Sophos Debuts Revamped Channel Program, Unleashes Secureworks SIEM Partner Opportunity

The new program unifies the formerly separate Sophos and Secureworks programs and rolls out increased incentives and improved training as well as enhanced self-service capabilities, Sophos Channel Chief Chris Bell tells CRN.

Sophos unveiled a refreshed channel program Wednesday featuring an array of updates aimed at better rewarding partners for pursuing fast-growing cybersecurity opportunities with the vendor while introducing an array of updates to enhance flexibility, according to Sophos Channel Chief Chris Bell.

The new program includes expanded incentives and improved training as well as greater self-service capabilities for the company’s 25,000 partners, while also unifying the formerly separate Sophos and Secureworks programs, Bell (pictured) said in an interview with CRN.

“We want this program not only to be the easiest to do business with for our partners, but also be one of the most profitable programs for any partner,” said Bell, senior vice president of global channels, alliances and corporate development.

Bell, formerly chief strategy officer at Secureworks, was named Sophos’ new channel chief in March following the $859 million merger of the two security vendors.

With the launch of the new, unified channel program Wednesday, existing Sophos partners can now sell Secureworks offerings for the first time, he said.

The Secureworks acquisition opens up partner opportunities in major product categories such as security information and event management (SIEM), where Sophos has not previously had an offering, as well as expanded capabilities in segments such as identity threat detection and response (ITDR) and extended detection and response (XDR), Sophos executives have said.

The integration of the Sophos and Secureworks channel programs is a big win for solution provider partners that should unlock major new growth opportunities, according to Dave Peck, president and CEO of Trebron, a longtime Sophos partner based in Lancaster, Pa.

Peck said he plans to explore reselling both the Secureworks SIEM offering as well as its security services to augment Trebron’s own in-house services.

“For us to be able to expand that offering to our customer base, and get into more robust pentesting and other areas that might be out of scope for our team — and be able to do that with the Sophos-Secureworks services — is huge,” he told CRN.

Portal Enhancements

A top request from partners has been around boosting self-service capabilities, and Sophos is responding by adding a number of such capabilities to its partner portal in connection with the new program launch, according to Bell.

For instance, Sophos has improved the performance of self-service price quoting, making it now 5X faster to get a quote, he said.

Peck said that the update is a very welcome move for partners such as Trebron that are seeing rapid growth.

“It’s clear Sophos is making an investment bringing in more automation and streamlining their partner portal and how we interact with their systems,” he said. “That’s one of the things we always look for in a partner — can they move fast with us?”

Additionally, in terms of Sophos’ partner care team that is available 24/7, the company has made “considerable investments” around the team to help partners with questions and drive greater customer success, Bell said.

Incentive Expansion

Other major updates in the new Sophos Partner Program include the introduction of a new Titanium tier, which will represent the top level that solution and service provider partners can achieve with the vendor. The Titanium tier will boost profitability with offer benefits such as increased rebates and MDF (market development funds), Bell said.

“This is for the partners that are making large commitments — now they have a reason to lean in with us, and we’re going to lean in with them,” he said. “We want to invest in their businesses.”

Other changes to the tier structure include a shift in where newly recruited partners start out in the Sophos Partner Program. While in the past new partners would be started at the lowest tier, Authorized, Sophos will now place newly added partners into the program’s Silver tier as an incentive to ramp up more quickly with the vendor, Bell said.

Training Enhancements

In terms of training and enablement, Sophos is introducing both improvements to the training itself as well as greater flexibility around meeting requirements, according to Bell.

Specifically, Sophos is looking to make training and enablement more flexible for partners — based on which segments they are focusing on in their businesses — by shifting to a points-based system for meeting training obligations, he said.

The move aims to “give our partners the flexibility around however they want to achieve their objectives, and still be able to get to the core metal tiers that drive the program,” Bell said.

Sophos is also taking the step of making training for certifications free to partners, he said.

“We don’t want to create any sort of disincentive for our partners not to take certification and training,” Bell said.

Additionally, Sophos is introducing new training options that provide “fast-track” sales certifications and MDR (managed detection and response) onboarding, to get partners up and running more quickly, he said.

“I think the days are over of taking two- and three-week training courses to get your certifications,” Bell said.

Serving Partners Of All Sizes

Ultimately, Sophos has sought to develop a modern program that can meet the needs of many different partner types and sizes, which are serving customers of all sizes from SMBs to enterprises, he said. Notably, the Secureworks acquisition has given Sophos a much larger footprint in the enterprise both from a customer and a partner perspective, Bell said.

At the same time, “we are not taking our eye off the ball in the commercial business that has been really the core of Sophos historically,” he said, referencing the company’s business with SMB and midmarket customers.

For instance, Sophos is continuing to build on its push with MSPs, including in key areas such as MDR, by rolling out a new MSP-dedicated growth accelerator rebate, according to Bell.

The rebate is available in connection with the vendor’s recently announced MSP Elevate program, he said.

“We see MSPs as critical to growing the commercial business,” Bell said. “You’re going to continue to see us make investments with the MSP community.”