Partnerships Unraveled
The weekly podcast where we unravel the mysteries of partnerships and channel to help you become more successful.
Partnerships Unraveled
Dave Allen - Inside Akamai's New Partner Program
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In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Dave Allen, Vice President of Geo Sales and Partner Sales at Akamai, to explore the strategy and innovation behind Akamai’s newly revamped Partner Connect Program. With decades of channel experience, Dave shares the methodology behind designing a partner program from the ground up one that reflects today’s evolving channel landscape and Akamai’s partner-first mindset across security, compute, and edge infrastructure.
Channel leaders tuning in will gain tactical insights on how Akamai is leveraging incentivized behaviors to drive new customer acquisition, expanding partner tiering to better reflect regional performance, and embracing distribution as a key scale lever. We also dive into how the company has embedded partner value into field compensation models and enablement structures—proving Akamai’s shift from a direct-first legacy to a truly partner-centric approach.
Whether you’re rethinking your own partner tiers, struggling with program scalability, or seeking fresh ideas around high-growth services like microsegmentation, this episode delivers actionable frameworks and strategic clarity. Don’t miss this look inside one of the most partner-focused evolutions in B2B tech.
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Welcome back to Partnerships Unreveled, the podcast where we unravel the mysteries about channels and partnerships on a weekly basis. My name is Efe, and I'm excited to introduce today's special guest, Dave. Dave, how are you doing? I'm doing well, Efe. Thank you for having me. Oh, thank you so much for joining us. We're going to dive uh in the new partner connect program, Akamai's new partner program. But before we dive into that, Dave, uh, I would love for you to give us an introduction, tell us who you are and where you come from.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. Uh again, my name is Dave Allen. I'm vice president of GeoSales and Partner Sales here at Akamai. I'm based in Massachusetts, near our headquarters at Akamai, uh, near Cambridge, Massachusetts. So at Akamai, I'm responsible for a few things. One is our overall partner sales and go-to-market motion. And then I'm also responsible for new customer acquisition. So again, thanks for having me on your podcast. It's a privilege.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks again for joining us. Um could you tell us about the new Partner Connect program? Uh, from what I heard, you uh redesigned the program Ground Up. If you were to explain the new program to a prospective partner, what is truly different today?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so you know, let me just start with, you know, at Akamai, our go-to-market approach is and has been uh with partners. And we can get into the different types of partners in a moment. But the new Partner Connect program is really intended based on a lot of input and surveys from our partners of just being easier to do business with and to create incentives uh that are lucrative to our partners that attract new partners, incent our existing partners to work more closely with us. Um but in large part it's you know streamlined partner agreements. It is recognizing um regional partnerships, not just on a global basis as far as tiering, and then it's also just improving our overall enablement and engagement with partners. So NetNet is just a more streamlined approach to engage with our partners and attract new ones.
SPEAKER_01:I would love to double down on incentives specifically. How are you using incentives to reward new uh business and also partner edit value? And also what specific uh partner behavior are you trying to drive with the incentives?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, first and foremost, it you know, we're we're really incenting our partners to help us with sourcing new opportunities for new customers that don't do business with Akamai today, but also new opportunities within our existing customers. Uh and so our incentives are really around partners that bring us into new opportunities again in new and existing customers via the traditional deal-ridge process. So that's one part of it. Uh, we're also aligning our incentives uh around our high growth use cases where we see customers engaging Akamai through our partners again, uh, particularly around security and compute. So, examples would be uh around ransomware protection, uh, and that's with our product suite called GardaCor, which is around micro-segmentation. One of the fastest growing areas for Akamai and security is also around API security. So we have a lot of incentives around partners who uh help us develop new pipeline. Uh, and then also the last part of the incentive program is around partners that are truly value add, that uh will complement our products with their services. So um, you know, it could be consultative services, certainly implementation, and the partners that provide managed services as well. So high growth areas, high growth products and use cases, and partners that provide services.
