Check Point Calls on Partners to Get New Customers

(Pictured above: Check Point Software’s Dan Yerushalmi on stage at Check Point Software’s CPX360 event in Las Vegas, Feb. 7.)

CHECK POINT CPX360 — Check Point Software Technologies partners Thursday were challenged to be more proactive, develop new business with new customers and emphasize the company’s latest products.

This week’s CPX360 conference wrapped up with Partner Day. Check Point has 200 tech partners and 6,000 channel partners.

Check Point executives said the company expects at least 25 percent year-over-year growth in overall bookings, and that at least 15 percent of those should come from net-new customers.

Dan Yerushalmi, Check Point’s chief customer officer, said his company’s two main pillars are growth and partners, and the “opportunity is so huge, let’s get excited.”

“Our first priority is new business from new customers,” he said. “If you’re going to stay with the current base … you will see that you’re going backwards.”

Yerushalmi also said a substantial amount of existing business is being initiated by customers, “so we’re not being proactive.”

“If we want to be here for many more years, we need to be more proactive,” he said. “You are our ambassadors; you need to deliver the message to the field, customers and employees.”

More emphasis needs to be placed on emerging technologies, Yerushalmi said. Mobile has “huge traction and is a great opportunity to move forward,” he said.

Many partners still are focused on firewalls and gateways as big business, and while Check Point doesn’t want to “kill this business … the world is moving and moving very fast,” Yerushalmi said. He urged partners to “not just stay in yesterday’s world.”

Check Point’s Frank Rauch

Frank Rauch, Check Point’s head of worldwide channel sales, said a partner program “redo” will be coming in the next nine to 12 months and it will address “everything on your mind,” and “we’re going to do it together and we’re going to do it by listening to you.”

In the meantime, he unveiled the new Check Points Partner Program, which “gamifies” a number of partners’ most important activities. Partners will be able to earn and redeem points, and achieve various status levels, such as 4,000 points to become a “legend.” Customer meetings, planning and training days are among activities that earn points.

Partners can start collecting points on April 1 with enhancements and new incentives to help sell advanced technology, Rauch said. In September, the company will make Check Points even better, he said.

“I firmly believe in January of next year, we’ll have the best channel program [and] coverage model of any security vendor,” he said. “Thank you in advance for so much we’re going to be able to do together.”

Nathan Shuchami, Check Point’s vice president of emerging products, told partners they need to wake up “very hungry every morning.” Cloud, mobility and consolidation are areas in which Check Point leads and where partners can gain new customers, he said.

“But we must approach [customers] with very attractive value propositions that will address their most urgent and burning security needs,” he said.

Check Point has prepared three sales presentations that will be available to partners, Shuchami said. The first is focused on cloud security, the second on securing the mobile workforce, and the third on consolidating customers’ many niche security products into one monolithic, end-to-end application.

Partners need to focus on leveraging Check Point’s emerging products with net new customers, up-selling to their existing install base and closing Infinity deals, Shuchami said.

David Tumlin, senior security architect at Future Com, said Check Point is “doing what they have to do.”

“They’re in a highly competitive market and a very quickly changing environment,” he said. “They have strong competition. We have to adapt to whatever is going on in the marketplace and what’s going on in technology, so it’s up to us to decide what’s the best solution out there for our customers. This is a compelling story to bring in front of us.”

Debra Picucci, Northeast director of cybersecurity sales at Zensar, said Check Point’s goals are “absolutely achievable” and she’s looking forward to the coming year. She’s also looking forward to what Rauch does with the company’s partner program.

“The gaming program, not a big fan of games — so it really doesn’t leave a good taste in my mouth,” she said. “As a salesperson I like cash, so it will be …

… interesting to see how this plays out.”

Mike Kinion, senior account executive at BlackLake Security, said he’s always looking for new customers, so he’s looking forward to working with Check Point on new customer acquisition. He also likes Check Points and “being able to reward partners and move up the ladder.”

“And also rolling out those templates for presenting to customers that the partners are going after, it’s great content,” he said.

Also Thursday, Check Point handed out its annual partner awards. The following companies received awards: