Good Technology's pricing getting better for channel

Secure mobility vendor says introduction of per-user pricing will open up lucrative mid-market opportunities for partners

Good Technology has undergone a pricing shake-up designed to widen the addressable market for its channel partners.

The Californian vendor this month launched a subscription pricing model allowing customers to adopt its core Good for Enterprise containerised mobile security platform, which covers iOS, Android and Windows phone devices, for £3.33 per user, per month.

Good Technology's vice president of Europe, Mark Coates, admitted that end users outside Good's core enterprise stronghold looking to roll out BYOD had often been put off by the vendor's perpetual licensing model.

"This enables us to take Good for Enterprise to a wider audience and the response from channel partners has been fabulous," he said.

Although Good ranks in the top right of Gartner's mobile device management (MDM) magic quadrant, it bills itself as a security mobility vendor. Coats claimed MDM vendors are confusing the market by claiming to offer secure mobility and represent a "sub-optimal choice" for customers sizing up a BYOD vendor partner.

"We manage the data, not the device," he said.

Good, which claims to have 5,000 enterprise customers, comes from a direct sales heritage and as recently as last year came in for flack from partners over allegations it was pinching registered deals and failing to hand out any leads.

But in January, the vendor made the decision to segment its salesforce, creating a strategic major accounts team and commercial sales organisation. The latter operates a 100 per cent channel model, Coates said. The firm, which was founded in 1996, has also seen an influx of new management, including the arrival of a new chief executive, Christy Wyatt, in January and vice president of channel sales EMEA, Stuart Brinicombe, last summer.

"There will be major global organisations that demand a direct relationship, like any other vendor, but our primary route to market, even in the major accounts, is the channel," Coates said.