Cloud-first security solutions vendor Barracuda Networks has updated its partner program to recognize how the channel is evolving. The program will recognize all the ways that partners work with Barracuda including VAR resale, managed services and buy-through cloud marketplaces.
In addition, the new Barracuda Networks partner program is global, Jason Beal, vice president of worldwide partner ecosystems, told MSSP Alert. Previously, Barracuda offered partners regionally based partner programs, and he said this is the first time the company has created a global partner program.
Some Background About Barracuda
Barracuda’s product and service portfolio includes solutions to protect email, networks, data and applications. The company claims 200,000 customers across its entire business. Beal describes Barracuda as “channel loyal” with 20 years of work with the channel.
Barracuda acquired Skout Cybersecurity in 2021. In 2020, Skout was a Top 250 MSSP that had developed eXtended detection and response (XDR) and security operations center (SOC) solutions for MSPs.
The Barracuda Partner Success Program Launch
The new program will recognize partners who resell Barracuda solutions for all the business they do with Barracuda, regardless of route to market. Partners will be provided with benefits and resources based on their total sales contribution.
Barracuda MSP, the company’s dedicated MSP business unit, enables MSPs to offer customers multilayered security and data protection services with the company’s purpose-built MSP management platforms.
“When we looked at our partner community, we have almost an equal amount of partners doing Barracuda MSP as are doing our project or sell-through work,” Beal said. “We have literally over thousands of partners that are hybrid, that are doing both, and hundreds are selling through a cloud marketplace.”
Beal said the new partner program’s driving principle is around a shared success model. He believes it’s important for vendors and partners to work together. The updated partner program offers four tiers, and these have been simplified across all the geographies where Barracuda does business. Premier, Preferred, Authorized, and Affiliate are the four tiers.
The new program also introduces something that Barracuda is calling a "certification for customer success," enabling sales and customer success staff to improve customer loyalty, drive higher customer satisfaction and increase sales.
The new program provides new resources. For instance, resellers will gain access to sales and marketing enablement with resources showcasing how hyperscalers (cloud giants like AWS and Amazon) can provide their customers with joint solutions.
Barracuda's "Partner Empathy” Philosophy
Beal said Barracuda is promoting a channel philosophy that it calls “partner empathy.”
“We put ourselves in partners’ shoes to see the world through their eyes, their go-to-market solutions, their customers, and when you do that, you really appreciate that... 'hey, they’re the ones out there that are responding to the customers’ different needs,'" he said. "They understand the preferences of the end customers.”
“Partner agility” is another program concept Beal believes is important. Barracuda’s partner advisory board describes the vendor management process as chaotic and challenging to offer the right solutions to end customers in a world of partner ecosystems.
“Our duty and responsibility in the new partner program is to allow these partners to be agile and offer these choices to their prospects and customers,” Beal said.
