CRN Exclusive: BeyondTrust Doubles Channel Business After Renewed Focus On Partners

Last year, BeyondTrust set a goal of bringing on more strategic reseller partners and establishing a better foundation for channel growth.

Now, the privileged account management company said it is starting to see the fruits of its labors, with channel business up 100 percent year over year and business through the channel growing from 15 percent of the business to between 25 percent and 30 percent.

"From our perspective, this is one of the main focus items of the business: growth through the channel," CEO Kevin Hickey told CRN.

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Vice President of Strategic Alliances Joseph Schramm said BeyondTrust has been focusing on adding more strategic reseller partners, those focused on consulting around identity and access management. The company looked to add six to eight of those partners last year and is now "building significant pipeline with them," he said.

BeyondTrust also has looked to expand its channel reach through a distribution agreement with Westcon, as well as new technology partnerships with McAfee, Sailpoint and more.

Alan West, president and CEO of XMS Solutions, a Henderson, Nev.-based BeyondTrust partner, said he has seen the company as partner-friendly since he started partnering with it a year and a half ago, but he is definitely seeing more emphasis put on partners over the past year. XMS' business with BeyondTrust is expanding, with the potential to double over the next 12 months, he said.

"This year they've taken the plunge in the all-in partnership approach," West said. "It's fantastic for us. … We have partnerships with other companies and those we do best with and succeed best with are those that are partner-first. It really allows them to focus on what they do, rather than being all things to all people."

That's key, he said, as privileged account management is seeing a "real uptick" in interest from customers, driven by government regulations and more. He said partners like XMS are better positioned to address those needs, offering a product like BeyondTrust as part of a greater offering for identity and security.

Schramm said the strategy going into 2017 is to continue to focus its partner base on key, strategic partners, including the addition of large-scale systems integrators like Accenture or Deloitte. BeyondTrust also will look to deepen its relationship with Westcon, he said, as it allows the company to focus more on its strategic partners.

BeyondTrust also aims to step up its support for MSPs and MSSPs, which it initiated last year, he said. The company would now like to secure customers in that area, through Westcon and relationships with large telecom vendors, according to Schramm.

BeyondTrust will support this growth on the back end with further investments in its partner portal, BeyondTrustUniversity, sales enablement and certifications, Schramm said. BeyondTrust also has expanded its channel team, going from seven employees to 10 this year, including a federal channel manager.