656 Michelle Ragusa-McBain: SonicWALL's Globetrotting Channel Chief

[Uncle Marv] (0:14 - 0:43)
Hello friends, Uncle Marv here once again from Radio Row at PAX 8 Beyond 24 in Denver, Colorado and just had lunch, so feeling a little groggy here, but my friend here is going to help pick us up and she is somebody that once again, even though we live not too far apart, we have to fly across country to see each other. I'm talking about Michelle Ragusa-McBain from SonicWALL.

[Ken Patterson] (0:44 - 0:44)
Yes.

[Uncle Marv] (0:44 - 0:45)
Michelle, how are you?

[Ken Patterson] (0:45 - 0:46)
I'm great, Marv. How are you doing?

[Uncle Marv] (0:46 - 0:54)
I'm good, I'm good. So I got you here. I saw Jay walk by just a little bit ago.

Yeah. But he was on a mission. He had to be somewhere.

[Ken Patterson] (0:55 - 0:56)
He was probably going to get food too.

[Uncle Marv] (0:58 - 1:02)
Alright, so you're here. Let me just first ask, what do you think?

[Ken Patterson] (1:02 - 1:29)
Amazing. So this is my second year, first year SonicWALL sponsoring. I came last year as an attendee though and I would say all credit to PAX 8 having one of the largest inaugural events and then doubling in size is pretty phenomenal, largely due to my dear friend Rob Ray, but an incredible team at PAX 8, great conference, so much fun, great partners and great community.

So I'm happy to be here.

[Uncle Marv] (1:29 - 1:33)
So what's the difference in coming as an attendee and coming as a sponsor?

[Ken Patterson] (1:34 - 2:16)
Well, I think coming as a sponsor is more intentional about where SonicWALL and PAX 8 want to partner together and so some special things in the works there. You heard earlier today about partners coming soon, so I'll give you a spoiler alert there, but we're really excited because I think that, you know, we're both companies that really are channel driven, partner focused, have a very intentional feeling about how do we support and enable and listen to our partners. I think that's very important for SonicWALL.

We're 100% channel company, which means that everything we do is with and for and by our partners. We would not be successful without all of you.

[Uncle Marv] (2:16 - 2:16)
Yeah.

[Ken Patterson] (2:16 - 2:23)
So I love to hear that same mentality from people we work with and it really is a testament to how we can be better together.

[Uncle Marv] (2:23 - 2:38)
Yeah. So of course, the last time we chatted on the show, it was the big announcement, you know, with the Solutions Brand Acquisition. So how much are you still getting in reaction to that?

Are you still getting people walking up to you? Because they're looking for Michael.

[Ken Patterson] (2:38 - 2:39)
Absolutely.

[Uncle Marv] (2:39 - 2:39)
He's not here.

[Ken Patterson] (2:40 - 4:27)
Well, Michael is actually right now at our SonicWALL sales kickoff, teaching the team about the amazing managed security services that we now offer at SonicWALL. And I think that's incredible. I mean, we listen to our partners, whether we're building it in our tech roadmap and innovating it with Chandra Prasad and our quality assurance with Aska DeMott, or we're partnering with people who are going to help us with those integrations, like in the community, Roost or LionGuard, or our acquisition strategy with Solutions Granted and Banyan.

So we're meeting our partners where they are in their journey with all layers of security, not just the SonicWALL firewalls that are very beloved by everyone, but we have to think about the threat landscape, which you heard a lot about today. And it's ever increasing and it's important that you are protected at all layers. And so for us, more than ever, we did a survey with CRN and said, how many of our partners, what do you need?

What do you want? Who do you want to partner with? And for example, SOC as a service was a huge demand that people wanted.

They didn't want to build it in-house, yet they wanted their customers to be safe and protected 24 by 7. How do you do that with limited resources, time, capability, operational courses is, of course, working with our company now. We can help with that, right?

From managed detection response, EDR, to SOC as a service, and even if you are partnering with somebody else, I'd love everyone to be a SonicWALL partner, but I know you probably have other people in your stack. And so we're ecosystem agnostic and we're really working on making sure that we can meet you in that journey, be flexible consumption, have that billing and arrears capability, partner with the people that you want to partner with, and really lean in to how we make it very easy to do business with SonicWALL.

[Uncle Marv] (4:27 - 5:10)
Right. So I had a discussion with somebody earlier today. I didn't bring it up myself, and I'm not doing this, you know, telling you this just because, but the big old discussion was, you know, firewall vendors.

