Cradlepoint, a global cloud-delivered LTE and 5G wireless network solutions provider, recently announced significant updates for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) at the 2023 North American Partner Summit in Austin, Texas.
The company said it will expand its current offerings as part of the existing Cradlepoint Partner Program. This includes enhancing NetCloud functionality and licensing benefits, specialized support, and the development of an “MSP Playbook.” The expansion is being done in an effort to boost the MSP experience, the company said.
The announcement comes as more organizations adopt wireless solutions such as 5G to deliver secure and reliable wire-area network (WAN) connectivity. The year of “wireless value realization is upon us,” according to technological research and consulting firm Gartner. The firm noted that 50 percent of enterprise wireless endpoints are expected to use networking services that deliver additional capabilities beyond communication by 2025.
“Wireless WAN and 5G in the partner community is where cloud was five to seven years ago,” Eric Purcell, senior vice president, global partner sales for Cradlepoint, told CRN. “All of a sudden, partners are seeing the shift in opportunity. Our strategy from a partner program perspective is just to really enable our partners to build a profitable and sustainable wireless practice and deliver exceptional experiences to the customers in the way they want to consume Cradlepoint. We don’t have a services organization, so we work with our partners as kind of another unique differentiator.”
The market’s rapid growth offers Cradlepoint and its partners an opportunity to expand their Wireless WAN leadership — in particular MSPs that leverage Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Service and portfolio of fixed sites, mobile and IoT cellular routers.
Customers often leverage managed services to cut IT costs and stay current with new technologies. When that happens, MSP customers rely on Cradlepoint solutions, managed by NetCloud Manager, to meet growing needs. Cradlepoint’s new flexible subscription model will allow MSPs to control their customer lifecycle and bolster profitability. Meanwhile, partners will be rewarded for their performance and loyalty through future lead generation capabilities, the company said.
Cradlepoint’s specific new enhancements include updated benefits and requirements that align with the MSP practice; Cradlepoint University Training targeted specifically for the MSP practice and planned NetCloud Manager enhancements exclusively for MSPs.
The company also plans to develop an “MSP Playbook,” which is scheduled to be released during the second half of 2023. The playbook will provide partners with guidance on their market opportunity, use cases and success stories, marketing, sales, training support, and a full program review. It’s also designed to support MSPs further as they work with Cradlepoint to create and deliver managed networking and cloud-based services as key components in their offerings.
“5G is an essential WAN infrastructure, and we are seeing firsthand how our partners are leveraging the technology to enable agile and secure connectivity for their customers while creating new market opportunities for their own business,” said Tony Puopolo, vice president of MSP Sales at Cradlepoint. “We are, ‘all channel, all the time,’ meaning our partners are an extension of our company. As our channel program has grown globally, we have listened and worked with our partners to evolve and enhance our programs, including this very important step of supporting their managed service offerings.”
