Kong Introduces Go-to-Market (GTM) Partner Program as Enterprise Adoption of APIs, Microservices and Hybrid Architectures Accelerates

SAN FRANCISCO, May 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Kong Inc., the leading API and service lifecycle management platform for modern architectures, today unveiled the Kong GTM Partner Program to meet the growing demand for its Kong Enterprise API platform. With 20 inaugural members worldwide that have been carefully selected and qualified, this new program is designed to help organizations successfully transition to microservices, service mesh and other modern architectures by leveraging the local expertise of professional value-added resellers (VARs) and systems integrators (SIs).

Global 5000 companies are racing to transform themselves into digital enterprises as they shift away from monolithic legacy systems towards decentralized, hybrid and multi-cloud architectures. The Kong GTM Partner Program helps VARs and SIs stay at the forefront of the industry and offer their customers innovative solutions for creating and managing scalable, high-performance microservices-driven applications. Kong provides partners with all the tools, resources and in-depth training they need to effectively market and implement Kong Enterprise in customer accounts.

"nexDigital is laser-focused on helping companies across EMEA transition to modern software architectures, so becoming a Kong GTM partner was a very strategic decision for us," said Sébastien Bergougnoux, CEO of Devoteam nexDigital. "Kong has a very compelling vision for the future of API management, and its powerful solution for microservices applications is unmatched in the industry today. We're impressed with the quality of the training and resources as well as the direct access to the Kong team that we've received through the GTM Partner Program, which has enabled us to quickly start engaging with clients and closing deals."

"As leaders in bringing open source-based technologies to large organizations in Japan, one of SIOS' main services is designing API ecosystems for companies in a range of fields, including cloud services, fintech and manufacturing, to enable them to safely connect service-driven applications with partners and customers," said Tsukasa Nihei, general manager of the Professional Service Planning Department at SIOS. "Kong has the most innovative and well-designed API platform on the market today and is a core enabling technology for us. As a Kong partner, we have access to all the training and support we need to ensure every project is a success and to help us grow our business."

How the Program Works
VARs and SIs interested in joining the Kong GTM Partner Program can apply online at https://konghq.com/gtm-partners/. After completing the qualification phase, the partner candidate is eligible to enter the program as a Silver partner.

To ensure ongoing success in the program, partners are required to participate in a range of sales/technical training activities, including the Kong Partner Kollective, an annual, interactive, hands-on session where partners:

• Hear the latest company updates
• Participate in hands-on technical training sessions
• Interact with the Kong team in sales training sessions
• Learn Kong's sales strategy in collaborative, break-out groups
• Gain knowledge around Kong's product roadmap and vision
• Provide input and observations from their territory
• Network with other GTM partners and key Kong personnel

As Silver partners gain expertise in Kong, they may be eligible to become a Gold and eventually a Diamond level partner, which provide first-point-of-contact (Level 1) support to customers, including leading implementation, configuration, trouble-shooting and customization, as well as being authorized Kong solution services providers. Gold and Diamond partners will have tighter alignment with Kong and be eligible to participate in special invite-only programs such as the Partner Advisory Council and future certification programs.

"Navigating the transition from monolith to microservices, centralized to decentralized, is an ambitious undertaking for any organization," said Randall Jackson, VP of worldwide sales at Kong. "With our new partner program, we are creating a global ecosystem of experts who have been carefully selected and met rigorous requirements to ensure they are able to fast track enterprises on their modern software journey. We are thrilled to be rolling out the program with 20 highly qualified global partners and look to rounding it out with a few dozen more over the next couple of years, with a cap on roughly 50 partners in all."

About Kong Enterprise
Built on Kong's core open source technology, Kong Enterprise is an end-to-end API and service lifecycle management platform that enables organizations to effectively secure, connect and orchestrate their APIs and services. It is designed for the modern era of software development, seamlessly connecting APIs and microservices across cloud-native, hybrid and on-prem environments. Advanced Kong Brain and Kong Immunity features leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to help automate the entire API and service development lifecycle from pre-production to post-production. With Kong Enterprise, Kong is building toward the industry's first service control platform that will intelligently broker the flow of information across all of an organization's services.

About Kong Inc.
Kong delivers a next-generation API and service lifecycle management platform designed for modern architectures, including microservices, containers, cloud and serverless. Offering high flexibility, scalability, speed and performance, Kong enables developers and Global 5000 enterprises to reliably secure, connect and orchestrate microservice APIs for modern applications. Kong is building the future of service control platforms to intelligently broker information across services. For more information about Kong, please visit https://konghq.com/ or follow @thekonginc on Twitter.                                                                                            

Media Contacts:                                                              
Pauline Louie, Kong, [email protected], (415) 754-9283
Jill Reed, Sift Communications for Kong, [email protected]

SOURCE Kong Inc.