Check Point: We’re Ready to Help MSSPs Beef Up Capabilities
… the customer can pay per month per user for their cybersecurity, and they get all of our capabilities including the hardware and the services. And moving to a consumption-based model can be quite attractive to some MSSPs in terms of offering that because that’s the way a lot of customers want to buy everything. To some degree that’s what they’re buying with the cloud.
Society is moving to more consumption-based models, so we’re helping MSSPs be a part of that movement. In cybersecurity where there’s a lot of value, companies will pay for cybersecurity because it’s so critical — so that’s a good business opportunity for them.
CFMI: Can switching to a consumption-based model be difficult? And that’s where Check Point can help?
PA: Yes. One of the distinguishing things about Infinity total protection is it includes any of the hardware you need. A consumption-based model is invariably a software-based model and we have overcome a lot of the complexities around how that works from a hardware perspective, and so within the way we built the model, if you need bigger gateways or whatever, then they come with it. Or if you already have gateways you bought from us, we will continue to use them and that will affect what the pricing looks like until you need to refresh the hardware. We’re trying to demystify consumption based for cybersecurity — and it’s a non-trivial exercise. We spent the last year working some of the first customers that were interested in it, and we see quite a lot of success with it.
CFMI: Are a lot of MSSPs/partners focused on detection as opposed to prevention? How do you get them to change their strategy?
PA: I think some customers have been educated to think that you can’t be fully protected and they’ll always get in, and I think we have to arm the partners to be stronger in rebutting that argument because I think it is a fundamental argument. And almost when you have that mindset, you’ve already lost. So we think the partner is receptive to that when we can prove it. So that’s a continued part of our efforts.
CFMI: What are you hearing from partners here? Is this a good opportunity to receive feedback?
PA: It’s the best opportunity because it’s more statistically relevant. When you meet partners one on one or in smaller groups, you get lower statistical relevance to the feedback, so you can be hijacked by individual stories or pieces of feedback, whereas here, we can see the blended average of what our partners think and how they feel about Check Point. I think they feel a renewed energy, both in terms of the way the company is going to market and …