Hey channel insiders, I'm your host Katie Bavoso and welcome to this episode of Partner POV brought to you by Proof Point and Ingram Micro. MSPs and solution providers have enough to worry about when it comes to taking care of their customers cyber security needs. That's why Proof Point and Ingram Micro have partnered together to make providing security solutions easier, faster, and more scalable for US-based channel partners through the Ingram Micro Advantage platform.
I'd now like to welcome my guests today to tell us more about this. We have Sheri Rhodess, vice president of America's channel and partner sales at Proof Point, and Eric Cole, vice president of global vendor engagement, security, and networking at Ingram Micro. Welcome to both of you. Thank you. It's great to be here. Thanks, Katie. Great to be back. Thank you. Great to have you both and great to see you again for sure. So, Eric, Sherry, your respective companies recently announced that channel partners can now deliver Proof points security solutions at scale through the Ingram Microex advantage platform.
It's very exciting news, but Sherry, why don't you tell us what does this mean for channel partners overall? Yeah, so what's exciting about this? It means for the first time ever partners can go and quote sell an order without having to come to Proof Point first. So, we've set up a platform experience where they can selfservice our commercial products here at Proof Point, and it's the first of anything we've ever done along this lines to make it really efficient and effective for them to help address some of their customers most urgent security needs with Proof Point and Ingram.
That is really cool news. So Eric, I'm going to have you build on top of that for us because Ingram Micro is one of the largest technology distributors in the world. How does this partnership make accessing and provisioning Proof Point solutions faster and more scalable for channel partners? Yeah, so I think uh any salesperson will agree that time is money and it's super important. Um I don't know if you know this, but it takes about 3 days for a rocket to reach the moon.
It shouldn't take three days to be able to get a quote or a deal registration through the system. It's not that complicated. But over time, there's been a number of processes and things that slow that down and actually make it faster to fly to the moon. But with what we've built together, we're really simplifying and speeding up the entire process. And with the Xvantage platform, we've automated so many of the quote to cache functions ultimately so that the sellers can focus on what they do best, which is selling, and leave some of that transactional work behind to spend more time and more energy selling.
I did not know it takes 3 days for a rocket to get to the moon. Sher, did you know that? I was not familiar with that stat, but it doesn't surprise me. Eric is full of statistics. That's right. 240,000 miles away. It should be faster to generate a quote. All right. So, what we're learning today is more about the advantage program. We're learning more about Proof Point and we're learning that you want Eric on your team at trivia night at your local pub.
So, we'll all remember that for sure. Thanks so much for that, Eric. Sherry, we're going to go back over to you now. Proof Point is the first security SAS company to embrace this style of self-service model that the Ingram Micro Advantage platform is built around. So tell me why does proof point integrate well with that model and how will this ultimately benefit the customers utilizing your solutions? Yeah, so I would say the reason why we integrate so well with this model is because of our partnership with Ingram.
Ingram's helping us solve a business process problem that we have. You know, we identified an opportunity where in order to automate and accelerate the experience for partners, we needed a strong technology platform solution to do that. Ingram stepped up to the plate to make that happen for us. So, you know, the nature of the partnership is is why that's the case, but they've also invested pretty significantly in a number of areas um to help the partner have a good experience ultimately for the customer to have a good experience.
So they are certified to deliver services um deploying our email protection solutions to ensure that customers have a quick experience time to value in the investment that they've made and partners can count on them for that. They've also helped develop a whole series of awareness and enablement efforts for partners so they could better understand the products that they have accessible through Xvantage. So just a number of things all around the partnership that has made it the right model for us.
Ultimately, this is going to make it faster and easier for customers to realize the benefit of a Proof Point investment. And that's what we're all about. I I mean, at the end of the day, for for Proof Point, Ingram as our, you know, strategic distributor and all of our partners out there who are providing these solutions, it's how do we give customers a great experience as quickly as we can and they're helping us accomplish that. Such a great point, Sher, because I think at the end of the day, it's the humans behind the technology and the people that are ultimately utilizing it in their day-to-day lives that are the ones we have to make sure are taken care of.
