ESET, the cybersecurity company, has announced a 40 percent increase in channel partners in the last 12 months–as well as the launch of its Partner Council.
ESET’s B2B channel program was started in 2006, but the company said that the program has seen significant traction following a 2016 revamp, which included an emphasis on the enterprise segment. The ESET MSP Program for managed service providers is the channel program’s fastest growing segment, it said, with 95 percent of partner applications coming from this group in the last year.
“Partners are looking for a trusted vendor that has proven experience and track record of success,” said ESET partner community manager Cameron Tousley. “For 30 years, we have been pioneers in security innovation and delivering the best security solutions on the market. As the global threat landscape intensifies, and we see huge-scale ransomware attacks such as Petya and WannaCry, partners are leaning on their vendors to deliver effective technology and security insights at rapid speed.”
He added that ESET also has seen a 20 percent year-over-year growth in enterprise customers in North America, acquiring large accounts in sectors like healthcare, retail, education and finance.
“These large organizations are gold for partners,” noted Tousley. “Our ability to attract and pass through these customers to partners is an important part of our growth strategy.”
Meanwhile, the Partner Council advisory group will include 10 active partners initially, who will participate in quarterly calls and get a first-look at new products and technologies. Their feedback will be used to refine product road maps, help shape the supporting content and ultimately better enable partners’ sales teams.
“The launch of our new Partner Council will ensure that we are listening to our partners and understanding their customer needs,” added Tousley. “Two-way communication is critical if we want to deliver tailored programs that will enable our partners to build their businesses.”
In the last 12 months, ESET has added new talent in several departments, and has placed a heavy focus on lead-generation and partner events. Additionally, ESET launched a partner services-focused team that caters to all partners but specializes on the MSP segment.
“As cyber attacks get more sophisticated and larger in scale, it’s more important than ever that we make security as easy and effective as possible for our clients,” added Ted Clouser, executive vice president at PC Assistance, a managed security provider in Little Rock, Ark. “For that reason, our relationship with ESET is an important one, and they have really been a go-to partner for us. Their technology is dependable, straightforward to deploy and they are truly dedicated to providing the channel resources we need to do our job effectively. We made the change to ESET in February 2016 and have never looked back.”
