McAfee Channel Chief Unveils Program Changes, Adds Partner Support (Video)

McAfee channel chief Gavin Struthers outlines major changes to the McAfee partner program and also details the McAfee Security Connected strategy.

McAfee has taken steps to reduce the complexity of its channel programand conduct more outreach with partners after it weeded out partners it believed weren't fully committed.

McAfee Channel Chief Gavin Struthers said his team also stuck to stringent certification rules, forcing firms to get sales staff and engineers trained and certified on McAfee's product line. Many of those firms stayed in the program, but others were weeded out over the course of 2012, Struthers said.

In this video interview with CRN, Struthers said the company is providing stronger support with deal registration and leveling the playing field with its own sales team by addressing compensation neutrality with incentives to work with partners. The next phase of the program is a concerted effort to conduct outreach to partners, engaging them with training materials and co-marketing messages, Struthers said.

Struthers said partners that are embracing McAfee's go-to-market strategy are seeing the best results. McAfee has paid out more than $2 million in rewards to individual partners, a 40 percent increase over a year ago. The company's top 20 value partners have seen their business revenue increase more than 60 percent with McAfee, he said.

In addition, Struthers points to cloud and BYOD as projected areas for growth. Partners need to align themselves to specialize in certain product areas to realize the best results, he said. Managed services is another growth area for forward thinking partners, Struthers said, because traditional reselling is in decline.

PUBLISHED APRIL 18, 2013