‘Agents will reproduce human behaviour, even mistakes’: Proofpoint leaders on agentic AI transformation
Stan de Boisset and Kent Breaux discuss the opportunities and changes brought by agentic AI, partner programme updates, and AI bubble burst
During Proofpoint Protect’s London edition last week, senior leaders from the vendor firm presented firms across the channel with the latest technology updates, and how these could be used to drive growth.
Stan de Boisset, SVP of worldwide partners at Proofpoint, tells CRN he expects enterprises to use AI agents everywhere.
“We assume that today, around 30 per cent of enterprises use some form of [agentic AI]. In the next three years, we expect around 90 per cent of enterprises will use agents somewhere.”
These agents, he notes, will behave in very similar ways to humans, based on what have been trained to do.
But this also includes mistakes.
“Treating them as a new collaborator, with access to data and the same tools, means we must make sure we protect all our assets,” de Boisset highlights.
“We want to make sure that every interaction going on with anybody is secure - and that’s what we provide today to our customers.”
Kent Breaux, the company’s SVP EMEA, says that Proofpoint differentiates itself from other cyber competitors across different points.
“First, the data we have from our global customer network makes our systems smarter. Our AI and threat data give us the best efficacy.
“Customers buy email security to keep bad stuff out, and we let in the least amount of threats.
“Second, we provide customers with valuable data insights, who the most attacked or vulnerable users are, based on behaviour. That helps them reduce risk significantly by focusing on the right people.
“Lastly, the data and telemetry we produce also help partners like CrowdStrike and Microsoft, because we share that information to enhance defence in depth.”
But as concerns about an AI bubble are looming, the execs believe the business’ offering can overcome potential challenges
“For us, [Ai] is real and actionable. As AI agents proliferate, new threats will emerge, and we’re already building solutions to protect them,” says de Boisset.
“Partners will also play a critical role in guiding customers through AI adoption, helping them mitigate risk while implementing new AI tools safely.”
Partner programme updates
The organisation is updating its channel track to reflect its current focus.
“We are coming up with a really new narrative around that, called Proofpoint Partner Economics, to really change the narrative with our partners,” explains de Boisset.
“My ambition is to become the number one cyber vendor for our partners in both growth and margin.”
The business will introduce new tiers, along with changes to front-end margin, back-end margin, and incentives to reps.
The vendor is also doing extra investment around data security, to support collaborating firms to jumpstart the investment and help customers quickly add on the technologies.
Details around the new structure will be released around January, but de Boisset says Proofpoint will have technologies that are commoditised and that every customer, whether SMBs or enterprise, will need.
“We want all the small and mid-partners to be able to have access to it,” he says.
“At the same time, we’re becoming super specialised in what we offer.
“For example, in the agentic world, we’re asking our partners to become specialised in helping customers move into this space.
“For that, we’re creating a new, more elite tier that will have more benefits and more incentives, to really fast-track investment with our partners as well.”
While de Boisset would not discuss specifics, he adds that the company is coming up with new programme investments, which will crystallise into a track where the higher partners go, the more benefits they’ll receive.
He acknowledges that the channel model implementation “hasn’t always been consistent or fully applied everywhere,” but that Proofpint intends to go with “one programme, one structure, one set of benefits, and one set of requirements” around the world moving forward.
“The requirements you have in Poland might differ from those in North America in terms of revenue bands or certifications, but the benefits and structure will be the same.”
Education will be a core tenet to Proofpoint’s framework, Breaux tells CRN.
“Security is a very loud market; lots of vendors, lots of noise. Partners have choice, but also confusion.”
He notes that the cyber firm spends enormous time and investments so collaborators who go to market with Proofpoint have everything they need, from training to enablement.
De Boisset adds that these updates happen as partners’ expectations are shifting; they are not just reselling or offering services, but rather guiding customers on how to adopt AI, create policies, and navigate new challenges.