James Greenham, Growth Solutions Director, UK& I, Fortinet explains to Cloud Reseller News how partners can embrace cloud security
Fortinet’s accelerated cloud strategy presents significant revenue opportunities for UK resellers and MSPs. With its differentiated, FortiOS-based SASE platform, partners can seamlessly extend existing customer infrastructure into the cloud without ripping out their prior legacy system investments. Fortinet is actively recruiting new partners with cloud expertise, offering structured onboarding, modern commercial models, and specialised training like “Enter the Dojo” workshops. By equipping partners to deliver cohesive cloud solutions, Fortinet drives long-term recurring revenue and market leadership throughout 2026.
Q Fortinet has been accelerating its cloud strategy significantly.
What does that mean in practice for UK resellers and MSPs right now?
Cloud isn’t a future conversation for our partners – it’s happening on every customer call right now, and this indicates it’s a prime opportunity to add an intelligent Point of View and deliver value to our joint customers. What’s changed is the rapid acceleration of the market adoption of Cloud technologies, and the requirement to secure these, and also the maturity of what Fortinet offers in this space.
Fortinet’s Security Fabric now extends seamlessly across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, which means partners can have genuine, end-to-end conversations with customers rather than stitching together point solutions from different vendors. For UK resellers in particular, the shift to cloud-delivered security represents a significant revenue opportunity – not just in net-new logos but in expanding existing accounts and our ability to secure and encompassing their adoption of cloud platforms and hosted services. Customers who initially might have come to us for Firewall protection are now asking about securing their cloud workloads, their remote workforce, their OT environments. Partners who have built cloud specialisations are finding they are winning larger deals and achieving better margins while doing so. We want to accelerate that by making it as easy as possible for the right partners to develop those cloud security skills and go to market with confidence alongside us.
Q SASE has become one of the most talked-about areas in security.
What’s Fortinet’s differentiated position – and what does that mean for the channel?
The market is crowded with SASE claims, but Fortinet’s position is genuinely differentiated – and independently validated. Fortinet has been recognised as a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platforms, which you can explore in full at fortinet.com, and that recognition reflects something real about how we’ve built our SASE capabilities. FortiSASE is built on FortiOS – the same single Operating System that underpins the entire Security Fabric – which means it isn’t a bolt-on or an awkwardly integrated acquisition. It’s additive – customers can extend their existing security posture to cover remote users and branch locations without ripping out infrastructure they’ve already invested in. They can leverage their Fortinet (and FortiOS) footprint and expand out the services that can be accessed from this to better service their needs. For the channel, that’s a powerful conversation. You’re not asking a customer to start again; you’re helping them grow their security architecture in a way that makes sense. Partners who understand how to position SASE as an ‘expansion play’ rather than ‘a replacement’ are finding they are opening doors on opportunities with existing customers that might otherwise have gone to a competing vendor. We’re investing heavily in helping our partners to clearly articulate that story.
Q You’ve recently launched new initiatives to bring cloud-focused partners into the Fortinet ecosystem. What does an ideal new partner look like – and what can they expect?
We’re actively recruiting partners who have strong cloud practices and ambitions in this space – whether that’s MSPs with a managed security offering, resellers who are transitioning their business model, or specialist cloud consultancies who’ve not traditionally worked with Fortinet.
The ideal partner doesn’t need to have an existing Fortinet relationship – what we’re looking for is cloud expertise, customer relationships in the mid-market and enterprise space, and a genuine appetite to build a security practice with long-term recurring revenue.
What they can expect from Fortinet is a structured onboarding process, access to specialisation programmes that differentiate them in the market, and – critically – commercial models that reflect the way cloud business is done.
We recognise that subscription and consumption-based selling requires a different kind of partner support, and we’ve built our programme to reflect that. The opportunity for new partners entering the Fortinet ecosystem right now is significant.
Q Cloud security skills gaps are a real challenge across the industry.
How is Fortinet helping partners build the expertise they need?
This is something we feel very strongly about at Fortinet. Technical skill, credentials and credibility is what separates partners who win complex cloud deals from those who lose them on capability grounds, and we’re not willing to leave that to chance.
Through our specialisation programme – and practically through initiatives like our ‘Enter the Dojo’ workshop series – we’re giving partners hands-on, structured pathways to build real expertise in areas like Cloud Security, SASE, SecOps, and OT.
These aren’t theoretical certifications. They’re practical, immersive experiences designed to make engineers and pre-sales teams genuinely capable of architecting and demonstrating cloud security solutions.
We’ve seen a measurable uplift in partner confidence and deal conversion among those who’ve completed specialisation tracks. These are really adding value to partners and supporting them elevate their cloud skills and scale their cloud businesses. Partners who invest in skills now are the ones who will own the cloud security market in their operating markets over the next three to five years. We want to give them every possible advantage in this space.
Q Many partners are still running legacy infrastructure conversations.
How do you help them bridge the gap to cloud-first thinking?
Honestly, we don’t ask partners to abandon what’s already working. The conversation we encourage is one of evolution – customers have on-premise investments that still have life in them, and Fortinet’s architecture allows partners to extend rather than replace. That said, there’s a very real commercial conversation around refresh cycles, end-of-support timelines, and the total cost of maintaining ageing infrastructure compared to a modern, cloud-delivered model.
Partners who can have that conversation confidently and fluently – who can show a customer a credible migration path rather than a cliff edge – are the ones who retain accounts long-term. We equip partners with the commercial tools, the competitive intelligence, as well as the technical proof points to have that conversation with confidence and deliver value to their customers.
Q Looking ahead to the rest of 2026, what’s your message to cloud resellers who haven’t yet engaged seriously with Fortinet?
The window for staking out a strong position in cloud security is now. The market continued to grow rapidly in Cloud adoption and leverage, customer demand is real and accelerating, and Fortinet is in an exceptional competitive position – consistently recognised as a Leader across Network Security, SASE, and Cloud Security. The benefit of Fortinet’s solution and approach – one of offering a cohesive and interoperable cybersecurity platform – is simplicity, reduced operational overhead on the customer and is built on the foundation of additive technology and incremental value – not replace or multiple vendor solution staking.
For resellers and MSPs who’ve been watching from the sidelines, or who’ve had a peripheral relationship with Fortinet, now is the time to look seriously at what a committed partnership with Fortinet might like. We have the programme, the enablement, the commercial support, and frankly the pipeline opportunity to make it worth their while. We’re looking for partners who want to grow with us – and we’re prepared to invest meaningfully in building and strengthening those relationships.
