‘We’re creating a new category in IT security’: Qualys MD EMEA on channel involvement

Matt Middleton-Leal talks market maturity, TikTok engagement, and customer acquisition

Qualys wants to deepen its relations with partners around the world, as the company aims “to be around for the long term.”

During the vendor’s QSC EMEA 2025 event hosted in London this week, CRN sat down with Matt Middleton-Leal, MD EMEA North and South, who talked about his highlights from the day, the company’s involvement with partners across the region, and new ways to educate the channel.

What are your main takeaways from the event?

“401 people were here yesterday being trained on the tech, over 570 people are here today, so it’s clear that the message we’re sharing is resonating with the end user base.

“Whether it’s the purchasers of the technology, the users, the people reducing risk in their businesses by buying our tech, the message is landing.

“From a partner perspective, we’ve seen a massive uptick in the strength and depth of our partner relationships over the last two years in the UK, and that’s now expanding across Europe and the Americas.

“In the UK, we’ve been very partner-focused for a long time.

“New partners are coming in, witnessing these optics and going, ‘Wow, we’re probably in the right place.’

“They’re also getting ideas about how to morph their services to be more effective at reducing risk, and how they can grow their services revenue by offering these additional capabilities.”

How many partners do you have in the UK?

“We’ve got hundreds.

“We’re very focused on a core group we can go deep with and really support.

“We have a whole host of transactional partners, those who get a deal and want to work with Qualys.

“You can’t feed and water them all the same way; you just can’t, due to scale.

“But the new category we’re bringing in are partners signing up for the managed ROC; those who want to transform their services using Qualys technology to deliver ROC services.

“That’s the part we’re super excited about.

“We genuinely think we’re creating a new category in IT security. “

Would you say 100 per cent of your UK revenue comes from the channel?

“It’s not 100 per cent channel.

“When I say we’ve been partner-focused for a long time, I mean since I joined [in 2021].

“We still have legacy customers, and some very large organisations insist on direct contracts.

“I don’t think it’ll ever be 100 per cent channel, but I’d say around 95 per cent of our net new customer acquisition is now channel-led.”

Keep reading to learn more about Qualys’ European partner network, regional challenges, and EMEA channel involvement...

What does your partner network looks like across Europe?

“The activity level often depends on market maturity.

“In Italy, 99 per cent of everything is done through the channel.

“In Benelux, there’s a strong partner focus; many large service providers there deal with lots of smaller customers.

“In the UK, most traditional systems integrators have their head offices here, managing large clients.

“It’s hard to give a simple answer because it’s such a mix across Europe, but the beauty of what we’re delivering is that it fits all sizes.”

Have there been any regions where you’ve met challenges because there are not as channel-focused?

“I don’t think so, to be honest.

“The difference is more about the speed of adoption, not whether or not the channel is used.

“For example, a traditional vulnerability management service, which has been delivered for 20 years, might involve sending a spreadsheet of vulnerabilities and CVEs once a month to another team, who then allegedly go off and fix it.

“That still happens today, but it can’t continue. There’s no way to manage a security programme like that anymore.

“The partners who are accelerating are the ones saying, ‘We’re throwing away the spreadsheet. We’re going to use real-time data, give our customers access to it, so they can see their risk scores, understand their trends, and know where to invest time and money in reducing risk.’

“Some regions are adopting this faster than others. It’s not about capability; it’s about maturity and readiness.

“The UK and the Nordics, for example, tend to be ahead of the curve.”

We’ve seen partners from all over today - Switzerland, Italy, UAE -, are there any places in EMEA where you’re not currently active but would like to expand?

“It’s more about the depth of our involvement within existing markets.

“We’re already involved quite deeply in the UK and the Middle East.

“We could definitely be more involved in Germany, Iberia, and parts of Eastern Europe.

“It’s also about doing it profitably; Qualys has always operated in a profitable fashion.

“We want to be around for the long term.

“We’ve all seen cyber vendors blow through millions and disappear. That’s not us.

“When we sign a new partner, we don’t just say, ‘Good luck.’

“We put a team around them to ensure they’re successful.

“As their maturity grows, we may step back a bit, but our technical account managers will still be there to support them.”

Eager to know more about Qualys’ partner programme, customer base, headcount ambitions, and MDF changes? Flip the page to find out...

What is your customer base?

“That’s the beauty of it; there is no defined target market.

“If I’m a business that needs to make money and I offer digital services in any way, shape, or form, then I have risk.

“Do I have enough staff to mitigate, manage, and monitor that risk? Highly unlikely in today’s market.

“Even with some market consolidation, the skills just aren’t there.

“People rely on partners to bring those skills to the table and support them.”

Have you made any changes to your leadership team or headcount recently to provide partners with new or improved services?

“Yes, we’ve been building out.

“We’ve had a training team for a long time, and we’ve expanded our channel account team across Europe.

“We’ve started bringing in technical resources as well, to better enable these partners.

“We need to make sure partners become the best version of Qualys technicians they can be, and we can only do that through enablement.

“We’re also looking at all sorts of fun stuff, as people don’t consume knowledge the same way anymore.

“You can’t afford to spend a whole week learning, so we’ve got to chop things up and make them more digestible by enabling people through TikTok videos, or similar short formats.

“It’s about finding better ways to engage, especially since many new engineers are from a different generation and far more likely to learn that way than by sitting in a classroom.”Do you tailor programmes for each region, or do they all share one common partner programme?

“The partner programme itself is the same, there’s no variation in the structure or benefits.

“What differs is the content, how we create and deliver it, so it’s relevant to each region.

“That’s where we’re still doing some work.

“The best thing we’ve done so far is getting local people in place who understand their markets and know how to support their partners in-region."

We’ve talked about the partner programme - do you intend to make any changes to your MDF in EMEA?

“I don’t think we’ll change it, we’ve got a healthy programme already.

“What we need to improve is how we help partners execute on it, that’s where we’ll put some focus.

“We’re in the process of hiring an EMEA channel marketing director to make sure the programme is applied consistently across the region.

When we invest MDF with a partner, we want to do it the right way, which means investing in the right places, and coaching them.

“We’ve got the experience; they might not have it yet.”