New Check Point Channel Chief: ‘There’s No Platformization Without Partners’

Industry veteran Chris Moore has joined Check Point as channel chief with an aim toward engaging more partners in segments outside its core firewall business, he tells CRN.

Chris Moore, a longtime channel executive formerly at vendors including CyberArk and HPE, has been hired by Check Point Software Technologies as its new channel chief, he said in an interview with CRN.

Moore, whose title at Check Point is vice president of world wide channel, has joined the cybersecurity vendor as it looks to engage more partners in segments outside its core firewall business.

One key area for solution and service providers to target is SASE (secure access service edge), which is a natural expansion area for firewall-focused partners as a modern cloud-delivered way to offer network security, he noted.

Other major categories for Check Point’s platform include email protection, cloud security, exposure management and AI security.

Ultimately, Check Point—which already derives 100 percent of its sales through the channel—will continue to rely on partners as it looks to increasingly make headway into categories beyond the firewall, according to Moore.

“Everybody talks about platformization, but there’s no platformization without partners,” he said.

Most recently, Moore had served as senior vice president of global channels at CyberArk starting in 2020. Palo Alto Networks completed its $25 billion acquisition of CyberArk in February.

Prior to CyberArk, Moore held top channel executive roles at Qlik and Veeam Software. Earlier, he had spent more than a decade at HPE, including as director of U.S. channel storage sales from 2009 to 2011.

Ultimately, when it comes to working with partners at Check Point, “we’re 100 percent in,” Moore said. “And we're driving incredibly hard to make sure that they are the absolute cornerstone of what we do as we move forward.”

What follows is more of CRN’s interview with Moore.

What prompted the move to Check Point?

The thing that was intriguing to me with Check Point is, we’re at this fork in the road right now. There is this perception of [Check Point] being a firewall company. But the new path is how do we build upon that? And we won’t do that without our partners. Everybody talks about platformization, but there is no platformization without partners. What we’re looking at is how do we leverage what we’ve done for years and years as a 100 percent partner company? How do we leverage that to drive AI? How do we leverage that to go drive what’s next in security over the next few years? So it’s not [just] about firewall, it’s about securing everything. And especially we are looking at where AI is going, and at really being that transformational partner around AI. The excitement is that we’re not [just about] firewall anymore; we’re truly going down a platform path. And we’re really looking around how do we take hybrid mesh and workforce and AI and email—how do we blend it together and give partners best of breed so that they can help their customers and solve outcomes?

For partners, what would be the main advantages to working with you versus someone else in these categories?

The foundation—which I think we already have and that we will build upon—is how do we become the most profitable engine for our partners with the most predictable outcomes in the most transparent and easy processes? There’s a lot of work that’s started and has been going on. But [it’s about] automation around deal flows and driving better operational effectiveness and transparency into pipeline and customers and propensity and all those things. So we’re working through all of that to be able to drive to our partners, ‘Hey, here’s the opportunity in the market.’ And that opportunity right now is around helping customers simplify their hybrid environments. We’re going to help our partners deliver this unified security architecture, but we’re also going to allow them to kind of own the space. And we’re not going to try to be everything to everyone. As a security vendor, we’re going to do the things that we do really, really well, and we’re going to help them along the journey. And so I think we’re going to do what we do really well. We’re going to give partners the most profitable and easy experience that’s out there. And the platform strategy is going to look at the entire ecosystem and help partners drive what’s best for their customers and what’s going to solve the outcomes.

What are your goals in terms of enabling and incentivizing partners to move beyond the firewall? And how fast do you think you can make headway on that?

That’s the opportunity. The opportunity is to get them to look at us as [offering] more than the firewall. And that’s going to require really focusing on the partners that have that capability and the capacity to go drive into the other spaces. So the first thing we need to do is, obviously, we need to enable. And we need to enable heavily around our four pillars, which are AI, email, exposure, hybrid mesh—and make sure that they understand the opportunity and the technology. Secondarily, we’re going to shape the program around the pillars to make sure that they have the best ability to go drive into the market, the best profitability and the best experience. One of the things we’re doing is looking at all of our partners and identifying the partners that want to move forward with us. And we’re going to double down on those partners. And then we’re going to go look at partners that we historically haven’t done very much with. I think most of the partners think of us [for] firewall, but I think that opportunity to expand out is going to open up many more partner routes for us, and it’s going to allow us to get deeper and wider with our best partners.

What are some of the key areas for partners to consider beyond the firewall?

I think everybody has an opportunity to go look at hybrid mesh and multi-cloud. And I think that’s kind of unifying across everything. We’re making sure that we’re driving into that space with all of our partners. SASE is an extension of what they already know, what they’re already working on. I’ve talked to a couple dozen partners in the two weeks I’ve been here. Every one of them talks about hybrid mesh. Every one of them talks about SASE. They’re all obviously talking about AI and our story with AI, and where we’re taking that. And to a lesser extent, they’re looking at workspace and email and then exposure management. So it’s kind of in that order. But yes, that SASE hybrid mesh [segment] is where everybody sees the sweet spot.

Are there other goals or priorities you are looking at?

I think you’ve heard from [CEO] Nadav [Zafrir] and some others here that not only are we going to continue to be a 100 percent partner organization, but we’re going to continue to invest. One of the things we’re doing is looking at which partners and which areas we want to invest in. Where do we want to make our really big bets, and where do we want to really double down? And I think the partners that I’m talking to are all saying, ‘We want to do more. How do we do more?’ So I think that’s big in terms of making bets in the channel around these areas and leveraging the momentum that we have. [Another goal is] how do we leverage more managed services? Managed services are key, and we’ve got some [updates] coming up that are going to help our managed service partners. Every partner that I talked to is delivering managed security services. And then, obviously, how do we drive enablement? Enablement is going to be key. How do we show them the opportunity to drive more services and outcomes? And then, how do we do that around big bets with partners that can really go drive it? [The goal is] opening this up for many, many more partners in ecosystem.

Overall, what is your message to partners?

I hope that [with] what we’re doing on the channel side, and the investments that we’re making, partners are going to look at that and say, ‘Wow, they are serious and they want to change.’ So I want to make sure that the partners know that we’re 100 percent in. And we’re driving incredibly hard to make sure that they are the absolute cornerstone of what we do as we move forward. So I’m excited to be here. And I think the world for the partners is going to be really, really strong moving forward at Check Point.