From idea to reality: Bringing our Partner Forum to life

Rachel

As we finally launch the Partner Forum, I just want to take a moment to reflect on how we got here and give you a glimpse into the work that went into bringing this idea to life.

Exactly one year ago, the WithSecure Channel Enablement team was already hard at work squeezing insights from our most recent Channel Workshop, which brought perspectives from our country teams and markets as we looked to take our next steps to evolve the Partner Program. Ways to connect with other partners came up time and time again — there was interest in competitions, collaborations, best practices, and we knew that this was a gem and something we had to make happen.

At first, we explored other avenues, such as hosting a discussion space on Reddit, but these third party places brought some challenges. It was hard to ask you and our own employees to get another account, it wasn't intuitive, and it was difficult to facilitate discussion. So, we decided to harness our technology to build something tailor made, designed with you in mind. A space that we can also grow and adapt.

We're so proud to launch this and we hope you're just as excited as we are. As you navigate the Forum, what are your first reflections and impressions?

LiselotteP

It's been many months in the making, and I am thrilled we were able to co-create this Forum. Many people have been involved: @Rachel, @JariV, @VilppuWS, @TeroHuostila, @Ruusinen, @tmie, @MinttuK, @Emil, @Suvi

When I flip back through the pages in my notebook - because yes, I'm old school, and I have to write everything down - the first note I took on this topic was "Make a Group for partners". Needles to say, it turned into something much bigger than that!

Once we were happy with the initial set up, we had to name our new Forum. Here were some of the ideas we had:

• Partners Connect
• Partner Corner
• Partner Chat
• Partner Village
• Partner Lobby
• Partner Lounge
• Partner Link
• Partner Pulse
• Partner Collab
• Partner Sync
• Partners Alliance
• Partner Pro's
• Partners Talk
• Partner Network

You might be wondering why we chose Partner Forum over others… The word 'Partner' just had to be in there, as the platform is exclusively designed for partners.

Next, we wanted a word that had collaborative spirit, was community-centric and forward-thinking. Bam there it was. 'Forum' just made sense!