Channel Awards 2024: Angus Shaw, director, Brigantia

Angus Shaw, director at Brigantia, talks about the importance of the Channel Awards and Brigantia’s inclusion

Angus Shaw serves as director at Brigantia, a specialist cybersecurity distributor in the UK and Ireland. Since taking the helm, Shaw has overseen the company's significant growth from a team of nineteen to nearly fifty employees, positioning Brigantia as a specialist in the cybersecurity sector. His strategic vision focuses on cultivating deep industry relationships and maintaining a high standard of excellence. This background sets the context for his views on the evolution of cybersecurity challenges and strategic responses in the sector, as explored in the following Q&A session.

In the interview, Shaw discusses the significance of industry accolades such as the Channel Awards, which he believes play a critical role in setting performance benchmarks and fostering innovation within the cybersecurity field.

CRN: Why do you think awards like the Channel Awards matter?

AS: Accolades matter because they provide a platform to highlight excellence, celebrate achievements, and boost motivation within the industry. They provide a performance benchmark and motivate companies and individuals to innovate and improve continually. On top of this, accolades also contribute to building trust among partners and clients, demonstrating your commitment to quality and service.

By acknowledging the best of the channel, these awards not only celebrate achievements but also inspire others to strive for higher standards, ultimately elevating the sector as a whole.

CRN: What would winning this award mean to your company?

AS: Winning the Security Distributor of the Year award would be an incredible honour for Brigantia. It would confirm that our approach (being specialists rather than generalists and adding value for partners) is the right one.

Any recognition is welcome, but this is especially prestigious. It would further reinforce our focus on being the distributor of choice, strengthen our relationships with partners, and create new ones. It would also motivate us to continue with our unique offering, ensuring we remain at the forefront of the cybersecurity landscape.

CRN: What would you say is your company’s proudest achievement over the past year?

AS: This is always a difficult question because I could honestly list many things that stand out as proud moments for Brigantia this year. We anticipated the rise of DMARC as a service by bringing forward the launch of Sendmarc, a huge success that got us ahead of the market.

We exhibited at InfoSec for the first time, and we've seen our team grow. But if there's one thing, it's that we've achieved record growth by helping our partners grow—and we've done that by protecting their clients. Our vendors, MSP partners, and end users all share the benefit. I'm incredibly proud of this because it shows the channel at its very best.

CRN: What have been the biggest challenges of 2024 so far and how have you overcome them? How have your people helped with that?

AS: Many MSPs have faced a huge challenge in 2024 with DMARC, but we've helped them turn it into an opportunity. A year or so ago, few MSPs were considering DMARC for end users, even if they managed their DNS and mail policies.

Then, Google and Yahoo announced that they'd reject emails from bulk senders without DMARC, and various email platforms like Mailchimp and HubSpot started requiring it. This sent a lot of people scrambling to create unsafe DMARC policies without

I'm proud to say that we were ahead of the curve. Before this rush, we introduced Sendmarc (a scalable, MSP-friendly DMARC-as-a-service solution). We also ran webinars and a series of educational pieces to help partners get ahead of this, protect their clients, and turn a problem into a revenue opportunity.

CRN: How do you think the channel has changed over the past year, and what changes do you think it still needs to make?

AS: Most researchers agree that MSPs' revenues are growing and will continue to do so. This probably reflects the increasing complexity and expense of managing business IT in-house.

The channel needs to anticipate and respond to the changing needs of the clients we serve, now and always. DMARC is a fantastic example, and it took proactive, creative thinking to put as much energy into Sendmarc as we did. Channel companies must anticipate trends and think strategically, and those MSPs lacking resources should rely on partners like us to help!

Some channel businesses don't lean on their partners and providers enough. The channel serves a vital role – we serve it better by working together and sharing a mission.

CRN: What do you see as the main opportunities for the channel in the coming year? How do you plan to capitalise on those opportunities?

AS: DMARC remains a huge opportunity as thousands of businesses remain unprotected. For now, Google and Yahoo require only DMARC policies from bulk senders, but we should assume that it will become mandatory across the board. This makes it an excellent opportunity for the channel to show leadership and educate customers.

There’s also a growing need for solutions that simplify system administration to compensate for the sheer complexity of modern IT infrastructure. Tools like Heimdal, which unifies multiple layers of cybersecurity into a single platform, will help achieve that need.