SPEAKER_01:You mentioned compute as one of the key growth areas uh for your business. Correct me if I'm wrong here, Dave, but uh I remember you saying that compute is the fastest growing business segment for Akamai. And if uh I also heard that you made major moves in the space over the last few years. Can you tell me about what gaps are you seeing in that space and what why is it such a big opportunity for Akamai?
SPEAKER_00:Sure. Yeah, Akamai is still most well known for our content delivery. Uh we're a$2.3 billion security company, but we did enter the compute segment about four years ago with the acquisition of a company called Linode. Uh and we've spent a considerable amount of uh capital expense uh to develop our capabilities in the compute space. So uh, and we entered the compute space based on requests from our customers uh who are really struggling with the expense of uh compute itself, as well as really you know, areas in which they looked at Akamai as a differentiator to help them in their compute journey. So let me let me give a little bit more detail on that. You know, Akamai's secret sauce or differentiator has always been around edge computing. You know, think of that as you know, delivering uh and creating content closest to the end users that need to receive that content. Uh so when you think about internet content, that's content delivery. When you think about security, it's securing at the edge and uh points of presence to make sure that we can get a leg up, if you will, on what the bad guys are doing in terms of trends. Uh and you know, you think about compute, and it's the same concept, which is you know, when you think about compute and virtual machines and containers and now GPU access, uh, it is more cost effective to be able to create applications at the edge and be able to deliver that application data at the edge and save on costs such as egress costs. So a number of our customers are saving substantial amount of money, particularly in egress costs as compared to the traditional compute uh providers. And so you're absolutely right. It's the fastest growing part of Aquamai's business. So we continue to innovate and attract new customers in that segment.
SPEAKER_01:That sounds amazing. I want to uh shift to a different subject because uh I want to talk about how uh in the new partner program you mentioned that you moved from global to regional tiering, which I really love the sound of that. Uh, what was the thinking behind it? First of all, actually, maybe could you explain like what do you mean by regional training uh tiering for your partners? And also explain the decision uh the thinking behind that decision and how does it change uh the way Akamai partners experience the program?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so uh, you know, most most vendors, most companies will have a tiering program in which to um you know recognize the contributions of their partners. And we move to a regional tiering uh basis and you know, looking at it from say North America or from Lap Tam, et cetera, you know, based on the growing uh number of different types of partners that we have in each of those geos. And so, you know, we we've really said goodbye to that one size fits all global top-down view of tiering and really recognizing, you know, in each geo, there's different partners that uh will help us support those customers. Uh we've also changed the way that we're calculating the tiering. So, you know, it used to be you know really focused more on revenue. Now it's around who are the partners that are bringing us into new opportunities, who are the partners, again, that are providing value add and services. Some partners are services only. So we really had to reconstitute how we think about our tiering and make sure that it's applying for both of the complementary uh approach that our partners are providing, but also the different types of partners by geo. Um and it's just a better way to make sure that we are uh being fair and equitable, but also uh you know, really investing in those partners who are really making a difference in each of those geos.
SPEAKER_01:I really love that initiative, and I'm sure also Ekamai Partners really appreciate it as well. There's another initiative that you talked about, which is uh you launched a program to connect Ekamai's regional leaders directly with their partner counterparts. Could you can you talk to me about what kind of impact are you seeing from those regional relationships and also how are they shaping the way you support your partners?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we're really excited about this. And it's frankly uh just one of the things that just seems so obvious, but not many vendors do it. Um, but we are absolutely focused on this. So, what does this mean? Um, you know, customers do business with people and companies that they trust, have relationships with, and really understand their business. And partners are the same thing. You know, you have to invest in partner relationships. You know, you think about especially the larger partners, they have hundreds of vendors and suppliers all vying for their time, all looking to scale and grow with those, with those partners. Um, and you have to invest in not just the executive level relationships, but at the regional level uh with those salespeople, technical salespeople, marketing, product, et cetera, that are closest to the customers and prospective customers we want to work with. And so you know, at Akamai, it's everybody is about partners. And so, you know, we've got regional leaders from all different parts of our company that are building relationships at a regional level, uh, particularly with our focus and strategic partners, to just stay top of mind, to help with enablement, understanding our partner's business, not saying things just through the Akamai lens. And it's really made a difference to help propel our key partner uh partnerships forward and help our joint growth.
