Forescout hopes to be an attractive proposition to existing and potential partners

Colin Garro
Director – APJ Channel Sales and Alliances, Forescout

“We made a conscious decision to be relevant to partners. To support this, we decided we wanted to build fewer deeper relationships with Focus Partners and also our VADs.”  

Partners are a critical Force Multiplier for any vendor who is 100% channel centric. It is therefore important that there is a robust channel program for partners to be able to leverage that allows them to 1) get access to the resources they need to build capability 2) access to funding for them to drive marketing initiatives to help their sales efforts and 3) the incentives to reward them for driving new businesses.
 

Forescout’s Partner Connect portal provides its partners with development resources they need to build competency on its platform. This training is made free of charge to its partners. It has recently streamlined its MDF accrual process so that rather than tie it to one partner, Forescout has pooled it to make it available to more partners in the ecosystem. Rather than creating pools of unused MDF, Forescout believes making it available to more partners so that it opens up more opportunities for them to leverage funding for marketing. Forescout is also revamping its rebate program to create a more holistic program that rewards partners for more than just revenue but takes in all the positive elements of the partnership, i.e., investment in certifications, net new logos to name a few.
 

Forescout made a conscious decision to be relevant to partners. To support this, the company decided that it should build fewer deeper relationships with Focus Partners, (also the case for its VADs). As we grow the business in APJ, Forescout wants its ecosystem to enjoy that growth with too. This means that partners get a bigger piece of the market pie. This key decision, along with making all the partner program benefits freely available and accessible to partners means Forescout hopes to be an attractive proposition to existing and potential partners.