Bruen announces first vendor signings

Former Westcon boss clinches first vendor contracts for latest channel venture

Kay Bruen: Introducing emerging technologies to the channel will help VARs differentiate themselves

Former-Westcon boss Kay Bruen has announced the first signings to the vendor consultancy arm of her latest channel venture, Clipsham IT.

The firm was set up by Bruen following her departure from Westcon Security in 2009 and part of its remit is to advise overseas vendors on how to break into the UK market.

Bruen said: “The idea is to open doors for vendors that might not have the size of business or market presence yet to make a distributor sit up and take notice or the resources available to set up a channel on their own.”

The first vendors to sign up for the company’s consultancy services are both Israel-based and include managed service specialist My Single Point (MSP) and security vendor Insightix.

“My passion is emerging technologies and the number of new, innovative products coming to market dropped off during the recession,” added Bruen. “But, I think by introducing these new vendors and their offerings to the channel, it will open up new opportunities and help VARs to differentiate themselves in the market.”

She revealed that she has signed a two-year contract with MSP and will work with the firm to deliver proof-of-concept opportunities, recruit partners and form technology alliances with complementary vendors, such as SAP and Oracle.

For Insightix, Clipsham will be responsible for establishing a channel partner network for the firm to market its range of business security assurance products.

Eli Keren, vice president of sales at Insightix, said the partnership will be akin to the vendor having its own UK offices.

She added: “By both recruiting new channels to market and doing direct touch sales, we forecast rapid growth [for our business] through Clipsham.”