Bashar Bashaireh, VP for the Middle East and Türkiye at Cloudflare outlines the company’s expansion strategy in the region. He highlights the focus on growing its partner network and launching the “Power Up” program to empower resellers and distributors that will help the company accelerate Connectivity Cloud adoption and equip partners to navigate regional challenges effectively.
What are Cloudflare’s key objectives for expanding its channel presence in the Middle East, and how do you plan to achieve them?
A key business objective in the region is to accelerate and increase the proximity to our customers, and one of the key pillars in doing so is the expansion of our network of local channel partners who are experts in their fields.
We also want to generate more awareness and adoption of the Cloudflare Connectivity Cloud services and this can be accelerated by enhancing our specialized channel footprint.
We will continue to empower the channel to address customer challenges by upskilling them so that they become experts and specialized in Cloudflare’s platform offering.
Can you discuss the specific channel programs Cloudflare is launching or enhancing to better support partners in the Middle East?
We recently launched “Power Up” – a new unified partner program that makes it easier than ever for channel partners to do business with Cloudflare. The program better addresses the growing channel needs for diversification and specialization in Reseller, ASDP & MSP categories.
As consolidation and security have become a key focus for every business, the channel is facing a huge opportunity across all market segments with Cloudflare’s platform offering. Our recently launched PowerUP Program brings new levels, resources, and support to ensure our partners can capitalize on this opportunity while benefiting our customer base. We are rewarding our partners with industry standard price differentiators accordingly to support their deal structure.
How does Cloudflare plan to address the unique challenges faced by channel partners in the Middle East, such as regulatory compliance and local market dynamics?
Cloudflare takes regulatory compliance seriously to facilitate for its customers the utilization of its platform cloud services.
Throughout the Middle East and Turkey region, Cloudflare has invested in data centers across 28 cities in the region, part of its global data centers network around 330 cities. This is critical for delivering cloud services in country, something that is key when considering regulatory and compliance frameworks.
Most recently, we have launched our Data Localization Suite in Saudi Arabia, another important step towards achieving data sovereignty. Other markets are as well on a similar roadmap.
This investment that’s been done by Cloudflare, makes it feasible for our channel partners to continue investing in our platform offering as it will be possible for them to offer such services to a wider spectrum of market verticals, even those that are heavily regulated such as financial services, healthcare and the public sector.
What role do you see channel partners playing in Cloudflare’s growth strategy in the Middle East, particularly in driving adoption of your cloud and security solutions?
Partners are at the center of our Go To Market (GTM) strategy. They are expected to act as the trusted advisors to our customers. With their specialized skill sets, each of them provides distinct value propositions tailored to meet the unique challenges faced by customers in the Middle East.
In today’s world of dispersed and multi-cloud environments, customers are in search for solutions that give them back control over their data and IT assets. Cloudflare’s Connectivity Cloud – the world’s first connectivity cloud — a unified, programmable platform of security and connectivity services coupled with a global network spanning more than 330 cities delivers on that need and provides customers with a platform of networking, security and developers tools.
We see tremendous potential for the Connectivity Cloud in the region and an opportunity for our partners to actively take part and capitalize on that.
How is Cloudflare working with local distributors and resellers to build a strong, sustainable channel ecosystem in the region?
Cloudflare is empowering the 2-Tier GTM by increasing the distribution capacity and reach, to better enable, support and train the resellers.
Having distribution presence in multiple countries across the Middle East and Turkey region allows local entities of value added resellers to locally transact with a distributor in accordance with in-country laws and regulations, in addition to providing better financial terms and facilities.
Working with local distributors, allows resellers to avail the wider products and services portfolio offering from distributors to better respond to clients’ turn-key solutions needs.
Can you share any recent success stories or case studies that highlight the impact of Cloudflare’s channel programs in the Middle East?
In support of our 2-Tier GTM channel strategy and to provide value-add distribution coverage across the entire region, we signed at the beginning of 2023 a strategic distribution partnership with Mindware, a leading regional value-added distributor (announced) to provide sales support, channel program roll-out and after-sales services.
This partnership is having a positive impact on the Cloudflare business in the region, adding more reseller partners to our channel network across most countries.
In addition to that, Cloudflare also witnessed an increased successful collaboration with service delivery providers and global partners.
What resources and support does Cloudflare provide to ensure that its channel partners in the Middle East are well-equipped to deliver value to customers?
In efforts to better enable and equip our channel partners, we run periodic workshops by our specialized solutions engineers to get the resellers up to speed with the latest technology to address customers’ most pressing security needs and challenges.
These workshops come in different content and levels to enable the resources within the resellers community, be it sales, pre-sales, post-sales or professional services.
Upon successful completion of those workshops and training, the attendees receive the related Cloudflare certifications.
Besides such official workshops and training, we run a series of webinars, podcasts and newsletters to keep our channel partners aware of any products or channel program updates.
How does Cloudflare plan to differentiate its channel offerings from competitors in the Middle East market?
Cloudflare continuously enhances its channel program, introducing new benefits, promotions and campaigns that benefit our channel partners on a global level.
Furthermore we differentiate ourselves from the competition by providing our channel partners with a bigger and growing opportunity through the positioning of our Cloudflare Connectivity Cloud platform. This platform of cloud services addresses the pressing needs of customers to reduce complexity and cost, while increasing performance, reliability and security of their networks and applications.
This provides a unique value add proposition that allows our channel partners to run a profitable Cloudflare business by upselling and cross-selling products and services within their client base.
What are the most significant opportunities for Cloudflare’s channel partners in the Middle East, and how can they capitalize on them?
The region is undergoing massive digital transformation accelerated both by many national programs and the young population in growing demand for different types of digitized content.
This evolution represents an increase in cyber threats, which puts Cloudflare with its Connectivity Cloud in an unparalleled and unique position to deliver the required content in a reliable, fast and secure manner, elevating the levels of productivity and performance in addition to reducing complexity to its users.
This development and the growing need of enterprise customers for consolidation and reduced complexity open the door for channel partners, together with Cloudflare, to present the right solutions in response to the above. Something that differentiates us from the competition.
How does Cloudflare’s global channel strategy align with its plans for the Middle East, and what regional adaptations have been made to meet local needs? Our channel plans in the Middle East are aligned with the Cloudflare global channel strategy, that of empowering and growing the channel landscape through stronger technical and sales skill set, diverse offerings and better Professional Services capabilities in order to grow and sustain a satisfied customer base on Cloudflare’s platform.
This is locally driven through partnering with the key system integrators, global alliances and managed service providers, empowering their sales and in-house technical teams, while at the same time, offering them professional services through regional Authorized Services Delivery Partners (ASDPs).
