The consumerization of IT and the rise of employee-owned devices make a mobile device management strategy a necessity, and Zenprise is turning to the channel to deliver its mobile device management offerings.
The launch of the Zenprise Partner Network gives solution providers the ability to tackle the mobile device management market, which is expected to hit $6.6 billion by 2015, according to Forrester Research.
Jamie Barnett, Zenprise's senior director of marketing, said that the program comes as more IT departments struggle to find their mobile device management strategy, and devices become a top-down initiative usually driven by C-level executives.
"Rarely do we see executives have an intense love of technology as they do these devices," she said, adding that along with the influx of devices comes the need to set policies around their usage.
Michelle Helling, Zenprise senior director of channel marketing, said the Zenprise Partner Network was built specifically to arm solution providers with tools to secure mobile enterprises and provide mobile management solutions via Zenprise's MobileManager and Zencloud offerings which add security at the device, application and network levels.
Zenprise's mobile device management plays give IT departments visibility into and control over mobile devices to manage and secure them and many processes are automated or managed over-the-air. Currently, Zenprise supports the Apple iPhone and iPad, BlackBerry devices, Google Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian. With what it calls, Zenprise Triple Device, Zenprise's cloud and software-based device management tools offer dynamic threat detection, app tunnels and the Zenprise Secure Mobile Gateway.
Helling said partners are a key piece of Zenprise's go-to-market strategy and adds two partner levels -- authorized and premier -- designed to help partners up their mobile device management business. All partners start at the authorized level and reach premier status once they reach certain revenue requirements, Helling said, adding that authorized partners require 1 trained sales person and one trained SE while premier requires three of each.
Helling added that all partners have access to deal registration and marketing support, while premier partners get backend rebates and co-marketing funding. Premier partners also receive executive partnerships.
"It's a very simple program," Helling said, adding that there are two distinct licensing models for partners, on-premise and in the cloud. And the two offerings are ripe for partners to add their own services.
Helling said that at its start the Zenprise Partner Network is targeting partners that focus on security mobility or on application delivery and is targeting VARs.
"We're really focused on growing our channel relationships," Helling said.
