MSP Opportunity Through Actifio's New Partner Programs

New partner programs which will support partners and help MSPs in bridging the gap between partners and its cloud delivery services has been unveiled by Actifio, a data management appliances developer.

Actifio is based in Waltham, Massachusetts, and focuses on data management appliances that backup, archive and replicate data using a small number of copies. According to the company's vice president and channel chief, Mike McClurg, it does over 85 percent of its business via the channel.

Special Forces Program and Partner Professional Services Program are Actifio's newest programs, and the channel focus for these have been improved. The Partner Professional Services Program will ensure that partners can access online training and become authorized providers of services like Quickstart service, which is the company's SOW-based service deployment and OnSite residency, according to McClurg. A close relationship between its field organization and partners will be crafted with the Special Forces Program, providing best-in-class tools, training and field support.

McClurg said: "Our ability to offer new Professional Services and Special Forces programs to our partners is a testament to the incredible momentum we're seeing in each of our regions. Partners who are selling the value of Actifio and Copy Data Storage now can deliver a wide variety of value-added services inclusive of installation, implementation and consulting to help their clients maximize their investments in our platform."

Sales executives will be offered four to six business partner individuals to map accounts, discuss opportunities and create territory strategies through the Special Forces Program. Two to four individuals in the technical teams will offer greater technical awareness, presentations and product demonstrations.

The senior vice president of strategic marketing of Boca Raton, Florida-based Champions Solutions Group, Michael Piltoff, has been working with Actifio for just over a year, and is keen to continue their partnership. Piltoff said: "We understand Actifio is committed to the channel. We jumped in with both feet and they've held up to the end of the bargain. They are a first class organization to work with from a skill set stand point, are committed to the channel and have given us great support, training, marketing and assistance."

Mainline is a Tallahassee, Florida -based Actifio partner, and its senior vice president of sales, Bill Nemisi, said that as information, security data and storage continues to grow, the new partner programs are expected to be advantageous for companies like his. Nemisi stated: "The explosion of information, video, security data and storage is taking off, which pressures companies to do it more effectively. Mainline benefits [from Special Forces] by being able to grow a relationship with customers to fulfill their storage requirements and be a higher trusted adviser in implementing a better storage environment."

Actifio's channel plan for the rest of the year will ensure close working relationships with MSPs and channel partners, and pushing its new channel programs to continue bridging connections between partners and cloud delivery vehicles, according to McClurg. He commented: "Our client's expectations about adopting new solutions are changing; enterprise technology now needs to be both radically simple and incredibly agile. We recognized this trend early and are enabling our channel partners to work together with Actifio's Service Provider ecosystem to come together to deliver hybrid cloud copy data management services."

The senior director of global marketing at Actifio, Andrew Gilman, noted that MSPs and large enterprises are two main focuses for the company. He said: "For better or for worse, cloud and MSPs haven't spent a lot of investment in engaging, enabling and creating a partner ecosystem and that's where Actifio steps in. There is technology being delivered from both sides of the equation, where the VARs can bring the trusted advisor relationships to provide solutions and MSPs can take advantage of Actifio's relationship with our channel partners."

Actifio scored $50 million in venture capital funding earlier this year, and is keen to go public and become a major player in the storage market, according to McClurg. He said: "For a 4-year-old company, you can tell this company is built by veterans in the storage industry... and we're ready to close out the strong year." (CY) Link

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