What did partners make of Barracuda Discover23?
CRN caught up with five of the security vendor’s channel partners while in Dubrovnik, Croatia for its annual partner summit
Barracuda Networks played host to more than 220 partners in Dubrovnik, Croatia last week for its annual partner summit, Discover23 EMEA.
Delegates heard from the likes of Barracuda's CEO Hatem Naguib, VP of worldwide partner ecosystems Jason Beal, and chief revenue officer Chris Ross on the vendor's latest announcements.
One of the biggest message to come out of the event was the unification of Barracuda's MSP and channel partner programmes.
To find out what Barracuda's partners made of this announcement and the rest of the event, CRN caught up with five MSPs and resellers to get their reactions.
Stephen Harley, technology evangelist, Bechtle UK
What have been some of your biggest takeaways from the event?
"The biggest takeaway from me is the forthcoming product roadmap which I think is exceptionally exciting."
What have you made of the event's announcements from a partner perspective?
"From a partner perspective we think there are some powerful new solutions that we think we can leverage to improve both the cybersecurity posture of our clients and write net-new business."
What's your view on the new, unified partner programme and how it can impact your business?
"I'll be honest and say I went into the event without any preconceived ideas of what we might hear beyond the more collaborative approach between core and MSP.
"The combination of these two partner programs really fits for Bechtle UK given the close association we had even prior to the acquisition of ACS where we used Barracuda XDR and the MSP services to extend our offerings. So this really works for us - we can't wait to build on the developments from Discover."
Click through to hear from Infinigate Cloud, Xeretc and MJFlood...
What did partners make of Barracuda Discover23?
CRN caught up with five of the security vendor’s channel partners while in Dubrovnik, Croatia for its annual partner summit
Michael Frisby, SVP of cloud services, Infinigate Cloud (formerly Vuzion)
Was there anything that you came to this event like wanting to hear or know more about?
"This is a relatively new partnership so everyday school day for me. So getting to know a bit more about the Barracuda services - XDR, we've gone quite deep, the email security and cloud backup products, some of the network security SASE stuff is really interesting.
"So some of those more advanced capabilities that are outside of what you normally see within the Microsoft wheelhouse are definitely of interest for me as I continue my own learning and taking that back into the business and saying there's an opportunity here to go and drive this."
What's your view on the new, unified partner programme and how it can impact your business?
"For us we're coming together with Barracuda because that's happening.
"Bringing MSPs into the partner programme and give them some of those benefits that the traditional premier and preferred partners have had within Barracuda I think it's a good thing.
"The unification, removing barriers, channel conflict, customers can choose which way they want to buy or the reseller or MSP can transact this way without any of this artificial barriers around that I think is ultimately a really good thing."
What have been some of your biggest takeaways from the event?
"The move to SaaS. So my business has been a cloud business since it started.
"For me, it's been about understanding Barracuda's strategy, where the company is heading, making sure we understand how to position that partnership better together is what stands out for me."
What did partners make of Barracuda Discover23?
CRN caught up with five of the security vendor’s channel partners while in Dubrovnik, Croatia for its annual partner summit
Lucie McSherry, vendor alliances manager, Xeretec
What have been some of your biggest takeaways from the event?
"Where we specialise with Barracuda is we are addressing the gaps in email. However, what we're seeing is actually they are really addressing the gaps in the broader network security and data security, which is the bit that's exciting me more.
"So things like the SASE market, we partner with a company called Cato Networks. They're a great partner, but it's great to see that they're native in SASE, it's great to see that Barracuda who aren't native SASE are going in that direction. That helps us because there's options and still plays to that platform play, which a lot of customers are trying to achieve.
"Because the trouble is you hear people in the market say everybody's going to a platform play, they want to consolidate vendors, but the market isn't always accommodating customers to do that because they have too often then sacrifice security, which is ironic because that's the reason that exists in the first place.
"One of my biggest takeaways is the innovation. In the email space, what's really excited me is they've got the contextual banners. In the email space we've got about five partners that we work with because again, depending on the customers' priorities we aligned to those that could be data, could be office 365 and the data security, Barracuda are so strong there. Some of the newer kids on the block don't really touch data, they focus purely on impersonation protection.
"With Barracuda now not only have they got their strong points, the areas that these other providers are strong, they're actually now taking over and developing their technology.
