Sophos wants to make it easier and more profitable for MSPs to build their practices around the cybersecurity vendor’s platform, launching a program today to move that mission forward. The new Sophos MSP Elevate program includes a single-SKU bundled MDR package, discounted networking hardware, discounts and rebates, and hands-on access to training and enablement.
“MSP Elevate is a business program that we’ve been working on for quite a few months now, and it’s really been centered around our partners that are committed to growing their business and building a practice around Sophos technology,” explains Chris Bell, newly appointed senior vice president of global channel, alliances, and corporate development. “Ultimately, we want to give them incentives and co-invest with them to help them grow that business.”
Bell, who joined Sophos following its acquisition of Secureworks, where he served as chief strategy officer, says every partner offering is designed around three core pillars. ”How can we make sure that our partners are growing profitably and align our incentives to help them do so? How can we train and certify them? And of course, how can we create new offers for them to cross-sell into their customer base?”
Wrapped around those pillars is delivering a seamless and efficient way to do business, Bell says.
A Look at the Tech Inside Sophos MSP Elevate
The Sophos technology available through MSP Elevate includes two bundles: an MDR package and a hardware bundle.
MDR Bundle
The MDR bundles Includes access to Sophos MDR Complete premium service tier with 24/7 incident response, 1 year data retention, Sophos Network Detection and Response (NDR), and all Sophos integration packs. This is available as a single SKU only to MSP Elevate partners.
Making it easier to procure Sophos technology is a request Bell has been hearing from partners as he travels the country, he says. “One of the first things I hear is, ‘Instead of 10 SKUs that you have to line item out, how can you create one SKU and provide in that one SKU the offering that we know will protect our customers?’ That’s one that we hear across the board. It was really the genesis for this MDR bundle.”
Bell says Sophos remains committed to an open approach. “We think the [MDR] platform will be the heartbeat of security operations day to day, because it will pull in all the controls that their customers may have into one place.”
Hardware Bundle
Offered at a discount of up to 40%, the “network-in-a-box” hardware bundle includes access to Sophos’ advanced network security solutions, including Sophos Firewall, Sophos Switch, and Sophos Wireless Access Points. Together, these products automate threat response and are managed through Sophos Central, a unified cloud-based management console.
Partners also want predictability, Bell says. “Our discounting approach historically has been based on volume tier or how many licenses you have procured in an aggregate level.” The network-in-a-box “will really provide predictability around the price model with a consistent discount if you’re part of Elevate.”
Training, Rebates, and Enablement
Other features of the MSP Elevate program include growth-based rebates to recognize and reward MSPs that increase their Sophos MSP monthly billings; training on Sophos Endpoint and Sophos Firewall; and invite-only access to Sophos Summits, where MSPs can access hands-on training and enablement and meet with Sophos executive leadership to influence the Sophos roadmap and MSP strategy.
To qualify for MSP Elevate, MSPs need to commit to a minimum monthly spend of $2,000 for a 12-month period, Bell says. As a pre-requisite to joining MSP Elevate, partners need to be part of the MSP Flex program, which enables MSPs to offer Sophos solutions on a monthly billing basis.
Sophos intends to continue the Flex program for MSPs that do not want to commit to MSP Elevate. “We want to meet our partners with where they’re at in their journey. So we recognize some partners may not be able to commit on day one to the $2,000 minimum or the 12-month commitment,” he says. “So we’ll continue with Flex.”
He adds, “Ultimately, we want more and more partners to have access to some of the cutting-edge technology and services that we have. So as we move forward, what you’ll likely see [are] both new offerings, and we may start offering new product features first in Elevate, and then we’ll bring them down to Flex. But Flex is not going anywhere.”
Enhancing the Partner Experience
Bell stresses that “MSPs remain really a critical partner for us.” Currently MSP partners have onboarded more than 250,000 of their customers with Sophos. “That’s been one of our core growth vectors as a business,” he says. “It’s going to continue to be our core growth vector.”
MSP Elevate is just one of the new partner benefits planned, Bell adds. “You’re going to see many more in the future that really stand behind enhancing the global partner experience around ease of doing business. Single SKU is a great way to continue to expand our partners’ routes to the market with new product offerings as well as new programs. And then ensuring that we align the incentives that we have in our business to our partners’ business objectives. We believe we’ve done this with MSP Elevate.”
