Secunia ditches direct-only model and opens up to channel

Danish security vendor says previous attempts to partly include the channel failed

Security vendor Secunia has ditched its direct-only model in favour of a 100 per cent channel approach in a move it hopes will drive up sales.

The firm – which is headquartered in Copenhagen but has an office in Minneapolis and soon Vienna too – focuses on vulnerability management technology with its core offerings being Vulnerability Intelligence Manager (VIM) and Corporate Software Inspector (CSI).

Since its establishment in 2002, Secunia sold entirely through its own direct sales force, but since the summer it has changed tack completely and created a channel-only model instead.

The move was spearheaded by new chief executive Peter Colsted – who also joined in the summer – who said his previous 15 years' experience at Microsoft proved to him the benefits of working through partners.

Since the summer, some 20 partners have joined up in the UK as well as VAD Alpha, which Colsted said was a great start.

He explained why previous efforts to involve the channel had failed. "[Direct only] was before my time so I can only imagine why [it did not work]," he said. "It wasn't well designed... and you saw competition between direct and the channel, which is an obvious mistake.

"I don't think Secunia was clear on what channel would be the best for selling this kind of product. Over the summer we've hired a number of people with extensive channel experience and with me coming from Microsoft, which has extensive channel experience, we are now in a much better position."

Secunia's products are suitable for all organisations from SMBs to enterprise, Colsted said, adding that he aims for between five and 10 UK resellers to sell its enterprise offerings and even more for its lower-end products.

He added that he is certain the channel-only approach will boost business. "I think we will be much more successful [now] and there is a very good reason for this," he said. "I think customers who buy security solutions buy from somebody they trust and there needs to be a trusted relationship between the partner and the customer.

"This is something that is very hard for us to establish remotely from Copenhagen. From that point of view that makes a lot of sense and this is why I think the channel will be much more successful [for us]."