Expanding its partner base in India through deepened engagement

Jitendra Ghughal 

Senior Director – Channel Management, SAARC, Fortinet 

Fortinet's channel business in India has not only flourished but also evolved with a vibrant partner ecosystem. It is dedicated to nurturing strong bonds with its partners—both traditional and new-age—to foster collective advancement and triumph in the cybersecurity domain.

When it comes to the channel ecosystem, Fortinet’s goal within India is to bolster relationships through a tiered partner system, which not only categorizes partners into four levels but also motivates persistent business development.

“We are committed to nurturing the advancement of our partners, recognizing that there's a wealth of growth opportunities as they move up within our partner structure,” says Jitendra Ghughal, Director Channel Management, India & SAARC, Fortinet. “We plan to expand our footprint throughout the different levels of partners in the Indian market. The milestones we are hitting in terms of partner distribution affirm the effectiveness and benefits of ascending through the ranks of Fortinet's Engage Partner Program.”

Fortinet's commitment to delivering integrated solutions characterized by swift threat response times has been met with enthusiastic demand, propelling its market share growth to surpass 50% in recent times.
“While we continue to rely on the cornerstone of traditional partners, including sellers, distributors, resellers, VARs, and VADs, we have observed a substantial rise in the role played by new age partners such as global service providers and SaaS providers. Our partnership strategy is centered around aligning with partners' business models—whether integrator, MSSP, or cloud—tailored to meet customer needs and strategic objectives. We encourage specialization in key areas such as SD-WAN, SecOps, or OT, recognizing the substantial growth potential and the value of specialized cybersecurity solutions,” explains Jitendra.

ENABLING & CERTIFYING PARTNERS

Fortinet is dedicated to further expanding its partner base in India. It aims to deepen engagement, encouraging partners to advance through the levels by adhering to its certification guidelines and aligning their business models to enhance their growth potential and the quality of service provided to customers. The company is expanding its team dedicated to partner engagement and increasing investments in additional support resources.

Specialization, particularly in Unified SASE, Operational Technology is a key area of focus for partners in 2024, with significant growth opportunities expected. Fortinet is also observing increased commitment from partners in certifying and training their personnel in Unified SASE. The other arear of focus is to onboard more partners interested in maximizing revenue potential from services and technical support.
Additionally, Fortinet is looking to collaborate with Managed Security Service Provider partners adopting flexible consumption models. There is also an expected surge in partners embracing SecOps as a critical area for growth. Fortinet aims to closely collaborate with selected partners to deliver state-of-the-art OT security solutions, tailored to the specific needs of customers requiring integrated OT/IT security.