Bitsight’s John Kelly Recognized by CRN as a 2020 Channel Chief

Bitsight is proud to announce that John Kelly, Bitsight’s vice president of global channel sales, has been named to CRN’s 2020 Channel Chiefs list. The annual award recognizes an elite group of IT channel leaders who drive the channel agenda and evangelize the importance of channel partnerships.

Kelly was recognized for his accomplishments since taking over Bitsight’s channel organization in 2018. Specifically, CRN noted Kelly’s role in more than doubling channel revenue with an 80% increase in closed deal registration. This was made possible by signing new, exciting partners in all regions of the world and adding partners with whom Bitsight could forge deep and lasting relationships with.

CRN also noted Kelly’s part in improving partner relationships by offering greater margin opportunities for Bitsight-originated sales. Coupled with a new Bitsight sales compensation plan, this drove greater engagement from sales reps out to the channel.

Furthermore, Kelly helped realize a significantly higher close rate for deals ran through channel partners than direct business sales. This was bolstered by a redesigned marketing development funds (MDF) program in which each partner receives funds based on the impact of their programs, as opposed to an allotment of funds.

As a result of Kelly’s efforts, partner revenue has more than doubled from 2018 to 2019 and the Bitsight channel program now accounts for 76% of new business compared to 42% in 2018.

Bitsight’s channel strategy: going from strength to strength

In 2020, Kelly anticipates Bitsight’s channel strategy to go from strength to strength: “Cybersecurity is now a Board-level conversation, bringing additional scrutiny about the impact and results of a company’s security investments,” said Kelly. “Our partners see this as a market opportunity to become more involved with and provide better information and insight to their customers. Key to this is leveraging our Security Ratings solution to drive their overall objectives. Whether it’s helping their customers improve communications with executives or the Board, or deciding which security programs to prioritize, we’re focused on helping our partners to help their customers better understand their security posture and take steps to mitigate risk.”

In 2020, Bitsight also plans to focus on improving partner technical skills and increase the amount of professional services going through partners. The company will also work with the channel to sell a more holistic solution which will include Bitsight’s and the channel’s own services and integration partners to better solve customer issues.

“You get back what you put in”

This is the latest in a series of recent honors bestowed on Bitsight. In November 2019, the Bitsight Peer Analytics solution was selected as a winner in the CRN 2019 Tech Innovator Awards.

Both honors reflect significant strides made by Bitsight in technological innovation and its channel strategy over the past few years.

“I’m routinely fighting against the misconception that partners don’t add as much value to an organization as direct sales does,” added Kelly. “It’s simply not true. You get back what you put in, and over the past year, we’ve proven that claim wrong again and again. When you engage the channel proactively, they provide invaluable insight into accounts, technical evaluation, processes, and more.”

Congratulations to John Kelly and the rest of the Bitsight channel team for this well-deserved accolade!