Somebody was talking about moving away from another product, and they asked me, I'm like, I'm a SonicWALL person. So then they started asking me all the questions. Okay, so how is the firewall as a service work, or is it hardware as a service?

And I'm like, you know what? I don't even know myself. But in terms of blending the stuff between what SonicWALL was offering through the partner program and then what Solutions Granted was offering, are those going to be merged into one?

Are we keeping them separate? I don't know if I asked you that before.

[Ken Patterson] (5:10 - 5:32)
Yes. No, it's a great question. And probably we wouldn't have had the answer right then either.

So it's a good thing you're asking it now. We are rolling Solutions Granted into our Secure First program as well. So the managed security, as we're calling it, is going to be a piece of that puzzle.

So earlier this year, February, we relaunched our Secure First program. So we lowered the rebate threshold so more partners can earn rebates.

[Uncle Marv] (5:32 - 5:33)
Thank you for that.

[Ken Patterson] (5:33 - 7:05)
You're welcome. We started accruing market development funds because it was always proposal based. And I said, no, this is something we need to do together.

We need to co-brand and co-market and co-innovate with our partners. Your success is our success. So how do we invest back into you?

So that was a big thing. We had two different programs. So we had the MSP or MSSP program, they referred to it as, and we had Secure First.

They merged together in February, in November in North America and then February globally. And so that single endpoint, flexible, cancel any time, no rigidity, no obligation. Exactly right.

We want to make sure it's very simple. And so that's absolutely where Michael is in his journey. He was a SonicWall partner for 18 years himself, which is incredible.

So he not only understands the technology and believes in the product, but he also believes in the partnership. And we believe in the partnership with him as well. In fact, as he mentioned, it's the only acquisition that I know of where we kept his entire team, including his CFO.

So to have two CFOs in a company to say, how do we make sure we do this right? But then we want to make sure, like if you're doing MDR with Michael, I want you to grow tiers in the Secure First program. Like this is not an either or, this is one plus one equals three.

And so how do we continue to get you to that next level with us, keep you growing with us, make sure that you get all the benefits that we think our partners need to be successful with us. That's when we're winning.

[Uncle Marv] (7:05 - 7:38)
I can tell you this, people are watching because I'll be honest, as much as SonicWall went through those, you know, days of Dell hell or whatever it was, there were people like me that stuck with SonicWall because we believed in the product. And so SonicWall has been on this, I don't want to say a meteoric rise, it's a high for the last couple of years. Solutions Granted, of course, and the two companies coming together, people want to see how this is going to work because we've got two great companies.

[Ken Patterson] (7:38 - 7:39)
Thank you.

[Uncle Marv] (7:39 - 7:50)
And it doesn't feel like it's you are absorbing just to buy up stuff. It really feels like a synergistic event. So we're watching and I'll see how it's going.

[Ken Patterson] (7:50 - 8:06)
I appreciate that tremendously and I give Michael all the respect in the world for what he's been able to build. And I'm so grateful that we get to work together because I think he and the team, the entire team, Brian, Corey, Lisa, everybody at Solutions Granted.

[Uncle Marv] (8:06 - 8:06)
Even Lisa Loco.

[Ken Patterson] (8:07 - 8:12)
Oh, I love Lisa Loco. Lisa, if you're there, we miss you. We are at this event.

[Uncle Marv] (8:12 - 8:13)
We love you, Loco.

[Ken Patterson] (8:14 - 8:43)
And I said to Michael today, I said, it's amazing because we're very agile, both of us, both of our cultures, which is rare for a 22-year-old, 33-year-old company. It's fine in a startup. You would imagine that you would have to be quick and responsive, but in a more seasoned or more tenured company, it is more challenging.

And so I'll give you a great example. The other day we get survey results. So we did a total partner experience survey, which you might've gotten asked to fill out.

[Uncle Marv] (8:43 - 8:43)
I did.

[Ken Patterson] (8:43 - 8:56)
I did. I hope you did. I know we send a lot of surveys, but the reason is because we want to hear from our partners.

We want to make sure that we're still skating to where the puck is going and that we're listening and learning and helping to drive that.

[Uncle Marv] (8:56 - 9:00)
Nice Florida Panthers reference in there for the NHL finals.

