Alert Logic Debuts Inaugural Partner Program To Deepen Channel Ties

Alert Logic unveiled its first partner program, formalizing tiers and a discount structure to help land new solution providers and generate more business with existing ones.

The Houston-based cybersecurity vendor hopes to grow its partner base from 350 today to between 450 and 500 a year from now, and increase the share of business flowing through the channel from 65 percent currently to between 80 percent and 85 percent of new bookings, according to Chris Rajiah, Alert Logic's senior vice president of global alliances and partnerships.

"Our leadership team and organization is going to go with a partner-first strategy from here on out," Rajiah told CRN. "I do believe we can create a level of interest and opportunity for partners."

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The new Partner Connect program will separate Alert Logic's 180 reseller partners into three tiers by the end of 2018: Select, Premier and Elite, Rajiah said. Select partners must have more than $10,000 of monthly recurring revenue in new business (either a net-new customer or upselling an existing customer), Rajiah said, while Premier and Elite partners need to generate $50,000 or $100,000 in new monthly recurring revenue, respectively.

In addition, Select partners must land at least two new opportunities each year, according to Rajiah, while Premier and Elite partners are expected to rein in four opportunities or 12 opportunities every quarter, respectively.

In exchange for their loyalty, Elite partners will receive a base discount of 30 percent, Rajiah said, while Premier and Select partners qualify for base discounts of 20 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Solution providers regardless of tier are eligible for an additional discount of up to 10 percent for taking on more of the service delivery and support responsibility, according to Rajiah.

Solution providers will also be eligible for market development funds equal to between 1 percent and 5 percent of their total business transacted with Alert Logic depending on their tier, Rajiah said. The MDF component will be formalized and launched on Jan. 1, 2019, according to Rajiah.

Other benefits, meanwhile, are reserved only for partners at the higher levels. Elite and Premier partners will have access to customizable sales and technical training either on-site or virtually delivered, as well as specialty subject matter in-person boot camps, with more seats reserved for partners at the Elite level, according to Rich Long, vice president of global channel programs and Americas channel.

Long said solution providers at the Elite level will have exclusive access to quarterly business reviews, customizable sales playbooks, technical integrations with joint, compatible APIs, and assigned executive sponsorship with a member of Alert Logic's leadership team.

Bookings and new partner opportunities will serve as the most important key performance indicators for Alert Logic's Partner Connect program, Rajiah said, although the company will also keep an eye on other metrics such as average deal size. All told, the new program is expected to make partners more productive by aligning resources in sales, marketing and elsewhere around a single mission.

Cloudreach has been an Alert Logic partner since 2015 and now counts the company as one of its three largest ISV relationships regardless of technology, according to Tom Ray, head of global partnerships at the London-based cloud integrator.

Ray expects the Partner Connect program will provide Cloudreach with better clarity and more resources around support, tools and materials. Going forward, Ray said he would like to see Cloudreach provide better-quality resources as it relates to the people, training, help and support for the commercial teams.

"We're always found them to be open, supportive and collaborative," Ray said. "They've been delightful to work with for the past three years."

New York-based Logicworks, meanwhile, has partnered with Alert Logic for a long time around intrusion detection, log monitoring and Security Operations Center work, and considers the company to be one of its top security vendors, according to Marylyn Daly, vice president of marketing.

As a high-growth company, Daly said Logicworks will benefit from Alert Logic having a more defined method for going to market together. Being able to more quickly scale together will be mutually beneficial and make it easier to do business with Alert Logic, according to Daly.

"Having a more formal structure around [their partner program] is terrific," Daly said. "It's nice that we can scale together and that we have more definition around that."