Unified threat management and partnerships — making selling easier for the channel

When building solutions for SMBs, resellers have traditionally had two choices. Option 1: the reseller builds a solution using a single vendor’s proprietary products and features, which doesn’t always take into account the nuances of each customer’s needs. Option 2: the reseller builds a truly tailored solution using the best features of multiple suppliers, which can be complex, time consuming and expensive — in turn pushing up the price for the customer.

The good news is that now resellers can offer the benefits of a multi-vendor approach, without the associated complexity and costs.

Unified threat management (UTM) solutions offered by vendors have grown significantly in recent times as a result of partnerships between big-name security companies. The partnerships enable vendors to compile the best features of each vendor in one solution for the customer — cutting the workload of the reseller. The partnerships benefit vendors, resellers, customers and indeed the whole IT security industry because the end result is a cost-effective robust solution that is fit for purpose. IT security analyst Dominic Vergel has even endorsed UTM saying: “Enterprises should demand that their security vendors embrace the partnership approach.”

Now, resellers and customers need to look at vendors not just from a product view but also at a vendor-partnership view — particularly for SMBs where IT may be managed by non-IT staff. Simply, vendor relationships give SMBs access to products otherwise not available. The benefit for resellers is simplicity — the ability to offer effective training for staff with a single view on the entire security estate.

So if your vendors don’t have these partnerships in place, perhaps you should start looking elsewhere? In terms of what Zyxel offers, we partner with some of the best in the security industry to develop effective solutions for our customers — at an affordable price.