SPEAKER_01:You mentioned that at Akamai, it's you know you have that partner first mentality truly. Uh, but I feel like there's still some people who might have the misconception that Akamai uh is dragged first. I think that idea maybe still lingers among some partners, some players out there. What's your message to the partners who are still unsure if you know Akamai truly shifted to that partner first uh mentality?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean my my cheeky response is this is in 2005, right? And so, you know, Akamai has had a partner program for 25 years. Uh it is true that, you know, in our early days, Akamai was was opportunistic with partners, particularly around our product set that was very proprietary. But certainly as we've been in the security space, which is now 15 years in the compute space, you know, four plus years, uh, the go-to-market motion is absolutely with and through partners. Whether Akamai sources the opportunity, whether the partner does, obviously we're we're we're wedded to that partner that brings us into an opportunity. But um, we have made substantial investments in uh our partner organization, our compensation to our field teams, uh, to our enablement, our partner portals, et cetera, et cetera. And uh we're very proud of that, but we also know we have more work to do. But I do want to give this an example of that. We pay our field sales teams more to sell through a partner, even if Akamai develops that opportunity than if they were to sell directly. So that's one. Uh two, we also pay our field teams if a partner is adding services. And so if the partner is adding services, we're paying our reps, our sales folks, and our technical sales folks uh based on that. Because we absolutely don't want any conflict of interest that we recognize our partners adding services is a value add to our customers. And frankly, it's uh it helps us uh retain and grow those customers over time. Uh, you know, and I would say that the last thing is this is a top-down mentality from Akamai, from our CEO on down. We go as as fast and as quickly as our partners will take us. And so it's all hands on deck. So we recommend uh anybody that's got that uh legacy stigma at Akamai to take a look at us again and and see what we can do to work with you.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I I I love to hear that uh the company has shifted so significantly over the years. You know, we are a partner first podcast, uh, we love that mentality. Another thing that I love is distribution. I want to talk about that for a second because uh I think that distribution is going to play a significant role in the new program. Can you talk to me about uh the the idea behind how how will distribution play a role in the new Akamai partner program?
SPEAKER_00:So Akamai has embraced distribution for for some time, um, but we are more tightly aligning with distribution, I would say, in 2026, and our new Partner Connect program reflects that. Uh so examples would be uh you know, we recognize, again, that um we we need to cast a wider net, particularly in new customer acquisition. And distribution partners can help us do that. You know, I'd love to double the size of my partner team, but you know, resources are finite. But distribution is a great way to help with attracting new partners, supporting existing partners, uh, enablement efforts. You know, but there's one specific area that I think is a highlight that's really, really important, and that is you know, certain distribution partners that we're working with, like Arrow, uh, will help with partners that want to be able to do a demo of certain uh solutions that Akamai has. So they can, these partners can take advantage of the distribution organization's resources versus having to come to Akamai directly to be able to do demos or even a POC and other technical services. That's a real value add and differentiator that that our distribution partners are providing. And frankly, it helps us scale without tapping out on certain resources. So, all in, we're embracing distribution at a much greater degree, certainly North America, APJ, and the other geos as well.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it sounds super exciting, Dave. The the things that you're working on, the new partner program looks uh fresh. Uh, looks like you really put partners first, you really uh thought about how to you know make Economy Partners as happy, as successful as possible. Uh I have one last question before I let you go. That is, we always end the podcast by asking our guests uh to nominate the next guest on the podcast. Who did you have in mind?
SPEAKER_00:Well, uh it's Michael McCullough. He's the global channel chief at Momcast, uh good friend of mine, uh, way more dynamic and better looking than I am. So Michael McCullough would be my choice.
SPEAKER_01:Well, thanks so much, Dave, for joining us. Thank you for this great conversation. And Michael, if you're listening, I'll be reaching out to you and hope we can get you on the podcast soon. Thank you for listening and see you in the next episode.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks very much.