39 BUSINESS BRIEFING : SECURITY to become MSPs. That doesn’t mean we’re only looking for MSPs, but through Our Unified Security Platform we are enabling partners who perhaps might have started out as a value-added reseller to start offering services into their customer base. In this context, Flex Pay billing is crucial. This provides a choice of billing methods, including traditional multi-year upfront payments, monthly subscriptions and MSP Points; allowing partners to provision WatchGuard product, with monthly usage-based billing thereafter. Many of our partners already provide monthly billing for other technologies, such as Microsoft 365, and by offering subscription billing and MSP Points we enable them to incorporate WatchGuard products into existing monthly charges to their customers. Tony, as WatchGuard’s distribution partner Northamber has had a big role to play in rolling out Flex Pay. How else does Northamber support WatchGuard partners? Tony Price: From a distribution point of view, Northamber helps identify partners who would benefit from partnering with WatchGuard and then we help them on that journey by guiding them along the most effective route they should take to become a WatchGuardONE partner. We explain what accreditations partners will need for network security, endpoint and MFA. We can also provide training and workshops as a value-add to help them achieve the necessary accreditations. So, Northamber has a huge role to play, from the recruitment of partners into the programme to selling the benefits of working with WatchGuard, to training a partner’s technical experts and sales teams so that they can get the certifications they need. Because we have such a long-standing relationship with WatchGuard, our people know WatchGuard inside out. They’re able to sell the benefits of working with WatchGuard and explain to partners how they can earn more money by becoming more accredited. Once a solution request has been identified, we would then look at the different options for procurement based on our partners’ customer needs and their priorities. How can potential partners find out more about the benefits of working with WatchGuard? We have a dedicated team that are ready to help & advise. If you want to know more about the WatchGuardONE programme then please speak to one of my WG Sales Team on 020 8296 7015. For a product demo, training or some pre sales consultancy with a Northamber Senior Sales Engineer please use our Calendly links (below) or talk to our sales team. https://calendly.com/northamber-mikebritton or https://calendly.com/rickibriggs the upfront discounts and benefits that they get from an existing vendor. This enables them to take on the WatchGuard portfolio and start selling our products to their customer base almost immediately, without having to wait 90 days while they go through training and certification with us. Does Status Match apply to all elements of WatchGuard’s portfolio? Jon-Marc Wilkinson: Yes, it does. Partners will receive the equivalent discount across our four product lines of network security, wireless, multifactor and endpoint. The opportunity to sell across WatchGuard’s technology stack is clearly a big attraction of partnering with WatchGuard. Do you think that consolidation on WatchGuard gives partners a competitive advantage? Jon-Marc Wilkinson: Many years ago people talked about having point products – one vendor for your firewall, one vendor for your MFA and so on – but the trend for some time has been to consolidate on a single vendor and to manage all those products centrally through a single pane of glass. If you consolidate onto the WatchGuard platform, with management through our central management platform, the Unified Security Platform (incorporating WatchGuard Cloud), it will be far easier to create a secure network. Our Unified Security Platform now incorporates network security, firewalls, wireless, multi-factor authentication and endpoint – and not just endpoint security, but also patch management, data control, SIEM integration, systems management. All these elements can now be managed centrally. That must be a great benefit to managed service partners. How else does WatchGuard meet the needs of MSPs? Jon-Marc Wilkinson: Watchguard strives to empower our partners and new partners technologyreseller.co.uk Tony Price
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