Check Point: Partners set for bigger payday

UK boss Keith Bird tells CRN new Star programme offers more generous blended discount than old metals-based scheme

Partners stand to enjoy a bigger payday from Check Point under its all-new channel partner programme, UK managing director Keith Bird has told CRN.

The security vendor today unveiled its Stars programme, which divides partners into four tiers and promises simpler and more generous rewards across product, services, deal registration and marketing development funds (MDF).

Its launch comes amid whispers that Check Point’s UK business began to fire again last year, with sources telling us revenues swelled at well above the market average to $150m (£99m) in the 12 months to 31 December.

Just 29 partners worldwide and two in the UK – SecureData and Bytes Security Partnerships – made it to the top, invite-only "4-Star Elite" tier of the new Star programme.

Talking to CRN, Bird claimed most partners will be better off than under the previous regime, which had a classic Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze structure.

“This isn’t the typical channel programme refresh vendors do every couple of years for a bit of PR. This is a very serious undertaking we started working on as long ago as 12 months,” Bird said.

“When you look at the blended discount – across product, services, deal registration and MDF – most partners’ margin proposition will be improved. If you look at deal registration, for instance, previously it was only open to net-new business and now we are applying it to all business.”

Partners were told this month where they sat in the new programme, Bird said, with most simply porting across from the equivalent rung in the old scheme.

Check Point has 191 UK partners but he said the goal was to recruit a further 40 in 2015 under the new Star partner programme, which he said is designed to help prospective partners move through the ranks quickly.

“We now have circa 100 people focused 100 per cent on the UK market, which is probably one of the largest resources of any dedicated security vendor. And we are expanding the channel team further – by four people – to help support the new partners coming into the programme,” Bird said.

“We are a mature business in the UK and are not in mass channel development mode. But, like most vendors, we are pretty under-served in the north and Scotland in particular and that’s an area we will look to further strengthen.”

John Gilbertson, managing director of Bytes Security Partnerships, said Check Point had taken time to listen to partners when designing the new programme.

"Many of the elements the scheme introduces are things which channel partners have been seeking for some time: customer protection, deal registration and increased freedom and resource in marketing from Check Point," he said.

Mark Evans, managing director of Check Point partner Integrity Solutions, said: “It’s too early to make any judgments [about the new programme] but we’ve seen big improvements in the way Check Point goes to market. It’s upped its game in every sense and has widened and improved its products in areas such as end-point and threat protection technology.”