†WatchGuard Technologies, a global leader in network security and intelligence, secure Wi-Fi and multi-factor authentication (MFA), announced an expansion of the†WatchGuardONE partner program, featuring multiple paths of entry into partnership via individual specializations in†Network Security,†Secure Wi-Fi, and†MFA. Each specialization has its own unique set of knowledge-based requirements, including sales and technical trainings. Partners that attain specialization in just one of these three product families can achieve full WatchGuardONE status, including financial incentives and sales, marketing and technical support, without revenue thresholds or product portfolio adoption requirements. These new WatchGuardONE specializations build on the success of the company’s existing value-based program, minimizing barriers to entry and ensuring maximum return on investment to make it easier than ever for partners to do business with WatchGuard.††
According to a recent study from IPED Consulting, 44 percent of managed service providers (MSPs) report that recruiting and retaining technical staff is a critical or significant barrier to growth. MSPs also say sales and technical training are two of the most important elements provided by strategic vendor channel programs. This is one of the reasons why WatchGuard continues to expand its focus on targeted education and training as the mechanism to gain partnership status and benefits within the WatchGuardONE program.
“Partners don’t want to jump through hoops to reach lofty revenue thresholds or achieve vendor portfolio adoption criteria that doesn’t fit their customers’ needs – they just want to run their business efficiently,” said†Michelle Welch, senior vice president of marketing at WatchGuard. “Whether they’re focused purely on network security, secure Wi-Fi or MFA, partners that invest the time can easily capitalize on the same financial incentives and support as our largest partners, regardless of their size, business model or revenue capabilities. We pride ourselves on continuing to make WatchGuardONE accessible to every partner, which in turn allows us to deliver the enterprise-grade security products and services that small and midsize customers need so desperately today.”
Achieving WatchGuardONE Status with Specializations
WatchGuardONE has always been a value-based program, rewarding partners for investing their time into earning knowledge-based requirements. As the company’s product offerings have expanded rapidly, from purely network security solutions to new segments like secure Wi-Fi and MFA over the past few years, these specializations are a natural evolution of the WatchGuardONE program. In the expanded program, partners can earn WatchGuardONE status by specializing in just one of the available product families, and achieve increasingly higher status and benefits by completing specializations in multiple product lines. Financial incentives increase proportional to the number of specializations partners earn. For further details about the expanded program, visit†here.
A Continuation of WatchGuard’s Unique Partner-First Approach†
Designed entirely to further enable and support partners’ businesses, these new WatchGuardONE specializations are just the latest example of WatchGuard’s enduring partner-first mentality.
The program expansion comes on the heels of the launch of the†WatchGuard Cloud platform, which reduces infrastructure costs, accelerates customer acquisition and minimizes time spent on administrative tasks by centralizing partners’ security management and reporting within a single cloud-based interface.
Additionally, WatchGuard takes pride in its extensive integrations with industry-leading remote monitoring and management (RMM) and professional services automation (PSA) solutions like ConnectWise, Autotask, Tigerpaw, and SolarWinds. These integrations enable partners to better manage their businesses with streamlined access to automated reporting, inventory management, help desk tasks, invoicing, ticket management and more.†
“WatchGuard’s continued portfolio expansion and technology innovation has helped us grow and expand our business opportunity by providing a comprehensive security solution to our customers,” said†Lesleigh Watson, COO of†BlackPoint IT Services. “Now, with the new WatchGuardONE Specializations, we have flexibility in how our staff learns about WatchGuard’s entire cybersecurity platform through sales and technical training. Also, the specializations come with newly added incentives that drive profitability and business growth. This program expansion is a major step forward in our partnership with WatchGuard.”
Partners can access free training to achieve WatchGuardONE specializations in Network Security, Secure Wi-Fi and Multi-factor Authentication today.
