Panda Security Debuts P3 Partner Program

P3 allows resellers to take products to customers in their preferred way, be it software, appliances or managed services. The move to ease deployment is part of the company's global effort to foster a good relationship with resellers and move toward adopting a purely channel sales model.

Until today Panda has employed what Thom Fraser, VP of channel sales, called a channel tolerant model. Panda has always welcomed business with retailers and VARs but had never embraced the opportunity that working 100 percent with the channel offers.

Lately, the security market has become highly commoditized and is dominated by just a few large players. Meanwhile, customers have become increasingly dissatisfied with the support vendors are offering, meaning they won't renew contracts, Fraser said.

"There has been one constant fact in this business for the past four or five years," said Fraser. "Between 17 and 18 percent of users who are coming up for renewal of antivirus products choose not to renew with vendor. That's a high churn rate."

With such instability in the security market there is room for both vendors and resellers to take advantage of churn by offering, what Fraser calls, a "better mouse trap." By being customer oriented and offering expert skills and services, channel partners are well positioned to snap up customers who chose not to renew with vendors and create a fresh revenue opportunities.

"From a technical side, I'll do anything for a client," said Roy Meihe, president and CEO of AAantivius, a solution provider. "I'm a 55-year old man who does nothing but provide a service for a client. It's not rocket science."

That willingness to provide what the customers need -- service and support -- is what differentiates channel partners from vendors. Of course, everyone is looking to make money in the business, and margins in the security market have dipped regularly.

Jim Addlesberger, president and CEO of NavigateStorage, another solution provider, thinks that the move from direct sales to 100 percent channel means that small changes might be happening in the security market. In Addlesberger's experience, large vendors have been driven by bottom line considerations and don't consider the benefits a solid channel program offers.

"My experience with other vendors in the antivirus space has been that they took large companies direct and threw us the crumbs," said Addlesberger. "A lot of the crumbs enabled us to make money each week and fund the staff we had working on the product. Then vendors took the crumbs away."

Panda's P3 program looks to address margins and ensure that everyone in the equation starts making money again. Resellers who register a customer with the company, and are the first to do so, can make 10 percent of the net revenue Panda makes on the deal. In order to get that percentage, the customer has to decide to go with Panda, bring a customer to an account team and work with an account team. If the deal goes through, the reseller will receive 10 percent of the net.

"Here is what I think is important about Panda," said Addlesberger. "They answer the question: what's in it for the reseller? Panda pays good margins to their resellers."

Fraser acknowledges the fact that going to a 100 percent channel sales model may not allow Panda to rake in the biggest profits, but he still believes the benefits of the channel outweigh at least some of the pecuniary considerations.

"There's no getting away from the fact that some VARs won't bring as much value to the table," said Fraser. "But VARs can bring customers to the table, they act as catalysts."

With more customers, more of Panda's product is being sold and, in the end, everyone from vendor to partner to customer will see the benefits.

"With Panda's products and channel model, VARs will start making money in this field again," said Meihe.