So, I think you really highlight some great points there. Yeah. And Katie, you are playing to what Proof Point is all about. We are the largest dedicated company focused on human centric security and that means a way how we solve problems for our customers. But what's exciting about this is we're also finding ways of leveraging technology to help the people in our business be successful with their customers. Thank you so much for that, Sher. Eric, let's head back over to you because this question is really important to really highlight the exclusivity of such a partnership like this with Ingram Micro.
What benchmarks did Proof Point have to meet for this expansion to actually happen? Well, I guess in in terms of benchmarks first, um we are celebrating our 10th anniversary as business partners here in 2025. So, it's been an incredible journey along the way to see where the business has become and I think what we've built is just a testament to the strength of this partnership which Sherry obviously alluded to, right? It's trust, it's accountability, and then we've got just meaningful relationships from the seauite um down and into each other's organizations.
And you know this whole thing kind of started you know some time ago where we sat down together as a collective team and just started kind of whiteboarding what are the pain points that we can go solve together. Not only that but then how can we go build something to go do it faster and easier together. And really what we're talking about is the art of what's possible with this platform because we do talk a lot about the quote to cache and automating some of the processes and that is super important but also it's about how do we take these tools and the resources and the platform to go drive sales together and the investments we've made into our people and to the teams to go and ultimately deliver this together into the market.
So, I think that's what's been super exciting about where we are today from where we started, you know, some time ago. So, Eric, with these new opportunities, what does this partnership present to Ingram Micro solution providers who may not have sold Proof Point solutions before? Well, I I would have to joke, wow, you haven't sold Proof Point before. Um but um but look it's a great opportunity because again obviously with the platform but above and beyond the platform with the people that we have supporting this business you know we are the channel easy button to partner with proof point.
We've got a very comprehensive relationship which Sherry touched upon about our ability to deliver trainings and technical enablement and assessments and ultimately building the right solutions that they can sell to their clients. So maybe if they haven't sold Proof point before, but maybe they're also operating in the ecosystem of their alliance vendors, Sentinel One or Octa or PaloAlto Networks. And we actually have built an integrated lab where we can bring those technologies together and show that partner how these all fit so nicely together to help solve that, you know, whatever that cyber security challenge is.
And the last point I would make is we can help somebody who's never sold Proof point before look like an expert to their client from day one because we are we act as an extension of the proof point team and we want to relay that to our partners that are buying these technologies from Ingram Micro. And Sherry, I really want to continue to drill down into who benefits from the evolution of this partnership. What can existing proof point partners take away from this announcement?
I would say it's important for our existing partners to know that we listened. So we heard for many years how challenging it was to get a quote from Proof Point and you know as we started to investigate what what was the right way to solve for that the solution came to us via our partnership with Ingram. So I think it's important for partners to take away the fact that we listened and we took action. But what's especially exciting is all the opportunity they have to go fast to get in front of their customers and you know to deliver a worldass security solution to their customers.
Sherry this gotomarket relationship between proof point and Ingram Micro is now officially live but it has been available in a limited capacity since December of 2024 while the teams brought it up to speed. What's the reaction been like? Can you share any examples with me? Yeah, I think the best example I can share with you is a conversation we had with one of our sales reps who experienced the first order via XVantage. And we of course were very excited about it and we asked this sales rep if they wouldn't mind sharing their experience to their peers. every Monday we do a stand-up call across this particular part of the sales organization and they they give examples win wires success stories etc.
And his first response was I'm not really sure what to say because I didn't have to do a lot of the stuff I used to have to do and it was easy. I literally got an opportunity from a partner, had a conversation with them, helped them understand how to talk to the customer, and within a matter of days, they placed the order. So, you know, that example and that first success story for us is exactly what we want to continue to rinse and repeat in our organization because it allows our sellers to focus on the relationships they have with our partners as well as their customers.
