Foresite Exec Reveals Plans to Move to Two-Tier UK Channel Model
MSSP Foresite plans to partner with a VAD in the first part of this year, according to Jason Humphreys, SVP of managed services.
Speaking to CRN on the launch of the Farnborough-based vendor’s EMEA partner programme, Humphreys (pictured) said the firm plans to expand Foresite’s current UK partner base from under 15 to 50.
He said this will help leverage Foresite’s ability to spark up conversations with distributors.
“Given the fact that we are starting to go down the distribution path, we would probably be looking to start with the smaller and medium-sized distributors, before going to the bigger ones,” he said.
“There are two reasons for this: some distributors have recognised that they are not selling enough services, so they are more ready to have services conversations than they were a few years ago.
“Some are also trying to increase their services share within their portfolio, so they have access to far more partners than we could get access to [alone], so it’s a good route to market for us.
“At the moment we’re not releasing names – it is difficult to do that until you start building up some partnerships – but I expect an announcement will be made within the first half of this year.”
Foresite is a channel-only company and its offerings include security monitoring and analysis, log storage and management, security infrastructure management and orchestration.
This programme is new for the vendor, which previously had an informal arrangement with organisations it knew, Humphreys explained.
He said the firm is now focusing its efforts on capitalising on its success in the US and emulating it in the UK market.
The VP is currently seeking British VARs that specialise in security products, but says that the partner programme also applies to MSPs and security consultants.
“We’re looking for VARs who are predominantly selling security products and who may be of a size that they don’t have the investment to build a security operations centre or have the time to build one to go to market,” he explained.
“We give them a quick time to market with no upfront costs and they have the ability to sell a managed security service to their existing customer or potential customers.”
Humphreys said that the partner programme came about as a way to seize on growing market opportunities in the areas of compliance and retention of skilled cybersecurity technicians.
“It is very difficult for companies to recruit and retain skilled security people, so it’s good for partners to have a managed service provider who can provide that security expertise,” he stated.
“The addressable market for managed security has grown significantly from past six or seven years ago.
“At that time managed security was mainly for enterprise organisations, now it is for SMBs through to those large organisations.
“There are now way more customers looking for additional help with managed security services than there were a number of years ago.”
