Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs) are a vital component of a cybersecurity vendor’s partner ecosystem. When I wanted to learn how to build a best in class MSSP program, I turned to Stephan Tallent, VP of North America MSSPs at Cybereason. Stephan shares the details behind Cybereason’s new ‘Pay As You Grow’ program designed to nurture Managed Security Services Providers by providing greater licensing flexibility and reducing risk to the partner. This is a great concept that can be applied just as well to an MSP program. 

Here are 8 of the many things I learned from Steve about building a world class MSSP program:

Partner ecosystems are the new channel, so much so that channel chiefs are now taking on the name “ecosystem” in their titles. Andrew Habgood is the VP of APAC Partner Ecosystems at Red Hat. In this episode, Andrew shares how he’s building a modern partner ecosystem across the Asia Pacific region.

Here are 5 things I learned about Andrew’s approach to building a modern partner ecosystem in APAC:

Vendors, customers, and partners need an easier way to find the skills needed to implement and integrate multi-vendor solutions. That requires a next generation open ecosystem where all players can see and find each other. John Guido, founder and CEO of P2P Global, shares how partners are becoming ecosystem orchestrators and leveraging a P2P marketplace to find and team with other trusted partners with complimentary skills and resources.

Here are some key takeaways on fostering open ecosystems and turning partners into ecosystem orchestrators:

CompTIA is a non-profit trade association that provides IT channel education, training, and certifications. They also provide valuable market research on the IT industry and channel, which is where today’s guest, Carolyn April, comes in. Carolyn is the Senior Director of Industry Analysis. Each year she works on the IT Industry Trends Report, based on surveys of both IT customers and partners. This year’s report reflects strong optimism in the IT channel with some important findings for channel chiefs.

CompTIA’s 2022 IT Industry Trends report includes 10 key trends to watch.  Here are 3 IT Channel Trends Carolyn shared that you should be considering for your partner strategy in 2022 and beyond:

For SaaS vendors building a stream of annual recurring revenue (ARR) with low churn, partner experience and partner success are increasingly more important than partner transactions. And a diverse, modern partner ecosystem is more important than just attracting resellers with shiny tiers of higher discounts.  My guest today is Tim Mackie, VP of Worldwide Channels at Armis, a unified asset management, discovery and security company. Tim shares how their new APEX Partner Experience Program attracts, motivates and supports a modern partner ecosystem.

Tim set out to build a world class partner program that encompassed all of the different types of partners, and all the disparate ways they go to market, and tie them all together. Here are 5 things you need to do:

When you’ve got a horizontal platform, how do you provide customers with solutions tailored to their business? When you’re a partner looking to drive up your valuation, what do you do? Put these two needs together and the answer is partner IP (Intellectual Property).  Karl Fahrbach, Chief Partner Officer at SAP, explains how SAP is making a big bet on partner innovation, helping partners build, market, and deliver IP tailored to their customers.

Here are the top things I learned from Karl about partner innovation:

With all the talk around the modern partner ecosystem, we may mistakenly neglect an entire segment of the channel traditionally known as the Direct National Resellers, or DMRs. These national sales giants, like CDW, SHI, and Insight, have transformed their business models to look much more like sophisticated solution providers than box resellers. And now they prefer to be known as National Solution Providers, or NSPs. 

In this episode, channel professional Dwayne Owens shares what he’s learned through years of experience driving channel success through National Solution Providers. Learn why they should be an integral component of your SaaS channel strategy and how to achieve success.

Here are 10 things you should now about the NSPs and how to be successful with these partners:

In this year end special episode, I took a look back at all the knowledge shared by the awesome Channel Journeys guests in 2021. It’s always fun for me to listen to prior podcasts and remind myself of their advice that I can apply in my own role as channel chief. 

Here are my Top 10 Channel Lessons from 2021:

It’s that time of year when we’re mapping out our channel strategies for the new year, making our wish lists for what want our CFO and CEOs to approve, and what we want from our channel partners. And it’s that time of year when Jay McBain, Forrester’s Analyst for Channel, Partnerships, and Ecosystems, comes back to Channel Journey’s with his vision of the future. Jay shares his top ten IT channel predictions for 2022 and beyond. Find out what you need to plan for in building your partner ecosystem of the future.

Here are Jay’s Top 10 Channel Predictions for 2022:

10. Tech buying is changing, so is the psychology, behavior, and journey

9. End of the cookie

8. 76% of CEOs think current business model will be unrecognizable

7. The world shifts to subscription and consumption models

6. The embedded white label future replaces the SKU

5. Marketplaces accelerate the decline in resell

4. Marketplace taxation takes center stage (MSFT then Google lowered to 3%)

3. Distributor disruption continues (Are Distributors The Future Of Distribution?)

2. 72% of US tech workers are considering quitting

1. The ecosystem orchestrator becomes the new trusted advisor

We are all seeing the impacts of supply chain shortages, from empty shelves to higher prices on just about everything. I’ve been waiting over a year for the bike I want to become available, and it’s hard to find the parts to keep my existing bike in top performance. In this episode, Chanan Greenberg, SVP Corporate Strategy at Model N, discusses causes of the technology supply chain shortages, impacts on channel partners, and what you can do to best serve your customers.

Causes of the supply chain problems:

Impacts on the channel: