kazan said the company seeks a close alignment with its partners.
"We need to strategize with the channel partners as we go into the enterprise accounts," he noted.
Kazan said the company's VAR partners will sell customers a three-year service agreement to have ScienceLogic's hybrid IT monitoring software running either on hardware devices in a customer's network, or on virtual machines. Alternatively, the software can also run as a software as a service application. Kazan said the scope of those three-year deals can grow as customers cover additional portions of their networks under ScienceLogic's coverage.
As part of its channel effort, ScienceLogic, a Microsoft Gold partner, plans to do more outreach to Microsoft partners, Kazan said. He said the ScienceLogic product can see information in the Azure cloud and in Microsoft products that are being used in the cloud, adding that ScienceLogic could help Microsoft partners save time and money as they provide services to Microsoft cloud customers.
ScienceLogic, meanwhile, can also help partners who want to integrate ScienceLogic with cloud orchestration tools, such as CliQr and Morpheus, according to Kazan. He said ScienceLogic sets up proof of concepts to assist partners with those integrations.
Selling IT monitoring software as PaaS
Technology services provider ePlus Inc., based in Herndon, Va., began working with ScienceLogic about five years ago, when the company began to focus on managed services. The company is now expanding its role with ScienceLogic along reseller lines.
Kevin Detsch, senior vice president of business development at ePlus, said more customers are asking to leverage the ScienceLogic IT monitoring software platform, as they distribute workloads between public clouds and in-house data centers. He said ePlus can provide advice to customers who want to operate ScienceLogic on their own as an on-premises tool.
In addition, ePlus can offer ScienceLogic on a platform as a service basis, including a prescribed number of support and development hours per month, along with the monitoring platform. As for development work, Detsch said ePlus creates ScienceLogic PowerPacks that accommodate new technologies or new manufacturers that arrive in a customer's IT environment. The PowerPacks allow the newly introduced technologies and products to be managed from the ScienceLogic platform.
Detsch said ePlus has developed PowerPacks for many of the most common OEMs, taking advantage of the ScienceLogic expertise the company has developed over the past five years.
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