Iboss Debuts Partner Program To Drive Pursuit Of New Business

The iboss Channel Partner Program will have three tiers, deal registration, and consistently enforced rules of engagement, and solution providers will be incentivized to capture new business opportunities.

Iboss has rolled out its first formal partner program to help drive new business, boost customer retention, and support more channel-delivered service offerings.

The Boston-based cloud security vendor said the iboss Channel Partner Program will have three tiers, deal registration and deal protection, and consistently enforced rules of engagement, according to Senior Vice President of Marketing May Mitchell. Solution providers will be incentivized to capture new business opportunities through rebates as well as rewards for partner reps, Mitchell told CRN.

“There’s a big transformation occurring right now, where everyone is working remotely and from home,” iboss CEO Paul Martini told CRN. “These technologies will allow MSPs to modernize their offering.”

[Related: Cloud Security Vendor iboss Raises $145M To Further Grow Its SASE Model]

Iboss works with some 280 channel partners today, and Mitchell expects roughly 10 percent of those solution providers to be in the company’s top platinum tier, where they’ll receive an executive sponsor. Gold and silver iboss partners will be serviced through distribution, and Mitchell said iboss plans to lean on its distributors for recruitment as the company looks to build out more of a run rate business.

Going forward, Mitchell said iboss will be rolling out service offerings to partners focusing on architectural planning and implementation as well as status health checks and tuning. Iboss will provide incentives for solution providers to embrace services as the company looks to help traditional VARs used to selling gear shift to delivering services as well, according to Mitchell.

Platinum partners are expected to deliver new business with annual contract value (ACV) of at least $2.5 million as well as get at least eight individuals certified on iboss, Mitchell said. They should also be mapping out their objectives with iboss, generating annual and quarterly business plans, and engaging in outbound demand generation activities, according to Mitchell.

Meanwhile, Mitchell said gold partners should be delivering new business with an ACV in the high-$1 million range as well as getting four or five individuals trained on iboss. And registered partners are automatically enrolled into the silver tier of iboss’ program, Mitchell said. Roughly 90 percent of iboss’ business goes through the channel, with only a handful of very large customers opting to buy direct.

From a benefits standpoint, Mitchell said platinum partners have an assigned executive who’s involved in their strategic planning process and available should any issues need to be escalated. Platinum partners also have a dedicated channel account manager (CAM) as well as a dedicated resource on the partner marketing team, according to Mitchell.

Platinum partners additionally get pre-launch briefings and can participate in quarterly partner advisory council (PAC) meetings, Mitchell said. While all iboss partner marketing dollars are proposal-based regardless of tier, Mitchell said platinum partners are offered first access to key events the company is hosting.

Gold partners, meanwhile, are able to register deals and enter information through iboss’ portal, according to Mitchell. Iboss responds to all deal registration requests within 48 hours and promptly delivers a service level agreement (SLA) to the partner, Mitchell said.

Platinum partners are eligible for five-to-ten points of additional deal registration discount over gold partners, and gold partners get five-to-ten points more deal registration discount than silver partners, according to Mitchell, who declined to provide specific margin figures for each tier.

From a metrics standpoint, Mitchell said iboss is most focused on pipeline contribution from the channel and new business closing through the channel as well as customer retention through partners. Iboss is also tracking the number of solution provider personnel who’ve gotten trained and certified on the company’s technology, according to Mitchell.