Infoblox to drive EMEA channel growth with new leadership

Infoblox Inc. has announced the appointment of Ashraf Sheet as Director of Channel for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The company also unveiled new incentives, business development resources and expanded professional services to help channel partners in the region sell more, learn more and add more value for new and existing customers.

“Infoblox channel partners are in a favourable position to keep growing through the COVID-19 shutdown by helping customers’ remote workforces optimise connectivity and security,” says Lori Cornmesser, Vice President, Worldwide Partner and Alliance Sales at Infoblox. “This influx of channel investments and incentives will help fuel our partners’ pipelines by energising, educating and further enabling their sales, marketing and technical support teams.”

Sheet is an industry veteran who in his former role as Infoblox’s Regional Director of Middle East & Africa (MEA) grew the regional business by 25% year-over-year. Cherif Sleiman, Senior VP, International Business at Infoblox comments: “Ashraf has been hugely successful in developing our MEA channel business since joining us six years ago. Not only is Ashraf an accomplished sales leader, but he bleeds channel and tightly collaborates with sales, marketing, business development and other cross functional teams. With him at the helm of our channel organisation in EMEA, we are confident in our ability to accelerate growth in the region.”

As part of the business strategy, Sheet will focus on expanding Infoblox’s footprint into new markets. A key focus area will be focused on the company’s pivot to SaaS and supporting existing partners in this transition, as well as potentially looking to new partnerships that offer expanded coverage or capability. A key focus area will also be on recruiting partners that specialise in cloud and security – two important markets for the company.  

Infoblox to help partners

Infoblox is also investing in a dedicated team of business development specialists skilled in helping partners grow their business with existing customers. Additionally, the company has expanded its professional services programme to EMEA partners. This will enable partners to invest in professional services capabilities, which will open up new revenue streams.  

Infoblox is also extending sales incentives to its partner community designed to increase partner revenue:

• An additional double-digit percentage of the net contract value for new customer wins approved through Infoblox’s deal registration programme
• Extending Infoblox’s triple play incentive, which rewards partners for new customer wins and doubles down on plans with partners spanning sales, business development and marketing
• Special incentives and loyalty pricing for incremental customer deals including technology refreshes and remote work deployments that enable the borderless enterprise

Additionally, the vendor is debuting a series of fireside chats and workshops with its c-suite, channel leaders, solutions engineers and industry influencers focused on digital transformation and security. The company is also expanding its live and on-demand training modules, which tackle the industry’s hottest trends. These events are free of charge for Infoblox partners and prospects to attend.

To help partners engage with mid-market customers, the company has introduced go-to-market collateral covering three customer imperatives – visibility, security and edge.

Stephan Berner, CEO at Help AG comments: “Infoblox is a leading provider of core networking and cybersecurity solutions and this enables channel partners like us to gain an edge in conversations with end customers about their digital transformation and remote working needs. Ashraf Sheet is one of the top executives in the cybersecurity vendor ecosystem with clear business principles based on commitment, collaboration and trust, which has supported partners like us in growing our business significantly in the last few years. We welcome his appointment and the new incentive programmes and look forward to continuing our strong relationship with Infoblox.”

Commenting on his new role, Sheet says: “Beyond setting up a cloud infrastructure, organisations need to optimise and secure their expanded IT environments to operate in the COVID-19 shutdown. Customers are turning to our BloxOne platform and BloxOne Threat Defense solution to simplify management of their critical network services and fortify their systems from the core network to the edges.”

Mohammed Al-Moneer, Regional Director, Middle East, Turkey & Africa at Infoblox, will be taking over Sheet’s previous role.

For more information about Infoblox’s new investments and incentives, connect with Infoblox’s channel team.