No gold/silver channels - just support and education as prepares for high growth in region Malwarebytes just raised $50m for expansion, and is set to expand strongly in the UK and Europe. This is a security market with no single leader, but which is set to continue to grow and see increased spending by both enterprise and SMB. How does Anthony O'Mara, EMEA sales VP of the company, who joined last summer, see it? "IT security tops biggest corporate threat charts, “ he says, and he is determined that Malwarebytes gets its share and more.
The brand is arguably strong in the US home market, so he plans to use two-tier channels to get coverage in Europe. The UK is already growing strongly, followed by France and Germany, so he is giving the business “a needed presence” in the region, jumping from one to thirty people after a decision to invest and expand in channels. The business is currently looking for more distributors and resellers across Europe.
With deals ranging in size from a few hundred seats to over 10,000, the market is broad, but repays focus, so the distributors appointed so far, with more to come, tend to be on the value-adding specialist side, like Infinigate in France, and Kite in the UK, now run by ex-Sphinx CEO Mark Hatton. “They are the type of distributor who can spot a gap in the marketplace,” he says. The idea is to use pre-sales and support to “get ahead of the market”, investing in distribution and programmes ahead of revenue. Expect announcements in Germany soon.
Broadliners seem unlikely to get much of a look-in, but the channel itself is not yet being segmented – not even a hint of the traditional gold-silver-bronze structured revenue tiers. He will look at managed service providers and other channels at year end, but at present has a lot to do managing the new teams and the several hundred percent sales growth, albeit from a low level.
“I hope to have distribution in place across Western Europe by Q2/Q3,” he says. “Education of the channel and then of the end-user works well for us,” he says, knowing that if he can get a client into a demo, the chances of the order are 70%-80%. The sales should sit alongside other security solutions, no other particular vendor is targeted either for alignment or displacement. “There is enough runway for us to use already.”