It gives the partner a really good experience of how Proof Point can be partner first, can support them in how they're looking to work with their customers. And the ultimate end result is the customer gets the kind of security protection that they're working for. So that is just one example of I think it's a little bit of awe happening right now within our organization. People are wow this is working. We've also been able to learn more about some of our processes through this experience, like how different things work, how we can adjust, you know, some of our business roles to continue to be more adaptable for our partners.
So, it it's been a really interesting learning experience. And then the the final example I'll give you, I was with one of our our partners a week and a half ago at an event and um they shared with me. I couldn't believe how easy it was to get a quote with Proof Point. In the past, it would have been incredibly difficult. We were under some pressure with the customer and we knew that it was going to be a competitive scenario and this just made it easy. just some really good examples of some of the early responses and we're starting to see some momentum pick up because of all of this.
Well, I'm so excited to hear that and I really appreciate the fact that you also point out that this is a learning process because it always is something that can get better. All of our projects are. So, with that in mind, Sherry, what can we expect from this program as we continue to move forward in 2025? Yeah, we're going to continue to add um more and more relevant products into this so partners have more options across our platform because you know one of the exciting things about Proof Point, while yes, we got our start in email security, we are so much more than that.
We do a lot in data protection as well and we will continue to deliver products that our customers are looking to consume with and through our partners. And then we're gonna also work alongside Ingram to make sure we continue to train our partners so they understand how to use Xvantage as a platform, but also how to position Proof Point and help their customers succeed. We wish you the best of luck on that, Sherry. But of course, we're not done just yet because we also want to learn more about Xvantage.
So, Eric, how can interested solution providers gain access to Ingram Micro's Xvantage platform and what other benefits can they expect when utilizing that platform? Yeah, it's really as simple as going to Ingram Micro.com, which has the login capability. Um, there's also a place for new uh solution providers to team up with Ingram Micro and submit an application and join. And then obviously existing partners have a way to get in with, you know, their admin and all that stuff.
But again, it all starts by going to anger micro.com where you'll see Xvantage. And you know, as some of the benefits, look, we've been in technology for a long time. We know it's complicated. There's a lot of complexity around it, but really we are working to be able to deliver that business to consumer experience for the world's B2B brands and the technology ecosystem. It should be as easy as ordering a pizza for a football game on a Sunday and you can see where your pizza is.
It should be just as easy to see where your hardware, your cloud subscription or your security solution is and it should be that easy. And so that's what we're really working to build. And obviously, Proof Point has has really stepped up in a major way for us to bring that to life for our mutual business. But, you know, partners can really use the platform to manage their entire book of business. It's AI and datadriven platform with insights and recommendations.
They can really get a lands a picture of their entire business. you know, managing renewals and subscriptions and hyperscaler integrations, credit and financial services and all these things exist at your fingertips within the platform. And so while I would say that the opportunities and utilizing the platform are limitless, it also comes down to gaining access to the go to market resources that we have supporting the entire technology ecosystem which I would say is the best in the business.
So, it's the power of the platform. It's the power of the people that we have working together. And obviously, it's the power of our relationship with Proof Point. You know, if you needed an idea for a t-shirt, I would now say that getting access to Proof Point solutions through Ingram Micro is as easy as ordering a pizza and way faster than getting to the moon. That's going to be really important. That's exactly right. And Sherry, why don't you close us out today?
Tell us a bit more about where we can learn more. Where can interested solution providers in the channel go to learn more about Proofpoint's threat defense solution lineup? Lots of places. You can go to proofpoint.com, connect into our partner hub. We have videos. We have a lot of different content accessible. And you can go to Ingram Micro. You can reach out to the dedicated team we have at Ingram Micro covering Proof Point. Or you can go on to Xvantage.
We have an always on page that has a variety of different information. We'll be continuing to maintain an update that gives partners a quick understanding or if they really want to dig into it, we also have some more detailed solution briefs. Thank you so much for your time today, Sherry, Eric. I'm so excited to see where this partnership goes in 2025 and thanks to you at home for joining us. For more episodes of partner POV, check out channelinsider.com. Once again, I'm Katie Bavoso and I'll see you next time.
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