CDN learned yesterday that McAfee will offer channel partners incentives based on capitilizing on the recovering economy.
Newly hired channel chief Alex Thurber, formerly of Cisco, will deliver a keynote address late Wednesday morning where he will tell the world his vision for the channel.
CDN will have a full story on this with channel reaction, but here is what we know:
Channel partners will be rewarded if they make investments in developing security practices centred on McAfee technology.
New rules of engagement will be introduced in something called the Authorized Support Program.
There will be a program on managed services.
A U.S. only Federal government program.
A new tiered pricing model.
A pay for performance deal registration program.
And a new enablement methodology program called Ready, Set, Sell.
This is a lot to digest, but you can see that the focus is on establishing partner profitability. It’s no secret that Thurber would go down this route given his many years at Cisco, the pioneers of partner profitability.
What will be interesting to hear from Thurber is if he announces a high margin number. If you go back in time to 2001, Paul Montford told Cisco's channel several double digit margin numbers that got the crowd excited and motivated.
Another interesting development will be in the deal registration portion. I’m not totally sure what “Pay for Performance” means, but I’ll speculate that it will see McAfee really taking care of loyal partners first instead of partners who simply register deals. But that is just a guess. I will find out more and let you know.
It wasn't that long ago that Thurber got this job and it looks really promising for McAfee security solution providers from what I found out last night.
One quick hit before I go.
McAfee has appointed George Kurtz as worldwide chief technology officer. The former CEO of Foundstone will report directly to company CEO Dave DeWalt.