Palo Alto Networks CEO: 3 Key Considerations For Partners Selling Security Solutions

Palo Alto Networks' platform approach to security offers partners three new ways to talk to their customers about security solutions, according to CEO Mark McLaughlin.

’Understanding this platform concept and saying, ’I know how to do that for you,’ as a partner, is very important,’ he said.

The Channel Company CEO Bob Faletra interviewed McLaughlin on stage at the Best of Breed conference, where McLaughlin focused on the impact of cloud on security.

’If you’re ignoring cloud or not building expertise, you’re doing so at your own risk,’ he said.

McLaughlin advised partners to pitch security-as-a-service, as his company has seen the most growth in non-hardware categories.

’Sixty-five percent of our business today is not hardware,’ he said. ’And that piece is growing 75 percent year over year versus the hardware piece.’

McLaughlin also said customers still need a lot of answers to questions around cloud.

’What does that actually mean to me? Where am I today, and how do I get where I want to go? And can you actually do something for me that’s valuable along the way?’ he said.

And finally, there’s the value of data.

’There is a lot of stuff that can be done from a data perspective,’ he said.