Monday Morning Impact – May 9

Sophos Rolls Out MSP Partner Program

Acknowledging the role of managed services in today’s market, Sophos, a UK-based security vendor, announced “MSP Connect,” a new partner program built specifically for the managed service provider community.

In addition to portfolio access covering endpoint and network security products, the company also provides sales certification, co-branded marketing assets, 24/7 service and support plus a centralized management platform that allows MSPs to distribute licenses, add new customers on demand, cross- and up-sell services, respond to security incidents and maintain visibility on all customer activity.

The Sophos Central Partner dashboard integrates with Professional Service Automation (PSA) software, and MSPs can tie-in and customize Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) software from leading vendors to deploy and update Sophos agents locally.

“The intelligence sharing and automated response to incidents through our Security Heartbeat technology enables partners to more efficiently provide uninterrupted service against threats,” said Scott Barlow, vice president, global MSP, Sophos. “All of this is available through flexible billing models that are easy for MPS to implement and designed for greater profitability.”

The program features pay-as-you-go billing, or qualified partners can register for monthly MSP Connect Flex billing for simplified accounting and cash flow management. The Flex option includes a dedicated technical account manager.

Channel Impact
A variety of companies are rolling out channel programs specific to MSPs. This underscores not only the uptake of managed services in the IT market, it also reflects the innate difficulty of trying to address both business models in a unified program.

Webroot Enters Distribution Agreement with Tech Data

Webroot, a Colorado-based vendor specializing in endpoint security and cloud-based collective threat intelligence, announced a strategic distribution agreement with Tech Data Corporation.

The key component of the portfolio is marketed as Webroot SecureAnywhere Business Endpoint Protection with Global Site Manager, which will now become available through the Tech Data Cloud Solutions Store. The vendor also provides a management console that gives MSPs and resellers a hierarchical view of the endpoints under their protection, allowing them to go from a global view of their customers down to group and individual user views.

“With such a significant increase in cybersecurity incidents, MSPs and businesses are ramping up Internet security efforts and are quickly adopting cloud-based next-generation endpoint protection products from Webroot to provide protection across multiple domains, devices, customers, and offices from a single, centralized console,” said Charles Tomeo, vice president of worldwide channel and technical sales at Webroot.

Channel Impact
The new agreement should augment Webroot’s access to the channel, as well as provide additional value through account support delivered by the distributor.

Accenture and Splunk Form Alliance to Analyze Machine Data to Drive High-Impact Business Performance

Accenture and Splunk have entered into an alliance that integrates Splunk’s machine data mining products and cloud services into Accenture’s application services, security and digital offerings.

Accenture is expanding its network of trained Splunk practitioners in order to meet client demand for operational intelligence solutions. Accenture and Splunk are also collaborating and bringing to market new packaged solutions, the first of which integrates Splunk analytics into Accenture’s Managed Security Services. Accenture will provide Security Information Event Management (SIEM) As-a-Service to clients, using Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) to deliver advanced threat detection, correlation, search and incident management capabilities. Additional solutions may be tailored to various business areas including digital, marketing and sales.

“Our alliance with Splunk is another strong example of how Accenture is impacting our clients’ businesses with ‘new IT,” said Bhaskar Ghosh, group chief executive, Accenture Technology Services. “By mining and analyzing machine data from back-end systems, call centers, web traffic, inventory levels, shipments and more, IT can play a greater role in influencing business performance, not just IT performance.”

Splunk claims more than 11,000 customers in more than 110 countries.

Channel Impact
As one of the largest global systems integrators, Accenture will help broaden access to Splunk’s platform, thereby providing enhanced visibility into business operations while helping to grow market uptake.