RSA, the security division of EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), has enhanced its SecurWorld partner program to make it easier for partners to do business with the vendor and to also boost channel enablement.
The SecurWorld global partner program has been around for the past six years. Joe Gabriel, director of global channel marketing at RSA, said about 65 per cent of the company’s overall revenues goes thru partners, including distributors Ingram Micro, Westcon and Arrow Electronics. The company has close to 2,000 active channel partners, of which 500 to 600 are from North America.
The enhancements to SecurWorld include rewards for partners that sell RSA Archer solutions (RSA acquired Archer Technologies, a governance, risk and compliance software vendor earlier this year), a new managed security services providers (MSSP) program and a revamped partner portal.
RSA SecurWorld partners who are certified to sell Archer products can receive benefits such as back end rebates and sales and technical training. For partners who aren’t yet certified, Gabriel said when they sell Archer products they’ll receive informal benefits until the formal program becomes available on January 1.
Under SecurWorld, RSA has also launched a new MSSP Program for partners that play in the managed security service arena. Partners can receive guidance on how to use RSA products in a managed environment, such as in data centres. Partners will also receive additional resources, in addition to compensation when they make a sale.
The last enhancement to the program is an enhanced RSA Partner Central portal. From a central location, partners can access sales and technical training resources, deal registration, leads and they can even view their rebate and co-op statements.
As for the company’s growth plans for its channel, Gabriel said it’s not specifically focused on the recruitment of new partners, but rather, on enablement.
“The majority of our focus is not necessarily on the recruitment of new partners, but on enabling our existing ones,” Gabriel said. “That’s not to say we won’t be strategically recruiting more partners, because where we have identified regional gaps, we’ll look at recruiting them.”
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