Bringing a Focused Cybersecurity Education to the Front Lines with SonicWall University
When the SonicWall community separated from Dell and announced our SecureFirst Partner Program 150 Days ago, we confirmed our commitment to 100 percent fulfillment through channel partners. Since then, more than 10,000 partners across 90 countries have registered as SonicWall resellers, including 2,000 new partners.
I cite these statistics not only as a testament to the global reach of SonicWall’s solutions but as a reminder of the heightened security landscape that causes businesses to seek out our partners and solutions in the first place. The cyber arms race intensifies every year as cybersecurity teams and criminals alike enhance their techniques for outwitting their respective opponents.
Because our goal is to outwit highly knowledgeable criminals, one of our greatest assets in this ongoing battle is cybersecurity education. Many small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) rely on our partners as IT consultants to help them put the technology in place to detect and protect against breaches. This requires our partners to maintain real-time awareness of the constantly shifting threat landscape, a tall order that our partners have filled laudably. Still, many have expressed a desire for more real-time focused education that would help them provide the best possible advice based on a complete understanding of today’s current threats and technologies.
To meet this need, we are thrilled to announce an extension of SecureFirst called SonicWall University, which will help us more quickly and effectively communicate insights we have gleaned from our Global Response Intelligence Defense (GRID) Threat Network to the partner community. Partners can access the SonicWall University curriculum through a web-based platform and will receive specialized training and accreditation tailored to their role as a salesperson, systems engineer or support team member. In addition to our own curriculum, we’ll be sharing content from trusted industry sources as well as our partners themselves to ensure the full breadth of current knowledge is being distributed rapidly and effectively.
Partners have not only requested cybersecurity education for themselves, but for their customers and prospects, who may not always have up-to-date information on how to protect their infrastructure. Today we unveiled a major marketing campaign to educate SMBs on the three most prominent threats identified in the SonicWall 2017 Annual Threat Report – ransomware, encrypted communications (SSL/TLS), and advanced phishing and other email-borne attacks. Partners can apply for marketing development funds and earn special discounts and rebates for using these programs, which they can access through our new SecureFirst Partner Portal. We have had great momentum for our partners.
“As a long standing partner and direct marketer of SonicWall, we are seeing great business acceleration since SonicWall’s independence and the new programs such as the SonicWall University. We are delighted with the restoration of the SonicWall brand and the new marketing campaign ‘air cover’,” said Hillel Sackstein, President of Virtual Graffiti, Inc, a Platinum Partner and DMR.
“As a SonicWall partner, our team has already benefitted from the advantages of the SecureFirst Partner Program. The technical innovation in the SonicWall offerings are built from the ground up to secure the customer and benefit partners. The new SonicWall University with on-demand courses, certifications and accreditations will be an excellent way to deliver increased expertise to our customers.” said Eamon Moore, Managing Director of EMIT, a SecureFirst Silver partner based in Ireland.
“As a partner in Asia Pacific, we are delighted with the enhanced access and investment of the new on-demand technical resources and courses SonicWall University delivers to our teams. Since SonicWall has been independent, we have continued to push boundaries and together we have built more opportunity. SonicWall’s excellent track record of committing to innovation and delivering on their promise to better protect our customers is something we can always count on,” said Cary Wu, General Manager, SecuUnion in Asia Pacific.
“The introduction of SonicWall University is a great initiative from a company that remains committed to supporting its partners’ success. It’s critical that businesses facing today’s level of cybersecurity threats are prepared with both the latest technology and, equally as important, the cyber skills to manage that technology. With SonicWall University we’ll be able to provide our customers with even more support in a time when businesses are lacking the required in-house security skills needed. Everyone on our team is excited to get started on the SonicWall University training and accreditation to further enhance our customer offering,” said Jason Hill, Sales Director, Security, Exertis.
I could not be more delighted to introduce these initiatives and to be a part of the SonicWall community making them a reality. To our exceptional partner base, we’re excited and honored to be part of your business strategy, and it’s our great privilege to take an even more central role in educating you on today’s current threats and solutions. As you participate in SonicWall University courses and work to educate your SMB customers over the coming weeks and months, I look forward to your feedback and ideas for improving these programs. It’s our central goal to ensure you and your customers have the knowledge, training and technology you need to have more business and less fear.
