McAfee has announced that the full portfolio of its MVISION suite of security services delivered via the cloud is now available via the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace.
Those offerings are already available via marketplaces managed by McAfee and cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) that end users are employing more often, but it’s also become apparent that channel partners that retain control over purchasing security platforms on behalf of their clients are employing online marketplaces operated by distributors with greater frequency, says Kathleen Curry, senior vice president of global enterprise channels for McAfee. “It’s not one or the other,” she says. “We want to participate in both.”
Partners that employ the marketplace operated by a distributor such as Ingram Micro can also take advantage of the implementation services that are made available, notes Curry. That critical at a time when partners continue to find it challenging to hire and retain cybersecurity expertise, she adds.
McAfee is also committing to making a collection of marketing collateral available on demand to partners via the Ingram Micro marketplace.
In general, online marketplaces have made the relationship between partners and end customer more complicated. Partners would generally prefer to retain control over transactions rather than being viewed simply as a customer advisor that may have some implementation capabilities. However, once al cloud service has been implemented it’s not uncommon for the vendor that built that platform to directly encourage customers to acquire additional services without the partner possibly being apprised.
No matter how security technologies are acquired the rate at which security technologies are shifting toward being delivered via the cloud has increased substantially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. IT teams are not as able to easily access security platforms from home when they reside behind a corporate firewall. A cloud-based approach also makes it easier to support a wide range of devices running applications that will soon be from one day to the next unpredictably running at home or in an office.
Changes in the way any technology is consumed is usually a good thing for channel partners. The challenge these days is to make sure the partner stays relevant to their end customer once all the transactions are concluded.
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