Websense CEO Vows 100 Percent Channel Assault

Websense CEO Gene Hodges is pledging to right the channel wrongs at the web filtering software company with widespread systemic changes designed to "channelize" the company.

The first order of business is stopping any and all direct sales and moving to a 100 percent channel sales model, up from the current 85 percent channel sales, said Hodges. "I have no desire to take any deals direct," he said.

Also in the works: new deal registration, lead generation, price lists, discounts, rebates, and co-marketing, all aimed at partners, said Hodges. Websense is also planning a new set of channel ready products.

Hodges conceded that Websense may have lost its way with the channel. "As the market begins to saturate, companies tend to build up the telesales and take more deals direct. I think Websense was just starting to get into that," he said.

As part of the channel turnaround, Hodges earlier this month brought on former McAfee channel chief David Roberts as vice president of sales for the Americas. Hodges, who took charge of the company in mid-January, with Roberts plans to revamp the strategy, systems and programs at San Diego-based Websense to create a 100 percent channel company, the executives said.

The two are hoping to repeat at Websense the success they were a part of at security vendor McAfee, which underwent sweeping channel changes in 2005 that moved the company from 60 percent channel sales to more than 90 percent and added more than 1,000 new partners.

And the changes may come just in time for Websense. The url filtering market leader has seen its share of channel trouble and faces increasing competition from rival SurfControl, which has poached a number of frustrated Websense partners.

Solution providers that partner with Websense tell a story of growing frustration.

An executive of one top security solution provider, who asked not to be named, said he has experienced a lot of channel conflict with Websense. "There is real discontent in the channel with Websense," the solution provider executive said. "There is a lot of competition with the direct-sales force and an arrogance. They truly don’t believe the channel is selling their product. They believe the channel is fulfilling their product."

Another Websense partner executive echoed those sentiments. "They were taking deals direct and getting cocky about it," said the executive, who also asked to remain unnamed. "They seem to have forgotten about the channel."

Hodges told CRN that Websense is a "good channel company, but we need to make it a great channel company."

NEXT: 'Huge investment' in channel coming

Roberts, who stepped into his new role May 1, told CRN that Websense understands that it needs to make a "huge investment" in the channel. "We need to develop the right strategy, the right systems and the right programs," he said.

"A lot of these issues are around sales force engagement models," he said. "They are all things I have attacked in a previous life."

Roberts said he will spend his first 30 days putting together a plan to move Websense to a 100 percent channel company. "We are working all the steps to channelize Websense," he added.

Hodges said Websense's situation when he took the reins reminded him of McAfee's state, but there is less work to be done at Websense. "It is a similar job, but luckily for us it is an easier job," he said. "The partner base is where it needs it to be. Now, we need to become more expert in supporting them."

To achieve that the company will "consistently enforce a policy that supports the channel," Hodges said. "The consistency of policy is step one in a successful partnership program," Hodges said. "Our partners can be sure that our tone from the top will be excellence in working with partners."

Still, some solution providers are skeptical. Peter Bybee, president and CEO of Network Vigilance, a San Diego solution provider that switched from Websense to SurfControl, said Hodges and Roberts are going to need to prove that they are different.

"This story has been repeated often for anyone who has been in the channel a while," Bybee said. "That new executive at the company that burned you last quarter is going to turn things around only as long as he is there. They are going to have to prove to VARs that they mean it and they are in it for the long haul, and that will take some time."

One of the large undertakings will be information systems, Hodges said. While at McAfee, Hodges and Roberts helped create that company's partner portal, which gives partners and company sales people the same information access and does not allow company sales people to take a deal direct. Websense partners can expect similar technology, Hodges said.

Some partners have already seen a difference in the company since Hodges took charge in January. "The company has a renewed sense of vigor," said Tim Carney, CEO of NetworkGuys, a Fremont, Calif., solution provider that has partnered with Websense for 11 years. "We are getting much more attention than we used to get."

Still, hearing of Hodges further plans left Carney "taken aback," he said. "I have heard that Gene Hodges is going to make Websense a channel company, but to see him come in and identify the problems and promise to fix them is very positive news. The channel program needs fixing and deal registration is absolutely needed."