ForeScout Launches New Program To Empower Channel Partners

ForeScout Technologies, Inc., a provider of automation security control solutions, recently announced the worldwide rollout of its new ForeScout Access Partner Program for its authorized roster of reseller channel partners. The company currently offers solutions to worldwide Fortune 100 enterprises and government organizations.

The new program contains the foundation of ForeScout’s prior partner program, along with additional sales incentives, consulting services and a self-service interactive threshold for channel partners to aid in facilitating demand generation and sales enablement. Overall, the new solution is designed to empower resellers, systems integrators and service providers and in turn, successfully market and deliver services around ForeScout’s automated security control platform.

“The current trend in channel marketing is about streamlining the channel sales process and keeping in touch with partners using different communications vehicles,” Scott Gordon, Vice President, Worldwide Marketing for ForeScout Technologies, told Channel Marketer Report. “We questioned: How can we facilitate getting our sales teams to coordinate with partners to assist in deals or services when requested as quickly as possible? How can we keep our partners informed about changes to our product, sales strategies and security issues in a way that is pertinent and useful? How easily can our partners get the information they need and how can we obtain insight into what they require? How can we share our partners’ and their customers’ success stories?”

Although social media is a hot topic within the channel, an efficient solution with consistent support is the foundation of successful channel partnerships, according to Gordon. “While social media can be a good tool for some of these requirements, the fundamentals of supporting channel partners in the same way you support your own sales still holds true,” Gordon said. “I think having great product, useful tools, consistent timely support and an open dialogue with partners is as much if not more of an incentive as an occasional spiff or new communications vehicle.”

ForeScout’s Access Partner program also is designed to arm partners with information on access control, mobile security in correlation with its CounterACT solution, endpoint compliance and targeted attack risks. In turn, partners obtain insight on top channel concerns while receiving financial incentives, market development funds, sales and marketing tools, expert training and support.

“The program’s materials are more extensive to accelerate getting partner sales representatives up to speed with product use cases and functionality as well as to provide marketing support to streamline prospecting efforts,” Gordon said.  “The revamped professional services package expedites the means to wrap services such as installation, tuning and policy customization around the delivery of the CounterACT appliance or virtual appliance product.”

With a focus on enablement, margins and extensible services, authorized channel partners can gain access to features such as new and co-branded sales and marketing program materials, evaluation product and demo guidance and online deal registration. A new 24 x 7 partner sales portal also will be available to encourage interactive sales tactics and marketing communications.

“The demand for NAC (Network Access Control), mobile security and endpoint compliance tools is strong and we wanted our partners to be better equipped to protect and grow their business,” Gordon noted. “This called for restructuring margins around deal registration, adding MDF and better organizing our sales tools and service packages for our partners to leverage.”

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