Websense To Unveil New Channel Program

Since joining San Diego-based Websense in May, David Roberts, vice president of sales for the Americas, has worked to revamp Websense's channel program and show a renewed commitment to partner profitability and eliminating channel conflict.

In embracing the challenge of steering Websense back onto a channel-friendly course, Roberts says one of the main problems he encountered was that partners were beginning to lose sight of the value proposition of carrying Websense products. "Unless they had an existing renewal base, there wasn't much incentive for partners to invest resources in Websense technology," Roberts said. "We've got a lot of fence-mending to do [with partners], and we're in the process of doing that."

The new program will have three tiers—Silver, Gold and Platinum—and Websense will no longer charge partners a fee to participate. In the first phase of the program, Websense will offer partners free technical support, improved sales and technical training programs, deal registration, and more sophisticated management of the lead distribution process, according to Roberts.

"We're moving to a vision where partners are an extension of our sales force, but we're also viewing them as our customer, which is a huge shift," Roberts said.

Next year, Websense will begin working with partners to help them offer services around its products and will also consider changing its support model to improve operational efficiencies, said Roberts, who expects the program to be fully implemented in about two years.

Roberts hopes to boost Websense's channel ranks from around 900 to between 1,500 and 2,000 over the next year, and also to increase the number of transactions each partner conducts with the vendor.

Shyam Manwani, principal at S&L International, a Pasadena, Calif.-based solution provider, says Websense is realizing that ensuring partner profitability is in the best interests of the company. "That awareness in their channel and commitment to partners didn't exist before," said Manwani.

While many vendors have brought products to market that protect through remediation, Websense products block threats proactively, which creates a different value proposition. It's a proposition VARs will need to explain to their customers, said Roberts, adding that this is a key part of Websense's strategy for tapping into the SMB market.

Although Websense is known for its Web filtering products, the Street's perception that the vendor is a one-trick pony is changing, said Kevin West, president of KLogix, a Brookline, Mass.-based solution provider. "We pitch Websense [products] as a Web security solution as opposed to just filtering because of their ability to block threats before they get onto your network," said West.

Websense also plans to unveil a pact with Ingram Micro at XChange, under which the Santa Ana, Calif., distributor will sell, market and support Websense products and recruit partners.