Secureworks Debuts New Partner Program To Expand Reach

Just 9 percent of Secureworks’ $552.8 million in sales last year came through the channel, but the company is relying on solution providers to reach into new markets and address the growing demand for security tools.

Secureworks has rolled out a new global partner program to expand its reach in key geographies and verticals by further leveraging the solution provider community.

The Atlanta-based security company said the Secureworks Global Partner Program is a performance-based program that’s very simple and easy for the channel to engage with thanks to a lack of tiering and requirements, according to Chief Channel Officer Maureen Perrelli. The program includes both front-end deal registration incentives as well as back-end rebates once revenue thresholds are reached, she said.

“The more the partner does with Secureworks, the more they earn and the more profitability they take from that,” Perrelli told CRN.

[Related: Secureworks Goes Beyond Managed Services With New Analytics Tool]

Just 9 percent of Secureworks’ $552.8 million of revenue in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31 came through channel partners, while the remaining 91 percent was generated by Secureworks’ direct sales force, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). But as more and more customers ask for security tools, Perrelli said the channel will be needed to reach into new markets.

The new partner program includes rules of engagement to ensure opportunities registered by solution providers aren’t touched by Secureworks’ direct sales force, Perrelli said. The company’s internal sales force is compensated identically regardless of whether the deal is handled directly or if it goes through a channel partner, according to Perrelli.

Solution providers who bring and register an opportunity with Secureworks will receive an incentive, while channel partners who register an opportunity with a net new customer will receive an even larger incentive. Perrelli declined to provide the specific amount of either incentive.

Partners that hit certain revenue thresholds along with commensurate sales and technical training competencies will receive a back-end rebate, which Perrelli said they are eligible for from dollar one. Perrelli declined to indicate what the revenue thresholds are or the size of the rebates available to partners.

The training offers will be primarily focused on Secureworks’ SaaS application, Red Cloak Threat Detection and Response, the company’s Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services as well as the company’s incident response services, according to Perrelli. If partners want to keep their back-end rebates, Perrelli said they’ll need to continue progressing through the sales and technical training.

Secureworks’ main goals with the partner program are: building out sales and technical competencies, boosting engagement with partners after launch; increasing the number of partners that want to sign with Secureworks, constructing joint opportunities with the channel in the field, and building out more business via deal registration. Secureworks is working with about 300 channel partners today, she said.

“There are so many customers that are looking at security solutions for their business,” Perrelli said. “This program will give us more reach into those customers to meet their security needs.”

Carahsoft was been working with Secureworks since 2017 to help them understand the rationale and benefits of working with the channel and selling through partners, according to Eric Goyocochesa, sales director for the Reston, Va.-based company, No. 18 on the 2019 CRN Solution Provider 500.

Launching a new partner program with features like deal registration, marketing development funds (MDF), training and rebates will allow Secureworks to develop a more mature channel model along the lines of Dell Technologies counterparts such as Dell, VMware and RSA, Goyocochesa said. He said Secureworks can learn a lot from the success of those three vendors in the channel community.

“It’s good to see Secureworks getting in line with some of the other big players,” Goyocochesa said. “Continuing to push more of their sales through the channel is only going to incentivize their reseller partners to sell more.”