As a channel company, we can do better: Check Point

Security vendor aims to strengthen its security messaging in a increasingly confusing marketplace.

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For an organisation that is 100 per cent channel, Check Point has done a relatively “poor job” at it.

That is according to APAC VP, Steve McWhirter, who spoke about the security vendor’s channel approach during Partner eXchange in Sydney.

“We are a very proud technology company that makes good software, but we have not done a good job on enabling the channel on how to sell it,” he said.

McWhirter describes this as the “single biggest issue” the company is trying to address at the moment.

“We understand that most resellers are in business for themselves, so many will carry multiple vendors and technologies, but we’ve done a bad job of standing out,” he said.

When McWhirter looks at other competitors in the security space and their value propositions, he is often surprised by some of the messages they are pushing to customers.

One example he points to is the recent focus by certain vendor’s on “throughput” of security.

“The most important thing in security is not throughput, but being secure,” McWhirter said.

Getting the right message

In this environment being secure is seemingly being traded in for speed, McWhirter said Check Point has done a “poor job of articulating” where it fits into that discussion, and how it is enabling the channel to take the right message to market.

“If we did a better job at that, the channel would be better positioned to represent Check Point as a brand,” he said.

McWhirter adds that it would also put customers in a better position to pay more for the company’s services.

“Across the board, we’ve gone about the education of the channel in a ‘rear-end-first’ type of approach, and I’d like to see this rectified,” he said.