[Ken Patterson] (9:00 - 9:09)
Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Although my husband is from Edmonton and we live in Florida and I was a New York Rangers fan, so we just helped divide it.

Well, we lost, so it's fine.

[Uncle Marv] (9:10 - 9:11)
And we're the ones that beat you.

[Ken Patterson] (9:11 - 9:52)
Yeah, I am rooting for Florida now. It's official. But as I went through that motion, survey results come in.

We had 642 survey responses from around the world. First time we've launched a global survey with CRN. So I was very excited to see what everyone had to say.

And in that survey, something came up about deal rich. And so I said to our team, I said, what do you think about the deal process? And they're like, which answer do you want?

I'm like, the honest answer. And they're like, it could be improved. And I'm like, OK, walk me through it because I don't want to sit in an ivory tower where I don't actually do the deal.

How do I figure it out? Right.

[Uncle Marv] (9:52 - 10:01)
I'll be honest. They were horrible. It was from my perspective.

I would just much rather just buy it and not even go for the deal.

[Ken Patterson] (10:01 - 10:46)
So and we want to fix that because that's why I have a broken process. Why make it hard for you or in place? Some of our partners, they'll even do it for you like white glove concierge.

And I love that, too. But how do we scale all our partners to have that same treatment? So I don't want it to be a difficult challenge process.

So I work with Julian and Justin and our team. I go take me through it. What does it look like?

How is it? Is it hard? And so we go through this process and I screenshot like that's duplicate.

We don't need that twice. That's not necessary. Oh, we could say this here.

And as I go through, I go to our chief of staff and I said, Zach, tell me who owns the overage. He's like, why do you ask? I'm like, I want to change it.

And he said, OK, well, you need all the global leaders to agree. I said, sure. I said, so I sent an email constructed.

[Uncle Marv] (10:46 - 10:49)
Oh, you didn't use that. I'm the global channel chief.

[Ken Patterson] (10:49 - 11:36)
Oh, no, I didn't. I don't play that card because it's a team process. Right.

And we're all in this together. And Zach said to me, OK, this sounds like a great benefit. Austin, who leads our global inside sales team, was like, this would be wonderful if we could improve these things.

Everybody aligned. And now we're in the queue to fix it. So in 24 hours, partners spoke.

We listened. I listened to my internal team on the front lines. I listened to our partners.

We take action and we're going to revise and reinvigorate the deal. Right. Nice.

Also, we do have new customer deal rate, which I think is a great benefit to our partners out there. You include it, which means any new customer that you bring to Sonic will give you 50 percent off that customer. So I want you to have that money in your pocket.

[Uncle Marv] (11:36 - 11:40)
So I heard about that. I'm like, that can't be right. 50 percent.

[Ken Patterson] (11:41 - 12:22)
Yes, it is absolutely right. And so that's where I want us to say, how can we get smart? And this is all based upon feedback.

So when I saw I want improvements and do or just like, well, is it the amount? Is it this is the process? So understanding where the complexity lies and solving for it in my 20 years in the channel, I haven't been able to move that fast in any company I've worked at.

And so I'm proud of the work that we're doing because it's not based upon us. It's based upon us listening. But listening is only half the battle.

You have to listen and react. You have to take action. And if we're doing that right and it makes it easier for you, our partners, then we're a much better company for you and for us.

[Uncle Marv] (12:22 - 12:37)
All right. So I'll have to pay attention because I want I haven't had to do a reg in a while. So it wasn't a huge thing for me.

I did see that, you know, the announcement that the secure first was going to change. I logged in there to do a couple of things, but I'll have to take a closer look now.

[Ken Patterson] (12:37 - 12:54)
Yeah. And we revamped our whole partner portal. So if you get if I don't know when the last time you logged in but check it out.

Any Sonic partners out there? This is the area where I meet a lot of people that say I've been a Sonic partner for 10, 20 years. I said, who's your up?

They said, I don't know. I go for me.

[Uncle Marv] (12:54 - 12:55)
I'm a relationship.

[Ken Patterson] (12:56 - 13:26)
You don't think I should. And if you don't, you'd have a territory rep. OK, so everybody will have somebody at the end of the day.

And so we have pre-sale support. We have post-sale support. We have engineers inside and field.

We have inside and south account managers. So we've realigned our territory mapping also. So you probably now have somebody.

And if you don't, you have me. So you come to me any time. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, smoke single carrier pigeon.

