Blue Coat starts tailoring message

Vendor's incoming EMEA boss begins push for clearer partner messaging

Blue Coat's incoming EMEA vice president admits vendor was spreading itself too thinly as he aims to tighten up its messaging through partners.

As revealed by ChannelWeb, Marc Andrews joined the security and WAN optimisation specialist at the beginning of April, seven months after the exit of predecessor Craig Stewart.

Blue Coat endured a mixed 2010 with chief executive Michael Borman singling out Europe as a weak spot.

Andrews admitted there is "significant room for improvement" in Blue Coat's execution and coverage in the region. The goal now is to ensure the vendor's messaging is made crisper.

"There are alignment and coverage issues and we have tended to spread the net very thinly and not get focused," he said. "When we are in an opportunity with a partner we generally win, we just need to get in front of the right opportunities."

Andrews hinted that, over time, Blue Coat would focus its messaging on the convergence of security and WAN optimisation in the cloud.

"We would like to focus on security and WAN with the cloud as an overlay," he said. "There is a correlation between making the internet go faster and making it more secure and that is where we will see convergence of the market. Customers today don't always look at it holistically but over time cloud could help spur that on."

Andrews also addressed concerns that Blue Coat had invested too much in its direct touch resource at the expense of its channel team, stressing he has already expanded channel headcount in the UK.

"Over the last year-and-a-half the market has become a lot more competitive," he said. "When that happens you can focus and you can also differentiate. In SaaS and video we are leaps and bounds ahead of the competition and that's where we can draw away from the noise in the crowd."