Tehama CRO Mick Miralis Recognized by CRN Channel Chiefs

Tehama is excited to see our CRO, Mick Miralis, recognized by CRN for the second year in a row as a CRN Channel Chief. We recently sat down with him to learn more about what this recognition means for him and Tehama. 

What does it mean to be a CRN Channel Chief?

Mick: Over the past year, our team has made tremendous strides in creating an environment and ecosystem built around partner success. We have a truly remarkable and talented team here at Tehama, and it feels great to be recognized by CRN for these accomplishments. It demonstrates that we have adopted the right strategy in our global approach to serving the marketplace and our partners. We are confident that our hard work and dedication will continue to pay off as we focus on enabling our partners to be disrupters and bring incrementally greater value to their customers. 

What do you want partners and their customers to know about this award?

Mick: This award acknowledges the success we have achieved through the Tehama Advantage Partner Program. A foundational part of our go-to-market strategy, this program is built from the ground up with a focus on achieving mutual success alongside our partners and end users. Our objective is to derive insights and learn from past challenges our partners have had when engaging with their vendors and respond with a program tailored to their unique needs. We are committed to engaging, integrating, and supporting their sales efforts in any way necessary. 

What are some of the key milestones Tehama reached in 2023?

Mick: In 2023, we improved partner engagement by training our organization, establishing a disciplined approach, and expanding our channel ecosystem on a global scale. We also added white-labeling and product capabilities for partner and third-party integration to broaden the partner’s total addressable market. Supporting content and materials are available to assist with sales efforts and make them as self-sufficient as possible. This has led to four million plus hours of utilization for the Tehama Cybersecurity Platform. We could only have achieved this with our partner working alongside us to support end users. The continued evolution of our go-to-market strategy has been based heavily on feedback and close collaboration with our partners, at both the sales, and engineering levels.

What are some of your 2024 goals for the Tehama partner program? 

Mick: In 2024, we have a number of goals. First, we will continue to provide the most comprehensive security solution in the market, thereby enabling our partners to be true disruptors in their respective markets. Next, we will be even more engaged in the support of our partners’ growth strategies. Lastly, we want to drive partner profitability by continuing to deliver the industry’s most flexible and rewarding partner compensation program.

What are key areas that are driving growth for channel partners in 2024?

Mick: Firstly, as we all know, cybersecurity challenges are growing rapidly globally and across all industries, and markets. Secondly, the continued shift to hybrid and remote work environments complicates things further, which leads me to my third point: cybersecurity buyers are done with the tech stack integration treadmill and increasingly want it all under one cohesive, easy-to-adopt, manage, and defend platform. Tehama enables our partners to deliver on these immediately and also meet relevant security standards and regulatory requirements, including data protection, reputation management, and privacy. Customers and partners expect comprehensive security services without putting undue strain on the business.

What are some of the key challenges ahead for channel partners? How is Tehama helping its channel partners address these challenges?

Mick: One of the top challenges our partners face is channel conflict. We address that with our commitment to being 100% channel-focused. As for skills shortages, another challenge we continue to see in the marketplace, Tehama addresses this issue by leveraging existing skills and implementing a technology strategy focusing on end-to-end integration and workflow automation, spanning the complete security technology stack. We are also mitigating our partners’ go-to-market execution challenges through our investments in sales engineering, marketing/branding, customer success, and close integration with their organizations. Regarding uncertainty and vendor consolidation, Tehama is addressing these issues by providing a comprehensive security platform designed bottom-up in the cloud. This platform addresses security, complexity, and ROI, empowering organizations to shift resources from commodity to more strategic initiatives.

Do you have a favorite quote that embodies success?

Mick: Recently in conversation with our partner, Matt Wursta, CEO at Wursta, they told me, “We have never worked with a partner that shows the level of engagement and commitment that we experience with Tehama. Their approach to pre-sales engagement and content is simply mind-blowing. We are excited about the opportunity to continue growing our business with Tehama.” 

It doesn’t get any better than this, and what Wursta said is a testament to the true alignment we have with our partners.

What excites you about 2024?

Mick: We are thrilled by the pace at which our partners embrace our solution, brand it, and take it to the market. The growth we are experiencing is achieved through our MSP partners and the forthcoming expansion of our distribution alliances in North America, LATAM, and, EMEA.. We also have some other unique channels in the pipeline, so expect more updates to come!