WatchGuard Technologies has underlined its commitment to channel growth by signing a UK distribution agreement with Oxfordshire-based Purdicom, which specialises in delivering mid-market networking, wireless and cloud-based solutions.
“We are delighted to welcome Purdicom and its 1,600 plus resellers on board,” said Jonathan Whitley (pictured), sales director for Northern Europe at WatchGuard. “With its focus on fixed and wireless networking solutions in the mid-market, we are in an ideal position to add the all-important security piece to Purdicom’s growing portfolio.”
Talking exclusively to IT Europa recently, Whitley indicated that this is announcement is just a foretaste of things to come: “We're looking at expanding our distribution partners to help us expand into other markets. It's very much an active project that goes beyond just the UK and goes throughout the whole EMEA region. and globally. It is also crucially where we're looking for future growth.”
In growing its channel business, WatchGuard is focusing heavily on the mid-market and believes it is particularly well placed to meet its needs; “smaller businesses, mid-market businesses, that we tend to focus our efforts on, generally speaking, don't have huge IT staffs, so having a specialist who's outside of the business who can actually make sure that everything's configured correctly, everything is updated correctly and is working well, really works for the mid-market. They don't look at security in terms of it being something that actually increases their efficiencies, what they really want is the problem to be taken away from them.”
This focus on the mid-market and their particular needs is also why WatchGuard is increasingly targeting the fast growing managed services sector “one of things we've really noticed in terms of recent market shifts is the shift towards managed services. It just seems to be a march that just doesn't slow down. It's by far and away the fastest growth area within our business. Just to put a figure on it, we grew more than five-fold in the U.K. in terms of managed services revenue year on year,” said Whitley.
“Growth via the channel is coming from two different directions. Some is coming from existing partners who are actually starting to transition their business, away from the normal sort of VAR model, to that of having managed services has been the main delivery mechanism. And then we also see new channel partners coming to WatchGuard because they're looking at what we've done in terms of the programs we have, the way we sell our hardware and software and also the way we can deliver in terms of our cloud platform that are really attractive to managed services providers,” he added.
“The Purdicom and WatchGuard partnership promises a 360-degree solution, which is straightforward and simple to integrate,” said Steve Kent, Sales & Marketing Director at Purdicom. “With two tiers of security services, Basic and Total Security Suite, WatchGuard provides security solutions for a wide range of vertical markets backed up by a strong reputation for supporting its channel partners.”
