CHANNEL CHIEF
MOHAMED ABDALLAH is Regional Director META at SonicWall , an American cybersecurity company that sells a range of Internet appliances primarily directed at content control and network security . Abdallah describes his management philosophy when it comes to working with channel partners as as a joint venture . He outlines here how SonicWall is developing its appliances ad network security business and engaging with the partnering ecosystem in the META market .
dDescribe your current job role and the parts that are somewhat challenging My role is regional director for the Middle East , Turkey , and Africa . I overlook the complete operations in the region . The challenge I ’ m seeing in my job is how I can keep always educating the community , the customers , and our partners about the latest cybersecurity trends and risks . It is sort of a fun challenge . However , it adds more responsibilities to others . The landscape of threats and cybersecurity risks is constantly changing , and we want to make sure our customers are properly protected and operate in a secure environment .
Our relationship with our partners is an actual partnership , so we can collaborate to help customers have the best of the best when it comes to cybersecurity .
Mohamed Abdallah , Regional Director META , SonicWall
Can you explain how your company works with channel partners ?
SonicWall is more than 30 years old , and we are a 100 % channel-driven company . We have 27,000 channel partners worldwide and around 1,000 in the Middle East , Turkey , and Africa region . Our relationship with our partners is an actual partnership , so we can collaborate to help customers have the best of the best when it comes to cybersecurity . SonicWall also has one of the oldest channel programmes : SecureFirst , an ever-evolving scheme that helps our partners become thought leaders and game changers in the world of cybersecurity .
How do you ensure channel partners flourish in a highly competitive market ?
The SecureFirst Partner Programme sees our partners enroll in two tracks , which lets them gain technical knowledge as well as make savings in their deals . The first track involves onboarding and education . SonicWall University – a 24m by 7 online platform – is where they can educate themselves on topics of security . We also have specific pre-sales , sales , and postsales education tracks , which help our partners collect points and fast-track their SonicWall certifications . Secondly , we provide our partners with the Protection Programme . As part of this , we enforce deal registrations as it helps our partner to gain more discounts . At SonicWall , we provide real protection every time our partners engage with their customers . Third parties continue to publish reports on how SonicWall helps their partners and customers in achieving the best ROI and TCO in the market .
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