"The SASE play, that's hugely exciting, and also passwordless authentication. I don't think the market's ready for it. We looked at a technology for it about two years ago. Customers really wanted to have the conversation - as we all know passwords can be a big risk. But again, it was individual players coming to the market and then that meant that you're going against your strategy of a platform play and consolidation. So now that some of the platform players like Barracuda are offering that when customers are ready for it that to me is so exciting."
What's your view on the new, unified partner programme and how it can impact your business?
"To be honest, it was more that, obviously when you work with a partner, there's lots of parties involved and if people have different agendas that's quite difficult to manage.
"If an account manager at Barracuda has put a lot of work into an opportunity and has supported the customer on their journey of purchase, but actually, the core side isn't as beneficial to the customer as an MSP because they might want extra services and prefer the way that the service is consumed, it becomes quite awkward with the partner relationship.
"What we're seeing is, with the integration of the teams, it just means that you can put the customer first. You can align to exactly what they're trying to achieve and their exact outcomes and then not have the politics in the background of how it's distributed."
Was there anything left out that you were expecting to hear about? / Were there any announcements that surprised you?
"What took me by surprise is how aligned they are to some of the disruptors in the market. That has taken me back the most and left me feeling excited.
"When they say things like culture is really important, it will sound really corny, but one of the reasons we love working with Barracuda is because it feels like they go at a pace that isn't for their ego. They go at pace that's actually aligning to where they need to be from a market perspective. But they're doing it at a speed that doesn't cause any problems with over promising and under delivering.
"Sometimes you lose excitement when they're not bringing out lots of shiny thing but actually them taking time and delivering what they have to say, to me gives us confidence but then you get the excitement along the way."
What did partners make of Barracuda Discover23?
CRN caught up with five of the security vendor’s channel partners while in Dubrovnik, Croatia for its annual partner summit
James Finglas, managing director, MJFlood
What have been some of your biggest takeaways from the event?
"Probably one of the most interesting pieces was the SASE element.
"I think that that will be a big takeaway, and a game changer in terms of, while we might have services around networking I'd probably describe them as, light, from our perspective.
"So I think that could certainly help us in terms of utilising that partnership and I think the joining into a single pane of glass about the security and the network side is a very positive move.
"So we'd be very, very interested in pursuing that as an offering that we may add in the future."
What's your view on the new, unified partner programme and how it can impact your business?
"I think it's good because of the breadth of technology that's there. We've been focused on SOC SIEM services, but there's a huge amount of opportunity within that. So I think the unification is good.
"From a personal point of view, I probably would want to take it away and stitch it together as to what it looks like from an A through to Z, to pan out the solutions that we offer as an MSP."
Was there anything left out that you were expecting to hear about? / Were there any announcements that surprised you?
"Like all companies, Barracuda is evolving in terms of its offerings, and I consider that probably has a way to go in terms of giving that full view, and helping us to understand how we can bring those into our business and create more value for Barracuda and ourselves.
"At the end of the day I'm here to take back solutions that are profitable, that add to our business and our customers, and keep us remaining relevant as a market leader within that in the Irish market."
What did partners make of Barracuda Discover23?
CRN caught up with five of the security vendor’s channel partners while in Dubrovnik, Croatia for its annual partner summit
Pedro Garcia, head of software and cybersecurity sales, IDNS
What have been some of your biggest takeaways from the event?
"The announcement of security edge. The fact Barracuda are looking to implement other applications into their perception portfolio, the likes of Google Workspace, which big news for us as a lot of education customers use Microsoft and Google and trying to find that one solution because everything's quite difficult.
"That addition will help us consolidate the solutions we put forward to customers which will help them with their decision making and help them be more effective."
What's your view on the new, unified partner programme and how it can impact your business?
"We deal on the core side of the business. We don't deal with any MSP at the moment.
"The biggest impact that will have on us is, Barracuda and their teams will have more visibility of the MSP and the core side of what opportunities are looking on. So there's no conflict.
"We have come across some opportunities where we're trying to provide core licencing and other partners provide an MSP licence. There was no clear communication and it can be a bit of a conflict of interest, so that will help."
Was there anything left out that you were expecting to hear about? / Were there any announcements that surprised you?
"The Google Workspace announcement took me by surprise. I know it was on the roadmap but I didn't know it's going to be implemented soon."