NSE 8 Certification facilitating Partner Success

Your customers are facing a threat landscape that continues to grow in both complexity and frequency. For today’s businesses, regardless of their industry, it’s more important than ever to ensure that IT professionals are equipped with the latest cybersecurity solutions and capabilities to address the sophisticated threats they are being targeted with. This is especially critical today as organizations also wrestle with the current cyber security skills shortage, which is straining your customers’ existing IT personnel to maintain existing cybersecurity standards with fewer resources and less available skilled manpower than ever before. The need to simply maintain basic security practices across an expanding network makes it difficult for them to effectively expand their existing skillsets or focus their attention toward preparation against future threats.

Regardless of these challenges, your customers still need to ensure they are minimally impacted by the next cyberattack. In spite of resource limitations, they need the capability to effectively mitigate against modern cyber threats while simultaneously remaining alert to new and evolving attack vectors and methods. To assist them with this, security partners need to be able to help facilitate successful cybersecurity by recognizing the network security problems they face and connecting them with the vital security solutions and implementation they need.

By participating in Fortinet’s Network Security Expert (NSE) program, partners are able to better assist their customers by expanding on their existing network security skills, as well as their knowledge of Fortinet technologies, while also staying up-to-date on the latest trends across the threat landscape. And for those partners who wish to demonstrate complete mastery of network security, they can complete the NSE 8 certification, an industry-recognized certification that certifies expert knowledge in the complexities of both modern cybersecurity as well as the industry-leading Fortinet security solutions. To date, there are only about 150 NSE 8 engineers worldwide that have gone through the necessary steps to earn the distinction of this advanced certification. Completing this certification establishes both the engineers and the organizations they represent as being among the most elite security professionals in the industry.

The Network Security Expert Program

The NSE program helps partners expand on existing knowledge and validate their experience within the network security space. Over the course of the program, participants build a better understanding of today’s network security needs, bringing them up-to-date on modern cyberthreats and the solutions and strategies needed to combat them. From beginner to expert-level, our program helps partners better secure their customers while expanding their knowledge of Fortinet products. NSE certification at any level helps partners:

* Validate existing network security skills and experience

* Demonstrate value to existing and prospective customers

* Better leverage Fortinet network security offerings

* Offer customers a variety of new services

Additionally, each self-paced or instructor-led course builds partner understanding of the latest threat landscape challenges and related network security needs, helping build customer confidence and shorten the sales cycle. The Network Security Program is organized acrosseight levels and is available with courses and learning packages hosted through Fortinet’s NSE Institute. Additionally, partners can earn industry-recognized certifications for completing NSE program levels. In order to earn certifications, partners need to complete the NSE examthat corresponds with each course.

The Benefits of NSE 8 Certification for Partners

The highest level of the NSE program, the NSE 8 certification, places partners in a select group of network security experts from across the globe who have demonstrated mastery of our broad portfolio of advanced Fortinet Security Fabric solutions. By reaching NSE 8, partners demonstrate that they are best-in-class network security experts, which can lead to:

Shortened sales cycles: Partners who complete the NSE 8 certification demonstrate unrivalled knowledge of the Fortinet solutions used to combat modern cyberthreats. Having mastered both the solutions and their applications, certified partners have the expertise and efficiency to quickly identify network security vulnerabilities and address them efficiently for their customers.

Industry-leading recognition: In order to complete the Network Security Expert level 8 program, partners have to demonstrate mastery of network security practices as well as Fortinet solutions. Additionally, in order to receive certification, participants must illustrate that they can successfully apply the solutions needed to combat modern threats over an intensive two days of hands-on practical sessions.

Increased revenue streams: NSE 8 certification has been proven to help partners increase their revenue streams compared to businesses without certification. The combination of threat proficiency and expert knowledge of Fortinet solutions means our partners are able to leverage the wide variety of Fortinet and Fortinet Partner security solutions to address complex network security issues-expanding the solutions they can offer to a wider range of customers.

Better customer acquisition and retention: Partners who complete the NSE 8 program enjoy industry recognition, and are featured as Fortinet trusted advisors. Combining up-to-date threat landscape knowledge with solution expertise means you will be better equipped to serve new customers than the competition, and better able to address your customers’ network security problems long-term.