Updated Kaspersky partner program includes new rebates, training and more MSP benefits
Kaspersky United partner program now offers a revised rebate system, extended training courses and more rewards for managed service providers (MSPs). The rebates become more transparent and predictable and cover more Kaspersky products and services. Training updates include new courses for MSPs, sales and technical specialists, and 10 new authorized training centers across the globe. MSPs now also receive higher rebates and simpler status progression from registered to platinum. The innovations come in alignment with Kaspersky’s channel strategy for enhanced partner education and support, strong focus on enterprise products and on MSPs.
The pandemic and post-pandemic period stimulated channel sales growth and increased customer demands in cloud, security and managed services. A global MSP survey confirmed that four out of five (81%) service providers reported an increase in their client base since 2019. With new tasks and increasing competitiveness in the market, vendor support can become that crucial element which partners need for their business.
In this context, Kaspersky continues to deliver important improvements to its partner program. Within the current update, monetary benefits are more aligned with the reseller’s own goals. Monetary rewards become available for more products, services and premium support included in the Kaspersky price list. This allows IT providers to earn more through selling a wide range of offerings. Partners can also earn rebates starting from Silver status and receive a progressive rate while moving to the next Gold and Platinum levels. The rate also depends on which solution the sold product belongs to: the initial reward is for Kaspersky Security Foundations, it increases for Kaspersky Optimum Security and reaches the maximum at Kaspersky Expert Security solution. The program also allows for a single sales target. A partner can be more flexible in its priorities and sell any mix of products – they all are accounted for in one target.
Updates in education help IT providers become savvier in the Kaspersky portfolio and its new products, deploy and provide high-profile customer support. They include the revamped onboarding program for MSPs that simplifies status acquisition, as well as new profound product courses including Kaspersky Managed Detection and Response, Kaspersky Secure Remote Workspace. For pre-sales and tech support experts, Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity and Kaspersky EDR Optimum technical courses with hands-on labs are now available within authorized training centers. The number of such centers for specialized technical education also increases globally, with two new already opened in Middle East and Africa and a few more to be opened in APAC, Europe, Latin America and Africa by the end of 2022.
Kaspersky United also empowers managed service providers with an increase in rebate rates for products included in the MSP program. These are such offerings as, for example, Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud, Kaspersky Endpoint Detection and Response, Kaspersky Managed Detection and Response service, Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity and many more.
To help MSPs advance through from registered to silver, gold and platinum status faster and get more privileges with each level, Kaspersky introduced 5x multiplier for MSP subscription sales. It means that a partner’s sales of subscriptions multiply five times allowing them to reach the target for the next status.
“With this update, we were keen to make the scheme of monetary benefits as simple as possible: a partner sells something according to their priorities – we count it. Rewards should encourage existing partners to expand their sales focus and look more towards enterprise market, including products from the Optimum and Expert Security portfolios. The benefits are also very attractive to new partners, as well as to MSPs in alignment with our strategic channel development priorities. We continue investing heavily in our channel and rely on our partners for Kaspersky’s business development,” comments Ivan Tolok, Head of Channel at Kaspersky.
