Fiscal Year '23 has been quite busy for our NextWave Partner Program. Back in December, we unveiled our Breakaway 1=5 NextWave framework that was built to help our partners further breakaway from the competition with one program and five paths to success. At the time of this launch, we committed to unveiling the most comprehensive set of NextWave enhancements in our company’s history. As the last day of our fiscal year approaches, let’s look back at the commitment we made to our partners, as well as look ahead into what’s coming in FY24.
FY23 Program Recap
When we looked at our data at the start of FY23, we noticed the partners who had branched out beyond firewalls were growing the fastest. Our guidance to partners: If you want to make more money, sell more, grow more, have more opportunities to deliver services – sell the rest of the portfolio.
On the whole, Palo Alto Networks has become much more prescriptive to partners about how they can drive services, creating solutions that provide deep value for our customers. This has included efforts to help partners with building a services practice based on their partner type. We are also providing guidance about how partners can bundle together multiple solutions and compete more effectively with single-function point products from other vendors. We have been heavily focused on teaching our partners how they can drive those solutions and how they complement each other.
Now that we are seven months into our rolling launch, let’s do a quick program enhancement recap.
- December – We unveiled our first Market/Industry Proficiency, granting partners recognition for having 5G capabilities.
- January – We unveiled our Partner-to-Partner initiative, offering Solution Providers the ability to address customer demand for managed services without the upfront SOC cost.
- February – We launched our new Solution Provider Path requirements and new product specializations: Hardware Firewall, Software Firewall and Cortex XSOAR.
- March – We integrated the Authorized Training Partner (ATP) and Certified Professional Services Partner (CPSP) Programs into the NextWave framework as specializations.
- April – We disclosed the Distributor Path requirements.
- May – We unveiled a 5% specialization discount boost for Hardware Firewall and Software Firewall Specializations.
- June – We launched the MSSP Path requirements along with the first two MSSP Proficiencies for Cortex XSOAR and Prisma SASE.
During Q3 we also launched NextWave Rewards – our new incentive and promotion management tool designed to make it easier for partners to learn about and claim incentives.
FY23 Partner Incentives
With the end of FY23 just a few weeks away, we are in the home-stretch for some of our global partner MLP incentives. If applicable, partners should be sure to take advantage of the following incentives that will be coming to a close on July 31, 2023.
- Finish Strong – The Close Out Q4 incentive will reward partner sales reps with 50 thousand NextWave Rewards Points. The Hardware Boost incentive rewards partner sales reps with 15 thousand NextWave Rewards Points.
- Cortex Competitive Crush – Cortex partners can take advantage of this promotion if their customers replace a competitive endpoint security solution with Cortex XDR. Partner sales reps and SEs will be rewarded for closing out Cortex deals.
- Diamond 2-2-3 Rebate Promotion – The enhanced Diamond Innovator Rebate allows top partners to be rewarded for selling ML Powered PA-Series Next Generation Firewalls and cloud-delivered security services.
A Look Ahead Into FY24
Now that our FY23 partner program enhancements are full-steam ahead, FY24 is going to continue focusing on the value partners bring and increase partner support.
Customers need cyber experts to help them solve their security challenges, and we rely on our partners to be the trusted advisors they need. In FY24 we will continue to lean on our partners more to help make these customer transformations happen. Our partner ecosystem is the key catalyst, enabler and amplifier of our ability to deliver solutions that protect our digital way of life.
There has never been a better time to become a NextWave partner. If you’re already a partner, the enhancements and incentives addressed above are clearly laid out in the partner portal, as well as captured in our Breakaway 1=5 blog series. Be sure to check out both to learn more.
