Michael Herman, Matt Paull, Netskope

Michael Herman, VP of EMEA & LATAM channel sales at Netskope, stands out as a dynamic leader in the realm of cloud and network security, overseeing multi-million-dollar engagements. Tasked with cultivating success within Netskope's Evolve partner community, Mike and his team excel at enhancing partners' security and networking offerings. Their approach involves delivering technological differentiators, leveraging a proven track record of credibility, including Gartner's SSE 2023 leadership status, and fostering channel profitability.

As a key member of Netskope's global partner sales leadership team, Mike contributes significantly to shaping and executing the company's partner sales, experience, and programme strategies. His strategic influence extends to driving the incubation of new partnerships, innovative routes to market, and impactful go-to-market initiatives. With over 20 years in the channel, Mike brings a wealth of expertise in both channel dynamics and high-touch technical sales.

Prior to his role at Netskope, Mike held senior leadership positions at Palo Alto Networks, IBM, and Cisco, showcasing his enduring commitment to shaping the industry's landscape.

Number of years in current role:

3

Number of years in current company:

3

Number of years involved in indirect sales:

20

Reporting to:

David Rogers, SVP global alliances and channel sales

Does this person report to the CEO?

No, one removed.

What percentage of your sales come through the channel?

40 per cent.

Describe your personal channel philosophy.

My channel philosophy centres on fostering collaborative and mutually beneficial partnerships.

I believe in the power of synergy, where vendors and channel partners work together seamlessly to create value for both parties. Open communication, transparency, and trust are the cornerstones of a successful channel relationship.

I prioritise understanding the unique needs and goals of each partner, tailoring strategies to align with their strengths and market dynamics. Additionally, I emphasise continuous innovation and adaptability, recognising that the channel landscape evolves rapidly.

By providing robust support, resources, and incentives, I aim to empower partners to thrive and achieve shared success.

What were yours and organisation's biggest channel accomplishments over the past year?

In the past year Netskope has achieved some significant milestones. We expanded our route to market with the launch of our MSP programme, providing partners like Orange, Telefonica, BT, KPN, Proximus, the flexibility to craft bespoke solutions that drive incremental revenue.

We launched new sales training and enablement modules that mirror those that we provide our own staff, ensuring our partners' upskilling and ongoing sales training aligns with our own. Additionally, we enhanced the Prime Technical Program, with channel membership increasing over 100 per cent in the last 12 months. This membership growth underscores our partners' commitment to Netskope's platform and its integral role within their broader solution stack.

Notably, partners in the Prime Program close four times more deals than partners not in the programme.

Collectively, the changes we have introduced this past year have led to 40 per cent overall pipeline contribution.

How is your company working to build equity and inclusion in the channel?

I have leveraged my personal experience and knowledge to ensure that the channel team in EMEA/LATAM provides a balanced and diverse set of skills and capabilities to provide partners with suitable resources and personalities that best align to their business model. For example, early-in-career personnel working with partners who have early-in-career sales teams and consulting-led, more experienced resources adding value to a large consulting or GSI partner. Regular team meetings that create opportunities for sharing knowledge and best practices, improving feedback. "Netskoper" of the month awards to highlight team members who have gone above and beyond their responsibilities or expectations.

Creating an ecosystem whereby our staff and partner community feel valued, included, and empowered to do their best work and contribute to a shared cause, is embedded in Netskope's values.

We foster gender inclusivity through equitable incentive structures, ensuring transparency and fairness in recognition/rewards. We deliver inclusive enablement programmes, offering diverse learning opportunities to cater to different styles and cultural nuances for partners and staff. Our code of conduct encourages mutual goal-setting with partners toward furthering diversity and inclusion. We value our strategic channel relationships and welcome conversations around mutual goals to support these initiatives.

How is your organisation's market development strategy (MDF) changing this year?

We recognise the market is shifting, as such we're focused on optimising MDF flexibility. This enables our partners to collaborate freely, and tailor initiatives to their unique strengths, market demands, and customer needs. With an emphasis on collaborative planning, we're committed to a co-created approach to long-term planning and MDF. Our heightened focus on outcome-driven metrics also ensures the measurable impact of these investments on partner growth and customer success. The evolution of our marketing/MDF strategy underscores our ethos on partnering innovation and commitment to agility, collaboration, and maximising MDF efficacy for Netskope and our partners.

What are your top channel goals for 2024?

Improve partner technical skills, increase the amount of professional services going through partners, increase the amount of net new accounts coming through partners.

What were the key partner investments made over the past year?

We invested 100 per cent more resource, time and funding into our Service Provider Partners across EMEA.

We grew our investments and alignments with strategic alliance vendors including CrowdStrike, Okta, SentinelOne, Exabeam, and Mimecast.

We dedicated 50 per cent more time to enabling our partners through hands on labs and 3rd party proctored certifications.

We invested in and participated at key industry trade shows across EMEA & LATAM and invited (and had) our key focus partners to co-exhibit.

We organised and delivered 18 SASE Summits (our own events) across 15 countries working with our partners to host their customers.