Palo Alto Networks Redesigns Its NextWave Partner Program in Shift to Platformization

In a major redesign last month, Palo Alto Networks overhauled its NextWave Partner Program, changing its focus to reward channel partners for continually growing and building new technical expertise and service offerings to stay ahead of competitors and better serve customers.

Under a new "platformization" approach, the vendor aims to guide partners to grow their operations by increasing high-margin, partner-led service opportunities, such as integrating their customers’ security stacks across the network, cloud, and Security Operations Centers (SOCs).

Previously, the NextWave Partner Program, like most other industry partner programs, primarily rewarded partners based on the number of sales transactions and billings they generated from customers.

“We are completely redesigning how we work with our partners to make doing business with us faster, simpler and more profitable,” Michael Khoury, vice president of global ecosystem programs for Palo Alto Networks, told ChannelE2E. “[We are] moving toward a self-service model that uses automation to approve sales deals instantly, cutting out manual bottlenecks and speeding up the sales cycle, beginning in commercial.”

The NextWave program changes were introduced to help meet the growing technology and services needs of customers, said Khoury.

“Customers are increasingly seeing the benefits of platformization and are working with partners who help them with end-to-end security while leveraging AI and automation to achieve their business outcomes and value realization at a lower cost of operations,” he said. “Partners who embrace the platform approach will unlock greater access, capabilities and benefits. Partners will be able to greatly differentiate themselves and have a predictable, repeatable and profitable business model when they lead with Palo Alto Networks.”

Feedback from partners around the world inspired and led to the latest NextWave Partner Program changes, Khoury said.

Among the enhancements are faster partner access to on-demand learning labs, enhanced support tools and automated deal approvals, as well as increased Palo Alto Networks commitments to engaging and rewarding partners for investing more time and effort into sales through the program. Also included are partner discounts, rebates and partner development fund availability.

“Our new program ensures partners have the competencies, capabilities, capacity and customer engagement to succeed,” said Khoury. “We provide clear guidelines across all roles, from business consultants and sales professionals to architects, delivery engineers and analysts. Our partners will have the necessary depth and breadth to better serve our customers and help them achieve the outcomes from our cybersecurity platformization strategy.”

Program changes aimed at MSPs are also included, Khoury said.

“With the redesign of the Managed Security Service Provider program, we look forward to expanding that segment of our ecosystem as more resellers and distributors invest in that model,” he said. “Our services partners now have more opportunities to expand their capabilities in delivering and supporting customer needs. We will continue to align with those partners who invest in developing skills, expanding their knowledge and growing their cybersecurity business with Palo Alto Networks.”

Keeping Partner Programs Competitive Is Critical for Vendors Today: Analysts

While partner program revamps regularly occur throughout the tech industry, the rapid flow of new AI capabilities is making updates even more impactful, Rob Enderle, principal analyst with Enderle Group, told ChannelE2E.

“With AI creating massive opportunities for partners and customer care, vendors are aggressively updating their related programs to hold on to their partners and customers,” Enderle said. “They are recognizing that if they fall behind, they will lose relationships that they likely will never be able to recover.”

The consequences have real implications, he said. “If they do not execute timely changes or if they execute them badly, they will lose partners. If they execute in line with their competitors, they will hold partners. And if they out-execute their competitors, they have the ability—assuming they market the benefits—to expand their partner relationships.”

Engaging more deeply with partners and ensuring partner success is one of the fundamental goals of any successful partner program, Enderle said.

“Often companies take their partners for granted, and in the current environment, which is extremely fluid, that practice will kill the partner effort and put a company at risk,” he said. “That makes investing in partner programs one of the highest-priority tasks, assuring not only success but survival.”

Another analyst, Shelly Kramer, principal analyst at Kramer&Co., said that companies like Palo Alto Networks gain from enhancing their partner programs through increased engagement and sales across the broad range of partners that work with them.

“Vendors are realizing that not only can they not reach and serve the entire market themselves, especially during times of economic insecurity, when scrutiny over costs is greater than ever,” Kramer said. “And the reality is that partners drive growth—significant growth—which is why we are seeing the trend of continuous improvement by vendors of their partner programs.”

For enterprise and SMB customers, working with channel partners is a major advantage for simplifying complex technologies, she said. “As tech products and services become more sophisticated, particularly with AI, cloud and integrated platforms, customers need more hand-holding,” Kramer said. “Partners fill that implementation and integration gap. Vendors realize they need healthy partner ecosystems to make their products successful in the real world, and compensating them well is part of the equation to make that happen.”

At the same time, there is a trust factor when customers get important services through channel partners, Kramer added. “Partners have typically spent years developing relationships and establishing trust with customers,” she said. “That trust is invaluable and something tech vendors largely do not have. Beyond that, partners can bundle solutions and provide consultative relationships with customers that a vendor’s inside sales team simply cannot match at scale.”