Baker to be channel yes man for AppRiver

Former Websense channel boss Ross Baker says he can finally cater to the needs of SMB resellers at new outfit AppRiver

Former Websense channel boss Ross Baker says he is looking forward to saying yes to partners he previously had to snub in his new role at SMB-focused SaaS security competitor AppRiver.

Baker left Websense last month to become EMEA channel director at the US-based firm, which provides a subscription-based solution encompassing anti-spam, anti-virus, email encryption and web security functionality. It has datacentres in the UK, Norway, Zurich and Hong Kong.

Crucially, Baker said that unlike most of its rivals – including Websense – AppRiver caters for partners serving the sub-500-user market who often want to pay as they go, rather than stumping up for a one-, two-, or three-year subscription up front. The vendor operates a flexible commercial model, Baker said, enabling its 45,000 customers to pay on a per-user, per-month basis. It also has no minimum order value.

Former Spamina executive Jim Tyer has also joined AppRiver, which was founded in 2002, in the same role as Baker, with the duo focusing on recruiting partners in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Benelux and DACH regions.

"I think it says a lot about AppRiver that its first two significant hires [in Europe] are channel people," said Baker.

"Of course there are other cloud products out there but our uniqueness is our commercial flexibility. We can sell on a per-user, per-month basis, which is something I had to say no to partners at Websense. This appeals to the SME channel and I am looking forward to saying yes to partners I have had to say no to in the past."

AppRiver already works with about 10 to 15 UK partners but Baker said he plans to recruit a wide breadth of partners to ensure its channel has the bandwidth to service SMBs in every UK county.

"Some vendors have exited this market, which has left us with an opportunity," he said.

Baker previously worked with two of AppRiver's top brass – Rocko Donnino and Tom Buoniello – during his stint at Sybari Software in the early noughties.

"If it wasn't for them. I would probably still be at Websense, as I wasn't too keen to leave Websense," he said.

"We are not a start-up. We are 11 years old and I would describe this as more of a geographical expansion."