I don't care. You get to me. We'll have a barbecue in our backyards.

We need to.

[Uncle Marv] (13:26 - 13:27)
We need to.

[Ken Patterson] (13:27 - 13:34)
Yes. And when that happens, you tell me, you know, Michelle, I may not have all your answers, but I promise to find you the person who does.

[Uncle Marv] (13:34 - 14:09)
All right. So I didn't plan to talk about all this, but I'm glad you were open to it and glad to see that the changes are happening. And like I said, I mean, I love the product.

Thank you. Have always stayed with the product. Wasn't always as worried about the discounts of the deal read.

Sure. But it's nice when they're there. Yeah.

So now that the process is going to be easier, I may look at some more there. But I'm glad that all this is working out. Very happy with the changes.

We went way longer than I thought it was. And I was going to ask you about all your global globetrotting.

[Ken Patterson] (14:09 - 14:10)
We can end on that if you want.

[Uncle Marv] (14:10 - 14:13)
Because you have just been all over the freaking place.

[Ken Patterson] (14:13 - 14:13)
Sure.

[Uncle Marv] (14:14 - 14:19)
And you just had to, what was it, two weeks abroad and you had to take the kids.

[Ken Patterson] (14:19 - 15:54)
Yeah. So. OK.

So I had this fantastic idea that I was going to go see Taylor Swift and I tried very hard to get tickets in America and I couldn't. And I thought, oh, it's so hard. And then the prices went up considerably.

Three thousand dollars per ticket. That's ridiculous. For that price, I could go abroad.

And then I'm like, why don't I go abroad? So I started searching around the world where some of the places she's performing. And I found Paris on Mother's Day.

I thought, who wouldn't want to go to Paris? And on Mother's Day, I'm like, perfect. And that was the catalyst for what became a vacation.

My birthday is always the week before Mother's Day. So we joke, I get all of May. My husband's birthday is June and Father's Day is June.

So he gets all of June and then Fourth of July is our wedding anniversary. So we'll always have fireworks. But as we went through that motion, we went to England, we went to Amsterdam for my first time and Belgium and had delicious waffles and just saw the sights and had the history and educated our children.

So many wonderful things. Saw the windmills, drove down to Paris, spent the day in France and then drove back up. And so that was a whirlwind, very exciting vacation.

Ten days ish. And then in one week. So after this, I'm headed right to our sales kickoff and then our partner event is the ending of this week for SonicWall Elevate.

But then after that, I'm going to Africa on a three week safari to five countries.

[Uncle Marv] (15:55 - 15:59)
Okay. Is this safari for tourists or is this safari for real?

[Ken Patterson] (16:00 - 16:38)
For real. We're going to Kenya, Tanzania, the wildebeest migration, the Serengeti. I'm like so excited.

And I want to give a special shout out to Lion Guard's Joe Alapat and his wife, Methi, who is the person who is from Tanzania, born and raised and kind of the inspiration for Lion Guard and also is helping to plan our dream vacation. So very thankful, very excited for that experience. But this is like a dream come true for us and also will be my children's seventh continent.

So we're like ferocious travelers for work and for fun.

[Uncle Marv] (16:38 - 16:44)
Yeah, I got to see that map. You've got to have a big map at the house with all the pins and stuff. I want to see that.

[Ken Patterson] (16:45 - 16:46)
We do. You're going to come over.

[Uncle Marv] (16:46 - 16:55)
We will. We're going to do something. So well, great to have you here and great to see both you and Jay in the same place.

Still not at the same time.

[Ken Patterson] (16:56 - 17:00)
No, it's like Clark Kent and Superman. We might be the same person except for he's six feet tall and a man.

[Uncle Marv] (17:01 - 17:06)
And he was on stage for the opening keynote there, but he'll be there next time.

[Ken Patterson] (17:07 - 17:11)
It's OK. Someday we'll have big news. Well, thank you.

[Uncle Marv] (17:11 - 17:23)
I'll let you get going because I know somebody down the row is watching the chat with you. But there you have it, folks. Michelle Ragusa McVane, Global Channel Chief for SonicWall.

Neighbor, we're going to be hanging out.

[Ken Patterson] (17:23 - 17:23)
We are.

[Uncle Marv] (17:23 - 17:31)
Maybe we'll have an MSP Cribs thing coming up soon. So that's it, folks. We'll see you.

I'll have more later from Radio Row. And until then, holla.