Fortinet: GTM Structure, SD-WAN & SASE
Former Major Accounts Manager at Fortinet
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Former Major Accounts Manager at Fortinet
The executive has over a decade experience in cybersecurity. They have held commercial roles for Fortinet and IT Security consultancies.
Interview Transcript
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Could you please elaborate on that?
The company has what they refer to as the global top 20 accounts. The founders, Michael and Ken, also known as the Xie brothers, have a mantra of achieving growth through scale. This is similar to other organizations such as HP and Dell, where partners play a significant role. The sell-through model is divided into two parts. In the mid-market, which was not my sector, it covers large volumes. This was primarily a sell-to-partner model, where the goal was to convince partners to sell Fortinet as they are typically engaged with customers in the mid-market space who review multiple solutions.
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Could you please elaborate on that?
In my sector, it was slightly different. We would sell to both the customer and the partner. Most of these partners are Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), often large telecommunications and IT companies. Some of them are technically capable, while others are more biased towards other vendors. It was our job to ensure that the customer understood why a Fortinet solution was better. There are reasons why they targeted specific sectors.
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Are you referring to the firewall side or the SASE side?
Fortinet is traditionally known for their firewall, which they invented in the early 2000s. However, it's not their primary strength. While it's a cash cow business, it's quite commoditized. If you're only selling firewall, you're in a declining market. One of Fortinet's significant unique selling points is their scale and their ability to use their own ASIC controller, their own chip.
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