Proofpoint picks perfect 10 to boost EMEA business

SaaS security vendor will make new partners buy through a core group of 10 UK resellers

SaaS security vendor Proofpoint is throwing its weight behind a small band of UK partners as it seeks to grow its EMEA business from 10 to 40 per cent of overall revenue.

The NASDAQ-listed vendor is refusing to take on any new partners here for at least a year unless they buy through 10 resellers Proofpoint has selected to help grow its enterprise business in this country.

These include Trustmarque, Accumuli, Blue Cube and NTS.

Ciaran Rafferty, vice president for northern Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Proofpoint, said next year the focus will move from generating demand to enabling its channel partners and admitted the email gateway, DLP and archiving and governance specialist had made channel mistakes in the past.

"A vendor has to make the market before bringing in the channel and we hadn't done that before."

Over the past year, Proofpoint has snagged large UK deals with a top-four global accounting firm and top-four advertising company, with business often being won from rival Postini - which is in the process of being phased out by parent Google.

Proofpoint's UK headcount is set to expand from 33 to 50 next year, added Rafferty, whose first move upon joining the vendor was to shift from a two-tier to a one-tier channel strategy.

"We've done the heavy lifting and shown partners what is possible," Rafferty (pictured) said.

"Now they're thinking, if you have that size of business on an annuity basis and your retention rate is really good, that's a really good business model. The growth we have shown proves we're on the right road; we just need to execute with our channel and educate them."

Proofpoint has made a handful of acquisitions in the past year including APT outfit Armorize Technologies and MailDistiller, which Rafferty said had enabled partners to compete in the mid-market against outfits such as Mimecast. In its most recent quarter, ending 30 September, Proofpoint saw revenue rise 27 per cent to $34.5m (£21.2m), although net losses reached $7.2m.

Any new UK partners will have to adopt a "child-parent" relationship with one of Proofpoint's existing allies "until they have done a consistently good job", Rafferty said.

"A lot of people sign up partners willy nilly but we don't want to go down that route," he explained. "If they are building a good business with us, we may in a year's time say now you've proved yourself you can have a direct relationship'."