Trend Micro today launched a revamped channel program that provides partners that process transactions via online marketplaces with additional incentives and rewards. As part of that effort, Trend Micro is now shifting from a compensation model based on tiers to a flat standard discount for all partner types.
Initially, the revamped program is focused on cloud security offerings provided by Trend Micro either through a marketplace operated by a distributor or the marketplace that Amazon Web Services (AWS) employs to encourage end customers to consume additional services.
The program has also been extended to partners that participate in an AWS Consulting Partner Private Offer (CPPO) program through which AWS rewards partners for reselling cloud services.
Trend Micro is providing partners with pre-sales support, co-selling tools, discounts for participating in its deal registration program and free access to Cloud One-Conformity, a cloud security posture management tool.
Partners will also be entitled to make use of white-label cybersecurity assessment services, a cloud risk assessment tool, and can enroll in the Trend Micro professional service partner program. Trend Micro will also prove access to its incident and response team to augment the cybersecurity capabilities any of its partners can bring to bear on their own.
In general, Trend Micro is trying to make it more profitable for partners that are leery of conducting transactions via marketplaces, says Louise McEvoy, vice president of U.S. Channels for Trend Micro. Many partners are concerned end users will bypass them altogether once they start acquiring products and services via a cloud marketplace, notes McEvoy.
The AWS CPPO program was created to enable partners to retain control over transactions, but Trend Micro wants to also rewards partners that don’t participate in that program. The shift to the cloud is only going to continue to expand so partners inevitably will need to come to terms with online marketplaces that end customers are employing with greater frequency, notes McEvoy. “Partners need to adapt to this change,” says McEvoy.
Partners may not always appreciate the perceived loss of control over deals that comes with the rise of online marketplaces, but it’s clear many end customers are going to force partners down that path whether they like it or not.
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