Check Point pays partners to expose customer blind spots

Carry out 10 security assessments and we will give you £600, vendor tells partners

Check Point is offering its partners a £600 sweetener to help it carry out security assessments across its entire UK customer base.

The security vendor's i3D Security Reports real-time network assessment tool is designed to convince end users to part with more cash. It was launched globally last month.

UK managing director Terry Greer-King said there is often a mismatch between customers' perception of the state of their security and the reality.

"3D gives them insight into the state of their security and very often they are quite alarmed," he told ChannelWeb. "It is almost inevitable they will find bots and bad things taking place across the network, so it can really open the customer's eyes."

As an added incentive, Check Point has instructed its distributors to pay resellers £600 for every 10 3D Security Reports they carry out, irrespective of the outcome. Check Point's pre-sales staff will initially do the grunt work before passing on the baton to the partner.

Greer-King said his goal was to get as many reports done as soon as possible, with the ultimate aim of assessing Check Point's entire estate, as well as driving into new customers.

"The only way I can get this done is if the vast majority are performed by partners," Greer-King said.

"While it is free for the partner, if they wanted to charge for it or provide a consultancy wrap around it, they could do so."

He added that Check Point now has about 30 software blades to which customers may be tempted to upgrade, including its newest botnet protection blade. "We are seeing a lot of bots but customers aren't aware of them, so this is right on message," said Greer-King.

Niall McGrane, UK general manager at Check Point distributor Westcon Security, said his firm had itself recently begun carrying out security assessments on behalf of resellers.

"We have designed a similar scheme for one or two of our partners and it is a great way to get into new accounts," he said.