BeyondTrust looks to channel in bid to triple in size
US security player buoyed by recent investment hopes to go 100 per cent channel
Security vendor BeyondTrust is hoping to triple in size, following its buyout by private equity firm Veritas Capital for $310m (£201m) in September.
This growth is going to be driven by the channel, as the vendor expands its EMEA channel focus and aims to operate solely via the channel in the UK and EMEA by the end of 2015, according to newly appointed vice president for strategic alliances Kevin Gallagher.
Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, BeyondTrust operates in the UK via a single-tier channel model. It is partnered with Blue Cube Security, Softcat and I-Bit in the UK, but Gallagher said the company is looking to recruit more UK resellers, as well as system integrators, as it targets a 100 per cent channel model – up from the current total of 93 per cent indirect sales.
Gallagher said he did not have a specific number of partners in mind, but was targeting "quality over quantity".
"The channel for us has not been our highest priority, but now it is, and for us to be able to continue our double-digit growth, year over year, there is no way we will be able to do that without our partner community," Gallagher said.
In order to aid this channel push, BeyondTrust has updated its partner portal and added more resources to its partner training programme.
The vendor does not have a distributor in the UK, but Gallagher did not rule out signing one up if the right opportunity came along.
Gallagher said that following the buyout by Veritas Capital, the company has plans to expand rapidly and the current backer wants to see the company grow by two to three times in the next five years.
He said Veritas has provided funds for the company to expand, after the capital firm bought the company from Insight Venture Partners.
Following this investment, the company has taken on 58 new global employees in 2015 already, and is recruiting more sales and channel staff.
With offices in Leeds, the Netherlands and Munich, the company operates a two-tier strategy across some of its European markets, such as Germany, Italy and Switzerland. BeyondTrust is looking to focus on the UK and German markets in 2015, according to Gallagher, and also add new partners across much of the rest of the continent.
Brent Thurrell, vice president EMEA and India and APAC, said: "The diversity of our portfolio allows partners to solve the headline issues on day one while providing longer-term value to their clients in other areas of the security landscape."
BeyondTrust ranked 38th in market intelligence firm Cybersecurity Ventures' top 500 security vendors list, Cybersecurity500, which came out earlier this week, and Gallagher said he hopes to break into the top 10 of this list.