Dave Allen - Inside Akamai's New Partner Program

Episode notes

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.

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