The cloud and AI security superstar is launching the Partner Alliance program—including a dedicated new services track—in response to partner demand, Channel Chief Andy Ritchie tells CRN exclusively.
Wiz debuted a refreshed partner program Monday including a dedicated services track for the first time, as the cloud and AI security superstar seeks to deepen its channel engagement in a fast-moving market, executives told CRN exclusively.
The launch of the new Wiz Partner Alliance program comes as the five-year-old company seeks to accelerate work with solution and service provider partners, even as the planned $32 billion acquisition of the company by Google is expected to close next year.
[Related: Google Confirms Wiz Acquisition To Close In 2026; $3.2B Fee On The Line]
Notably, the Wiz channel program will introduce a new services track to boost partner delivery of services around the fast-growing vendor’s cloud and AI security platform, Wiz Channel Chief Andy Ritchie (pictured) and President Dali Rajic said in interviews with CRN.
Overall, the new program is aimed at “bringing this global community of partners together to engage with us in a differentiated way—because they engage with customers in a differentiated way,” said Ritchie, head of worldwide channels and alliances at Wiz.
“Some of those partners are in an advisory capacity, like the [global system integrators]. Some of them are in a build capacity, like some of the managed services providers. Some are in a resale capacity,” he said. “The Wiz Partner Alliance program is going to enable those partners to engage with us in a way that suits the way they want to work with us.”
Ritchie was promoted to channel chief at Wiz in September after overseeing channel and alliances in the EMEA and LATAM regions for the company since May 2024. He had formerly spent nearly three years in channel roles at cybersecurity giant Zscaler.
Along with the launch of the services program, the Wiz Partner Alliance also features a new structure with three tiers for solution and service providers, according to the company. Other updates include improved discounts, marketing development funds and access to Wiz teams, executives said.
The new channel program will serve as the template for how Wiz works with solution and service provider partners well into the future, according to Rajic, president and COO of Wiz.
The planned acquisition by Google, which was announced in March and would be the tech giant’s largest M&A deal to date, should only increase the momentum for Wiz and its partners, Wiz and Google executives have said.
“The blueprint we’re building is the blueprint of the partner dynamics and engagement future, and hence it’s only going to be expanded,” Rajic said. “I don’t see anything changing with that.”
All in all, the goal for Wiz is to provide a “more structured approach” for working with partners, he said.
Partner Commitment
Wiz executives pointed to collaborations with partners such as GuidePoint Security, No. 37 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 for 2025, as a model for how partners can engage with Wiz around services delivery. GuidePoint has developed a services offering focused on making the Wiz cloud security platform fully operational for customers, according to Wiz and GuidePoint executives.
For Herndon, Va.-based GuidePoint, the timing and approach of the new Wiz Partner Alliance program is ideal, said Mark Thornberry, senior vice president for partnerships at GuidePoint.
Given how quickly Wiz has grown, it’s a strong move for the vendor to update key components of its program while also laying the groundwork for expanded partner services, according to Thornberry.
“They’re reinvigorating some things that needed to be looked at, but not changing everything about it—because everything about it doesn’t need to be changed,” he said.
On the whole, it’s clear that Wiz is listening to its partners with the updates in the new alliance program, said Thornberry, who noted that Wiz is one of the largest partners for GuidePoint.
The debut of the program is also a welcome signal as the planned Google acquisition moves forward, he said.
The Wiz partner program refresh “comes at a great time to continue to keep partners engaged and feel good about the investments that they’ve made over the years,” Thornberry said.
The U.S. Department of Justice recently cleared the deal, setting the stage for the acquisition to be completed in 2026, Wiz and Google said in previous statements.
Services Push
With the new services program, Wiz is seeking to enable more partners to engage with the company on services in the way that companies such as GuidePoint have done, Rajic said.
Without a doubt, partner-delivered services will be pivotal to helping Wiz continue its massive growth, executives said.
Founded in 2020, Wiz got off to a rapid start by growing from zero to $100 million in annual recurring revenue during its first 18 months in the market, before surging to $500 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in 2024. Expectations are for the company to double to $1 billion in ARR for this year, according to prior reports.
A key differentiator for Wiz has been to offer capabilities that rapidly and dramatically improve cloud visibility, enabling partners and customers to fix misconfigurations and other critical security gaps in the cloud—and now, within AI platforms as well.
Crucially, Wiz has also prioritized partner engagement and enablement from the get-go, and the new alliance program only doubles down on its channel emphasis to help meet emerging needs, Wiz executives told CRN.
The Wiz Partner Alliance is meant to provide the foundation for partners who are services-focused or are finding increased customer demand to deliver services around the Wiz platform, Ritchie said.
Ultimately, “we’re launching the program because of the partners’ appetite to engage with us in a services way,” he said.
