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Dataguise, the data privacy protection and compliance vendor, on Monday launched the DgSecure Partner Program, the company’s first structured and formal channel program.

With the latest release of DgSecure (version 6.3), the 10-year old company is opening its business to channel partners. The current version of DgSecure, a comprehensive software platform for sensitive data governance, includes capabilities for meeting the Right of Access and Right to Erasure requirements in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as well as expanded support for third-party repositories and enhanced compliance monitoring. With the growth of the cloud, Dataguise recently has developed partnerships with AWS and Microsoft Azure.

Dataguise’s JT Sison

“That’s what is really driving our business today and the reason that we’re trying to expand and are welcoming channel partners into the fold,” JT Sison, vice president marketing and business development at Dataguise, told us. “It’s a big opportunity for the channel, for our customers and for Dataguise.

Enforcement of GDPR, the new privacy and data-protection regulations for any organization that offers goods or services to people in the EU, or that collects and analyzes data tied to EU residents – regardless of where that organization is located – went into effect May 25.

Today’s enterprises are under increasing pressure to secure corporate data in the prevention of insider and outsider attacks. Additionally, sensitive data governance requirements are moving organizations to take new measures to ensure the protection of sensitive customer data. Dataguise DgSecure provides an end-to-end solution that meets and exceeds requirements, providing channel partners with an expansive range of compliance-driven revenue opportunities, the company said.

The DgSecure Channel Program includes training and certification, financial rewards, incentives, software for demonstrations, qualified leads, sales-enablement tools, and MDF/Co-op solutions. There’s a portal where channel partners can access a Dataguise prospect management database for deal registration and marketing resources such as e-books, white papers, case studies and more.

The program has a two-tier channel model, consisting of elite technology partners who either co-market or package Dataguise DgSecure as part of the sales process, or integrators/VARs who sell to enterprises and manage the deployments.

Dataguise has created an account-management team to meet with partners and help with deployments and technical support. There are also dedicated professional services and support to facilitate sales engineering and other pre- and post-sales enablement.

The vendor will also make available sales-engineering support for partners to help enterprises standardize on DgSecure for use across databases, big-data repositories and file systems.

Sison contends that partners most suitable for the company’s channel program are those that currently have a security practice, have customers asking about GDPR or Canada’s privacy laws, as well a consulting capability.

“To be a good fit for our program, partners should be familiar with security because security and privacy are so tightly intertwined,” he said.

Dataguise also focuses heavily on four verticals — retail, health care, financial services and government. Partners with customers in these verticals are also a good fit for the new partner program.

Moving beyond the realm of large enterprise customers, Dataguise’s new SaaS offering makes it easier for smaller customer engagement, Sison said.

“There are a lot of smaller customers that have no IT staff and rely on MSPs to manage their assets in the cloud,” he added.