Untangle Certification

[Coldfirex]

Howdy,

Has Untangle thought about starting any certification programs for users\resellers\etc?

Thanks!

[mdh]

I sent a detailed letter to the president in December 2008 on that very subject. Its good for resellers, good for users who want to do it, and good for revenue. There was no interest at the time. I also suggested training programs at the same time.

[sky-knight]

Training? Certification? Actual intelligence required to get into the reseller program?

That would eliminate 2/3rds of the resellers!

Heck, it would probably eliminate me too, I don't have the income to be paying Untangle for darn classes. Last year it was tough to come up with the NFR subscription fees.

This year seems better, I've done more business in the last 30 days than the entire previous quarter!

[Mathiau]

i think some official training could be useful, i am sure alot of us could learn a lot we don't know yet (i know i could), for me i could sell it to my company and i am sure they would say yes, be alot cheaper then any cisco crap!

even if you had some webinars or something...

[sky-knight]

There are already webinars for each to release as they come out.

[mdh]

Webinars are okay for the average user, but the reseller needs more., such as:

1. How to evaluate an existing network
2. How to sell it into the user's pain points
3. How to justify paid subscription models (when appropriate)
4. Where Untangle will work, and where it won't
5. Where to put Untangle for maximum usability
6. How to configure it for the weird installs
7. How to brand it
8. How to upsell

That's just what I came up with while I was typing the list. Given coffee and time to think, I'm sure I could bore the best of you with details.

[sky-knight]

Yeah but... that isn't Untangle's problem they just make the thing. It's the reseller's problem to figure that stuff out. 4-6 are probably more Untangle issues, but if a reseller doesn't get where to place a UTM "bridge" or "router" in a network by now they need to not be resellers. (IMHO)

[mdh]

Resellers are the owners of the problems in the customer's eyes, but an ill-equipped reseller blames the vendor. The vendor can point the finger at the reseller all they want to, but the success or failure of both ultimately depend on a synergistic relationship between the two. I agree with you about the abilities of a reseller, but you should be on a support call sometimes. You would on occasion be amazed.

[sky-knight]

Hey I've been the cause of some of those support calls... then there is that awkward moment when Tony knows I'm face-palming and then the issue goes away!