Websense to double partner base

Websense to double partner base

The company has also announced a channel stratification program in which partners can be rewarded or demoted as per their performance

NR Sethuraman

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

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CHENNAI, INDIA: Websense, a company that has been in the indian market for more than four years, has plans to enhance its channel base in the country.

While earlier the company was working with a set of 100 channel partners this year they intend to double the number.

Refusing that Websense is keeping a low profile in the indian market, Timothy Lee, VP, APAC, Websense Inc said, "When we started our operations, we wanted to partner with those people who would understand the product and then sell it. We are constantly educating partners, as not many are aware of Internet security. This is a perimeter-centric security market and things are slowly changing."

Lee added that since last October, Websense had increased its product line and got into messaging and data security market through an acquisition.

"From a one product offering company, we now have different products to offer. This requires more partrners. Each partner need not sell all our products, so we expect our partners to have specific skill sets. That is why our focus is on improving the quality of partners rather than increasing the quantity," Lee explained.

Involving a limited set of partners will also prevent an overlap of services. The company would rather work with their set of partners and equip them with knowledge of specific product lines. Rather than focusing on the traditional security markets, Websense prefers to be in the niche segments.

"We believe that when it comes to security, it lies in protecting essential information. There are lot of players in the total security domain, however information security, especially web security and leakage prevention is a niche segment and we would love to be only here," Lee informed.

His idea is in line with the change in the form of threats, which are increasingly moving from the desktop environment to web environment.

Lee opined that the growing technologies such as Web 2.0 are a major threat for data and there is ample space for Websense in that area to cater to.

On the other India specific plans, he said, "We are launching a new channel partner program, designed to provide additional support and to double the channel community and grow further."

In the channel satisfaction program Websense will demote partners to a lower grade if they fail to perform.

"Based on their revenue targets, we classify them into Gold, Platinum and Silver. Depending on their competency level we do quarterly reviews to estimate their performance. We have an option called Fast Track, where a Silver partner can be promoted to Platinum level based on their performance, and the reverse can also happen," Lee informed.

However, he denied that this program could demotivate partners. "We want to work with those partners who are focused in business. It is still a motivation process, where according to their performance, they would be rewarded. There has to be some amount of scope for both of us in business and we will reward them for their performance. They inturn have to meet our expectations. This will also inculcate more responsiblities in the partner," he clarified.

Websense has a 24 hour security lab, which checks threats continuously. They claim to mind around 600 million websites per week and check their malicious nature. According to Lee, India is one of the fastest growing markets in the APAC region.

"Last year we grew around 100 percent. With our essential information protection strategy, we want to address multiple needs like data security, messaging security and also the special products addressing the SMB market. India is the perfect market for addressing all these products. While considering the other markets in APAC region, the SMB market in India is more matured and well established," Lee averred.
©CyberMedia News

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