SonicWall pushes India partners from firewall resale to managed security

The company is working to move its existing firewall-focused partners towards solution-led, MSP and MSSP models, while using its technology, partner programmes and recurring-revenue offerings to bridge capability gaps.

SonicWall is pushing its India channel beyond traditional firewall resale, with the cybersecurity vendor seeking to move existing value-added resellers towards solution-led security, managed services and eventually managed security services.

Speaking to CRN India, Patrick O'Donnell, CRO, SonicWall, and Debasish Mukherjee, SonicWall's VP APJ Sales, said the transition is not simply about adding more partners. The company is focused on changing the capabilities and business models of partners that have traditionally built their businesses around SonicWall's firewall portfolio.

Mukherjee said many of the SonicWall's existing partners have been working with the company for 20 years or more but have historically operated with a product-led mindset.

“Now, how can we help them migrate from a firewall value-added reseller to a cybersecurity provider? That's our journey,” he said.

The progression SonicWall is targeting is from reseller to solution provider, and eventually to MSP and MSSP.

“We are also migrating into that journey from a product company to a cybersecurity platform company, so we are taking them on that journey,” Mukherjee said.

For SonicWall, that shift is closely tied to changing customer expectations. Customers, particularly in the mid-market and SMB segments that the company targets, are looking for security outcomes rather than individual products.

Mukherjee said SonicWall wants partners to build the capabilities required to address those broader customer requirements rather than remaining focused on individual firewall transactions.

From firewall reseller to cybersecurity provider

The transition presents different challenges depending on where a partner is starting from.

Mukherjee said SonicWall sees two broad groups in the ecosystem. Existing partners have years of experience selling products, while newer partners are entering with services capabilities and a services-led mindset.

“Existing partners have a different challenge because they have been selling products for so many years, so they have a product mindset,” he said.

“Moving from a firewall value-added reseller to a cybersecurity provider is a journey which we are taking them through.”

At the same time, SonicWall is attracting partners that already understand the services business.

“Many new partners are coming with a services background. They understand services and are setting up services businesses,” Mukherjee said.

That creates a different starting point for SonicWall, but the objective remains the same: build a partner ecosystem capable of delivering security as an ongoing service rather than simply selling technology.

O'Donnell said the market itself is moving towards managed services, particularly among the SMB and mid-market customers SonicWall chooses to serve.

“The trend in the market is moving towards managed services,” he said.

SonicWall's partner model is therefore designed to accommodate different stages of that transition, including pure MSPs, value-added resellers and hybrid partners.

“There are many value-added resellers who see the value of transitioning to an MSP model,” O'Donnell said.

“That's where the marketplace is growing, and that's where they want to be. With SonicWall, we give them the pathway to get there.”

SonicWall profiles partners before moving them into services

SonicWall is also using its channel programme to determine how individual partners should progress.

Mukherjee said every new partner goes through a profiling and onboarding process to establish whether the partner is product-centric, services-centric or operating somewhere between the two.

“There is an onboarding process. There is a handholding process of around four to six weeks,” he said.

“During this period, we understand where exactly this partner fits. Is it a product-centric partner, a service-centric partner or a hybrid in between? We push them that way.”

The company has structured its channel programme around these different partner profiles, rather than expecting every partner to follow the same model.

“If you are a volume player, you are a product player, there is a different programme. If you are a service provider, there is a service provider programme,” Mukherjee said.

He said SonicWall is also trying to make its products and services easier for partners to sell as they move towards managed services.

“We are trying to see how we can productise those services so that all these partners can sell them easily,” he said.

For pure service providers, the company is also supporting subscription-based models.

“Those who understand the business can get into a complete subscription model,” Mukherjee said.

Skills remain a barrier to the MSP transition

The move towards managed security, however, comes with a capability challenge for both customers and partners.

Mukherjee said partners face the same skill set and talent-retention problems that their customers face.

“Customers would like to know what problems they are facing: skill-set gaps or the right skill set. The same partners are also facing the same problem,” he said.

That is one reason SonicWall is trying to reduce the infrastructure and operational burden involved in becoming an MSP.

Mukherjee said a partner moving towards a 24x7 managed services model would traditionally need to build the necessary skills and infrastructure.

SonicWall's approach is to allow partners to start delivering services using its technology, platform and resources while developing their own capabilities.

“Instead of scaling your infrastructure right now, we have everything ready. You develop our technology, our platform, our resources and start offering,” he said.

“In the meantime, you start growing and developing your skills through our offerings.”

O'Donnell said this approach is particularly important because many MSPs and MSSPs are already dealing with excessive technology complexity.

Tool sprawl becomes an MSP problem

According to O'Donnell, many MSPs have invested in multiple security tools and capabilities to the point where managing the technology itself has become a burden.

“A lot of MSPs today have invested in so many tools and capabilities that they themselves, as partners, are under stress because they can't manage it,” he said.

The problem also adds to operating costs and affects total cost of ownership and partner margins.

“They have too many tools, and managing those tools is becoming burdensome to them,” O'Donnell said.

SonicWall therefore wants its platform and management capabilities to reduce the complexity partners face while delivering managed security.

“Our philosophy is that we want the infrastructure and the platform that we use to help partners lower that complexity,” O'Donnell said.

He said SonicWall's tools are designed to be easy to manage and deploy while delivering security outcomes without adding significantly to operational costs.

That includes the company's unified management capabilities and investments in AI, which O'Donnell said are intended to help partners scale protection without continually adding staff.

For partners, the objective is not simply to add another set of security products to an already crowded technology stack, but to build a manageable services operation around the platform.

Recurring revenue becomes part of the transition

The commercial model is another important part of SonicWall's partner transformation.

O'Donnell said MSPs operate around monthly recurring revenue and SonicWall needs to support that model.

“If you're an MSP, you live in a monthly recurring revenue model framework,” he said.

“We have to be able to support that MRR model.”

SonicWall's Service Provider Plan is already designed around this approach, with Mukherjee saying the company's offerings are available through the plan depending on partner and customer requirements.

“Service Provider Plan is already existing, and all our offerings are part of the Service Provider Plan,” he said.

He said partners and customers want to move from capital expenditure towards operating expenditure, particularly as they adopt service-based models.

“A lot of international service providers want to renew their CapEx and get into more OpEx,” Mukherjee said.

For SonicWall's India channel, that creates a direct link between the company's partner transformation strategy and the changing economics of security delivery.

The longer-term objective is therefore not simply to increase the number of partners transacting on SonicWall products. It is to help existing firewall resellers build services capabilities, bring in service-oriented partners and give both groups a path towards recurring security revenue.

As SonicWall expands its platform and manages security capabilities, the company is betting that partners can capture more value by moving from selling firewalls to managing cybersecurity outcomes.