RSA Security rejigs channel program

Nasdaq-listed vendor RSA Security has refurbished and relaunched its channel partner program with what it claims are improved financial rewards and tools for its resellers.

Sebastian Moore, Asia-Pacific vice-president at RSA Security, said the vendor had unveiled an essentially new SecurWorld program for its partners.

"It's a whole new program, in that we've completely changed it," he said. "We've changed the financial rewards and how we certify and authorise various partners and so on."

The vendor distributes via Express Data but was also seeking new partners. "We want more channel partners focused on security, specialised enough to understand our products," Moore said.

RSA Security used to divide its partners into three categories. Most would now be either Solution Partners or Access Partners and those categories would be defined differently, he said.

Some services would be free to Solution Partners but cost extra for Access Partners, Moore said.

Partners would be eligible for greater rebates if they jumped through the required certification and authorisation hoops, sold new products and acquired new customers, he said.

"They've got to bring in a certain percentage of their business as new customers," he said. "If they demonstrate that, say, 20 percent of their business comes from new customers, they receive a benefit for that."

Also, partners would be able to register deals as part of a new service. "We never had a deal registration process," Moore said.

RSA Security would also invest more in its online curriculum for sales and technical training. Meanwhile, a new partner portal would offer support tools and materials, including sales lead information, he said.

Moore said RSA Security did have a "direct touch" sales team but focused "100 percent" on the channel. Solution Partner margins of up to 36 percent via the new SecurWorld program would be available, he said.

"Previously, you were looking at around 30 percent," he said. "As for Access Partners, they can be potentially making around 28 percent, up from 20 percent."

Depending on the size of the business, either 10 percent or two staff had to be certified, Moore added.

"We are expecting to see growth," he said. "Last year, we grew our business 50 percent by revenue in Australia and New Zealand. We expect strong growth this year again."

RSA Security sells two-factor authentication, secure enterprise access and enterprise single sign-on biometrics products and software. The company claims to have some 17,000 customers worldwide.