Security vendor, Marshal, has appointed Serdar Yelutas as channel manager to revamp the vendor's partner program.

Yelutas takes over from Warren Bailey, who has left after just six months. Yelutas said his first port of call was to simplify Marshal's channel program.

"It needs improvement. What we had in place previously worked, but some partners were finding it difficult to deploy our solutions. The goal is to make it easier for them to sell the solutions and add value through providing services," he said.

Yelutas said the simplified channel program will consist of two channel partner tiers. Tier-one partners require two sales and two technically certified staff in each state, while tier-two partners can be state-based and require one sales and one technically certified staff member.

"We're providing the certification program free of charge and it's a new initiative for us that will be launched in a few weeks," Yelutas said.

Other initiatives to help Marshal's channel partners include joint marketing initiatives and an internal lead generation program. Yelutas said Marshal will have a booth at AusCert in Queensland next week, which was expected to generate a number of leads for partners.

Prior to joining Marshal, Yelutas was the regional sales manager for Tumbleweed Communications and previously held roles with Trend Micro, Vignette Corporation and Computer Associates.