Panzura Freedom Lifts Company’s Partner Program Prospects

… the channel.

“With every deal, we try to put as much as possible through a channel partner,” Stelfox said. “I’ve done this before. I came out of Zebra and learned that lesson.”

Now, with Stelfox at the helm, and the company still facing an unprecedented global event, Panzura remains focused on over-communicating with partners.

“It’s a lot of Zoom calls and webinars, group meetings, to try to get people up to speed,” Stelfox said. “People are looking at [Freedom] now for a remote workforce. Their workers have to get to whatever they need whenever they need it.”

In fact, COVID-19 has created a boon, at least for Panzura.

“Last quarter we had our biggest quarter ever, we sold our biggest deal ever, and we had the most productive partner ever,” Stelfox said. “All the firsts literally came in the middle of a pandemic, and it just shows you the time is right for this kind of solution, which is why we love the Profile investment.”

Panzura resellers include World Wide Technology, Technologent, CBTS and Sirius, among several others. Channel Futures also reached out to some Panzura partners for comment on the recent acquisition but got no responses.

‘Invested for the Long Haul’

Partners like to know that the companies they team with will be around for years to come. Stelfox says not to worry.

“The cool thing about this acquisition is Profile Capital Management is a family office,” Stelfox said. “It’s one individual, Ben Chereskin, and there’s no time limit on the money. Unlike others in the space with private equity or venture capital money, that all times out. We don’t have that issue. …He’s invested for the long haul.”

Even better, Stelfox added, Chereskin, who in February left CDW’s board, “is a big proponent of the channel. … He loves the space and cloud and channel.”

Chereskin spoke of his belief in Panzura in a May 8 press release.

“Now’s the time to invest in cloud storage, and Panzura…is the right company to invest in for rapid growth,” he said. “We are convinced that Panzura’s market trajectory will accelerate as businesses adjust to the new normal of remote working.”

Chereskin is so sure of that, in fact, that he went through with the deal even as state COVID-19 restrictions loomed.

“We turned over the letter of intent three days before California shut down,” Stelfox said. “[Chereskin has] been through many downturns — this is not his first.”

It’s not Stelfox’s first downturn rodeo either, and that gives her reason for optimism in an otherwise challenging time. Still, she said some aspects of the realities of 2020 cause some angst.

“The toughest part is the lack of in-person communication with employees and partners,” she said. “It makes me sad; I’m a people person.”