Fortinet all set to consolidate now

After doubling their strength from 100-odd partners to 350 channel partners, network security leader Fortinet is all set to consolidate their entire channel base in the country.

Speaking to ‘The DQ Week', Vishak Raman, Senior Regional Director for India and SAARC, said, "We had penetrated on the channel more deeply and had expanded across the country. Two schemes that were introduced by us on deal registration and direct promotion which were believed the most-preferred incentive scheme for partners were very successful and partners can access those schemes through our forti rewards club in the portal." "We had even reached deeply into the tier-2 towns of the country and now we are keen on consolidating the partners. Just signing for name sake will not add value for either ends", Raman added.

Questioning about the general belief among the partners that Fortinet's connect towards the partners had gone down, he said, "I do not agree with that. There may be few cases where we have to look on both ‘pull-and-push', we looked both on the aspects of a channel partner and a CIO. But it does not mean that we had forgotten the channels completely. We had unveiled offices in locations like Kochi, Kolkata, Kochi and Pune and soon may have an office in Chandigarh. Those deals from those locations are mostly channel-driven and we organized a partner advisory council in Goa." Raman also added that there were four new account managers appointed which means that Fortinet is always keen on bagging deals through channels. 

Speaking on the latest concept where the individual devices becoming internet hotspots, he said, "With many organizations adopting to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), we think that there is a key role for a security vendor like us. Our technology is not device-centric but network-centric and also each transmission is monitored clearly and reports are generated every now and then with strict access control", he said further adding that the focus for the vendor is on BFSI, Government and Telco. "We are also planning to expand more in East and our focus states are going to be the upcountry markets in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh", he concluded.