Dive Brief:
- Cybersecurity platform provider Barracuda Networks brought managed service providers into its Partner Success Program, formerly reserved for resellers, back in March. Since then, as the company announced last month, it has added new offerings to support the effort.
- The vendor has added a through-channel marketing automation platform, co-marketing resources, account mapping, customer propensity data and a soon-to-be-launched Partner Locator website, according to the announcement.
- “We've always had a partner success motion that was largely focused on billing, admin and troubleshooting but is now really learning at scale where our partners are winning and where they're not winning, and then combining that all to focus on growth and profitability,” SVP of Global Channels and Alliances Michelle Hodges told Channel Dive.
Dive Insight:
The update reflects customers asking to consume technology in multiple ways and IT services partners adjusting accordingly.
The Partner Success Program historically belonged to resellers who sold Barracuda software directly to end-user customers, while MSPs, who do not directly position Barracuda to a customer while still consuming the platform, were in their own program. However, “a high degree” of partners straddle both models, according to Hodges, and the number of hybrid partners is increasing.
“If you had a partner who was hybrid, we really only focused on their sell-through revenue, not their MSP revenue,” Hodges said. “What we've done is brought the two pieces together in a unified, simplified program that really does not pay attention to what they are until you get down to the persona level and the go-to-market level.”
A single team now serves the two routes to market, including customer business managers and MSP-focused security specialists.
It’s a balancing act for Hodges, who said she joined Barracuda last year because its product was built for an MSP motion. She said the ideal Barracuda customer typically lacks a CISO or the expertise and staffing to manage the vendor’s platform, making MSPs a critical bridge.
“Those MSPs aren't going to be the biggest MSPs that are out there, but they're going to be the best, and we want to make sure that they can be enabled, they can keep their customers safe, and they can differentiate themselves so customers can sign up over time,” Hodges said.
However, customers still need choices, and those choices include resale.
“Many of those MSP customers might want to buy monthly but pay for a time-and-material service, and then move into a managed service,” Hodges said. “We cannot dictate how the customer needs to consume their technology, or how the partner delivers that technology. We just want to be as flexible as possible.”
