The Channel Isn't Dying. The Reseller Model Is.
Sep 21, 2026 · 38 min · 10 segments
The channel isn't dying. The traditional reseller model is. Alan Maxwell, who leads Broadcom's Catalyst partner business internationally, puts the number on it: fewer than 15–20% of partner sales…
The channel isn't dying. The traditional reseller model is. Alan Maxwell, who leads Broadcom's Catalyst partner business internationally, puts the number on it: fewer than 15–20% of partner sales engineers could pass an unscripted, hands-on XDR architecture exam today, and the partners winning right now are the ones who stopped selling licenses and started selling outcomes.Alan just wrapped a six-part series on SECURITY.COM called The Resilient Channel. This conversation pulls it together for the VARs, MSSPs, distributors and integrators who sit between the vendor and the SOC: which structural force partners are underestimating most (regulation and cyber insurance, not AI), what separates a services-led partner from one with services language bolted on (revenue mix, hiring, comp plans), a 24-month plan to flip from 80% resale to 50/50, why MDF reform is finally real, a one-question test for whether a vendor's "agentic SOC" is agentic at all, and the liability gray area nobody in the industry has solved: when an autonomous agent knocks production offline, who holds the bag? Chapters00:00 – Who this episode is for: a 4-minute primer on the channel05:10 – Three things vendors and customers get wrong about partners06:44 – The partner's new burden: regulation, insurance, AI-speed threats11:38 – Architecting for margin: real services partners vs. fake ones17:23 – Technical enablement: why most SEs can't pass an unscripted exam22:38 – MDF reform, co-marketing that converts, compliance as an edge28:59 – Agentic AI claims, marketing math, and the liability gray area34:57 – One thing every partner CEO should do next quarter Read the seriesThe Resilient Channel, Part 1: https://www.security.com/expert-perspectives/resilient-channel-series-part-1Part 2: https://www.security.com/expert-perspectives/resilient-channel-series-part-2Part 3: https://www.security.com/expert-perspectives/resilient-channel-series-part-3Part 4: https://www.security.com/blog-post/resilient-channel-series-part-4Part 5: https://www.security.com/blog-post/resilient-channel-series-part-5Part 6: https://www.security.com/expert-perspectives/resilient-channel-series-part-6
The channel isn't dying. The traditional reseller model is. Alan Maxwell, who leads Broadcom's Catalyst partner business internationally, puts the number on it: fewer than 15–20% of partner sales…
