James Munroe, Head of Channel Sales, UK at Trend Micro is finding the managed services market is changing but thinks his company’s own longevity in the market and brand is helping it. He talked to IT Europa at last week's CloudSec event in London which saw several hundred end-users gather to learn more about security threats and solutions.
“Trend has always had a very strong MSP focus, certainly for over a decade. Some of our competitors now still talking about launching into MSPs. It's a tough market to get into because it's so fiercely competitive,” he says.
And the new competitors, many backed by venture capital? “I like being called traditional. And we see all these new faces, with their advertising and huge market caps with very low revenue streams. We have a very stable and mature channel. It means we are trusted and we're not making any silly knee-jerk reactions.”
“What we're really doing is two things - being that trusted advisor, not only educating people about Trend and our proposition, but also the routes to market with technology partners. So that is a real differentiator for us, because a lot of people are talking about it, but not doing it.”
And partners are signing up and working in particular with AWS, but perhaps don’t understand what it means for both them as MSPs and the customers. There is a lot of pull-through and AWS are pushing hard on partners, but customers are looking at certain work streams.
“Trend Micro has over 300 partners in our MSP channel in the UK alone. But I think one of the real changes for us in the last two years is that partners want to know even more about what we're doing. So many vendors try to make partners fit their model, their agenda. Trend will always work to the partner agenda.”
He looks at the “vast number” of new vendors coming on the market on a weekly basis and says there's a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt in that.
“From a Trend Micro perspective, because we are very much about innovation and a technology-first company, its very, very important to our partners that we are trusted, that we're offering the right solutions, and also that we have the flexibility in go-to-market as well. We work from the traditional MSP point of view. There's no upfront commitment. It's very much a pay as you go model and excellence.”
He claims a very stable and mature channel, but also engagement with new channels. “Where we are talking a great deal again is around marketplaces, to the born in the cloud partners, those partners that are really not bothered by a license sale anymore. It is having that best of breed technology that is trusted from an end-user perspective as a security wrap. So really, I think from a new business point of view, we are talking to a lot of those partners.”
And he is seeing digital transformation and moving workloads, while securing that environment as drivers And the message he heard from the partner meeting last week was also encouraging: ‘you've got great technology and actually we're margin-rich’ he says.
“That's where we're seeing a lot of new channels and also from a Trend Micro point of view, we are very much focused on those partners that believe in a true partnership. Where we win and lose together. I know that sounds like a real cliché, but that is so, so important. And that is where we invest marketing and energy.”
So there's a lot of consolidation but I think we actually have a very unique opportunity here at Trend because, going back to that traditional tag, it means we have the stability and the trust of the community.”
