Meet Fortinet’s Shannon Scott, Channel Sales Director

Interview by Carlos Rodrigues

Carlos Rodrigues

President

Shannon Scott

Channel Sales Director

Welcome to the January 2026 MSP Minute!

Meet Shannon Scott, Channel Sales Director, Fortinet

Shannon Scott is the Director of US Managed Security Services Sales for Fortinet, connecting Fortinet’s Partners with innovative security technologies.  Shannon is an accomplished Sales Executive, inspiring and driving teams with 20+ years of Direct, Indirect and Channel Sales leadership. Prior to joining Fortinet, she was a Global Client Executive and Managing Partner at Verizon Business.

The Power of the Fortinet Security Fabric 

A central theme of the discussion was the Fortinet Security Fabric, an organically developed, integrated ecosystem designed to evolve alongside customer needs. 

Fortinet aligns its solutions across three major cybersecurity pillars: 

  • Secure Networking 
  • Unified SASE 
  • AI-driven Security Operations 

This unified design allows MSPs to deliver consistent security policies, faster innovation, and a lower total cost of ownership without compromising performance. 

Unlike platforms that force a trade-off between integration and “best-of-breed” capabilities, Fortinet maintains leadership positions across multiple product categories, including firewall, SD-WAN, wired and wireless LAN, and SASE, all while operating on a unified OS. For MSPs, this translates into higher visibility, simplified management, and confidence that they are delivering enterprise-grade security across diverse environments. 

Tackling MSP Complexity with an Integrated Security Approach 

One of the biggest challenges facing MSPs today is security and operational complexity. With thousands of cybersecurity vendors in the market, partners must identify the right solutions, deploy them efficiently, price them competitively, and manage them at scale. 

Fortinet addresses this challenge through deeply integrated networking and security solutions. By combining capabilities such as: 

  • Next-generation firewalls 
  • SD-WAN 
  • Networking and WAN edge functionality 

Equally important is Fortinet’s single operating system and centralized management model, which provides a single-pane-of-glass experience. This approach significantly reduces complexity, streamlines administration, and allows MSPs to manage customer environments more efficiently. 

A Comprehensive MSP Program Built for Growth 

At the core of Fortinet’s support for MSPs is its Engage Partner Program, which underpins its broader MSP and MSSP offerings. Designed to support partners at every stage of the sales cycle, the program includes: 

  • Discounts and financial incentives 
  • Training and certifications 
  • Rebates, rewards, and special promotions 
  • Sales, technical, and marketing enablement 

What truly sets the program apart is Fortinet’s focus on partner outcomes. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all model, Fortinet works to understand each partner’s business goals, strategies, and growth plans. From there, tailored sales and technical roadmaps are applied to help MSPs drive year-over-year success and improve long-term profitability. 

Enabling Recurring Revenue with Fortinet’s Offer Development Program 

Building a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) model remains a major hurdle for many MSPs, especially those transitioning from traditional project-based or CapEx-driven services. 

To support this shift, Fortinet offers a robust Offer Development Program, which provides MSPs with: 

  • Proven reference architectures 
  • Best practices drawn from a global MSP community 
  • Guidance on packaging managed security services 
  • Support for moving to OpEx-based, subscription-style offerings 

This program helps partners overcome common barriers by showing them exactly how to structure, price, and deliver profitable managed security services—while maintaining a strong security posture for customers. 

How Fortinet Delivers Differentiated Partner Value 

In an increasingly crowded cybersecurity landscape, Fortinet’s partner model stands out for its depth and maturity. Rather than simply onboarding partners and leaving them to figure things out, Fortinet delivers a highly hands-on and outcomes-based engagement. 

Through the Offer Development Program, Fortinet works closely with MSPs to: 

  • Design competitive service offerings aligned to their goals 
  • Build the required backend infrastructure 
  • Develop go-to-market and pricing strategies 
  • Train sales teams to communicate value effectively 
  • Create marketing programs to promote services to end customers 

This tailored approach ensures MSPs can differentiate themselves in the market, whether they support a few hundred users or operate as a global managed security services provider. 

Supporting MSPs in an Ever-Changing Threat Landscape 

With security threats evolving faster than ever, MSPs play a critical role in helping organizations stay protected. Fortinet’s ongoing innovation, expanding product portfolio, and long-term commitment to partner success ensure MSPs are equipped to meet those challenges head-on, today and in the future. 

By combining integrated technology, proven service development frameworks, and a deeply collaborative partner model, Fortinet empowers MSPs to deliver stronger security, simplify operations, and build sustainable, recurring revenue streams. 

The Final Word

“It’s really important that we continue to grow with our partners,” says Shannon. “As the needs of end customers change and the threat landscape evolves, our MSP partners have to be able to respond to that, and that’s where we help.” 

To learn more about Fortinet

or to sign up for Fortinet’s Partner Portal,

Click the link below or connect with Tom or Garrett!

Learn More

Tom Miller
Fortinet Vendor Manager
TomM@ClimbCS.com
714.815.1343

Garrett Brown
Fortinet Vendor Manager
GarrettB@ClimbCS.com
716.913.7128