‘We always look at how we can help people sleep at night’: Veeam field CTO EMEA

Edwin Weijdema reflects on cybersecurity trends, AI FOMO and tech sovereignty

US-based vendor Veeam has evolved over the years into a five-pillar data protection and cyber resilience firm.

In addition to data backup, the organisation’s pillars now include data recovery, data security, data portability and data intelligence.

Edwin Weijdema, field CTO for EMEA, recently spoke to CRN about the vendor’s evolution.

“We always look at customer demand, market risk, hacking threats and how we can solve headaches and help people sleep at night. It’s not just technology.”

The vendor is also now branching into primary data, notably through its recent buyout of Securiti AI.

“It gives context across the full lifecycle of data, from cradle to grave,” he explains.

“A big issue with AI projects today is dirty data.

“Everyone says they’re doing AI, but only ten per cent have a business reason. The rest do it because everyone else does.

“Data is oxygen. If you pollute it or cut it off, your organisation suffocates.”

To adapt its offering to new demands, Veeam also owns large R&D centres in Prague, Berlin, Warsaw and is building a new hub in Lisbon.

“Sometimes we build, sometimes we buy, depending on time-to-market and priorities. There’s always a balancing act,” says the CTO.

This evolving offering has not only added partners to Veeam’s roster, but has also driven some of them to adapt, by for example moving from backup and recovery into security services as well.

“We push organisations to mature in resiliency. It’s a journey. You don’t become mature overnight,” he explains.

As the firm has gradually developed its portfolio, it has also had to adapt its messaging to partners to keep them aligned with its direction.

To do so, collaborators have access to resources such as Partner Central, Partner University, training, betas as well as launch events.

“We focus heavily on explaining the ‘why’, not just the ‘how’,” highlights Weijdema.

“I always use the trifecta: people, process, technology. Technology supports processes, which people use. Many AI projects fail because they reverse that.

“We also rely heavily on feedback. You often have to repeat a message nine times before it sticks.”

Beyond feedback, the organisation also analyses cyber outages around the world, particularly through its global information security (GIS) unit, split into two branches; threat assessment and threat hunting.

Its governance, risk and compliance (GRC) arm helps ensure Veeam holds certifications and compliance credentials it can demonstrate publicly.

“We have different people within Veeam looking at the market, what happened in incidents, talking to partners and customers and helping those that have been hit.

“That’s why we have field CTOs in every region. We talk to partners and customers, then feed information back to product management.”

Tech sovereignty, AI bubble and sixth pillar

For European partners, for who tech repatriation is an increasing concern, Weijdema says Veeam can help address the issue.

“Some people say, ‘We have to store data locally.’ Locality is not sovereignty by default.

“We have data portability, so you can pick things up and move them elsewhere when they again fit within your boundaries.

“Because of GDPR, seven years ago you could already specify where backup storage resides. You can even apply rules like, ‘This dataset cannot go to the UK,’ or vice versa.

“Now with sovereignty and geopolitics, people say, ‘Oh, we need that.’ You already had it. You just had to think about strategy and apply the rules in the product.

“Some are pulling back from the cloud because of sovereignty, using Veeam tools to move workloads back and get them running.”

On another current topic, the AI bubble, the CTO says he does not see a collapse in the foreseeable future.

He identifies the risk instead as FOMO, with companies rushing into AI adoption without a plan, which may lead to firms pausing, reassessing and restarting projects.

While the vendor currently sees opportunities in primary data, Weijdema hints at a future reshaping of its pillars, driven by marketing and demand generation.

“There may be a sixth or seventh pillar, or a restructuring. Stay tuned.”