There will be a shift in cybersecurity spending rather than a slowdown - Exclusive Networks UK boss
Distributor’s UK boss opens up to CRN on acquiring companies to build out its services skillset and why he is optimistic for double-digit growth next year
Cybersecurity spending by businesses will see a "shift" in focus rather than the slowdown predicted by analysts, according to Exclusive Networks' UK boss Graham Jones.
The pandemic has led to uncertainty as to the state of IT spend
ing next year, with some analysts forecasting a dip in spend on cybersecurity, particularly after the initial rush to secure infrastructure set up to facilitate remote working. But Jones said that tightened IT budgets willcause business leaders to re-evaluate where they spend their money and that he has seen cloud access security broker (CASB) software and Netskope’s offerings “take off” with customers. “I don’t think we’ll see a slowdown, but I think we might see more of a shift now,” he explained. “We’ve seen a lot of it in the SD-WAN space with the move to cloud everywhere and people at home. You’ve obviously got IoT and OT worries about what edge devices are coming in and what devices are now in the network and if they can be trusted. “There’s a lot of stuff that has shifted, but we’re seeing that cybersecurity is holding up. The only thing that we saw slowing down a little bit is some of the venture capital (VC) backed vendors - where the VCs have maybe throttled back investment. Cybersecurity, datacentre and cloud are our three circles, but from what we’re seeing we’re still in a good place.” Earlier this week Exclusive announced that it had acquired UK-based DevOps and containerisation specialist Nuaware. The addition of its offerings plays into the distributor’s strategy of growing its services portfolio. “We had a general chat with them just before Christmas last year and we saw this was a 90 per cent services-based company with real potential to scale if they had the backing, and could also take us into that DevOps and containerisation market,” Jones elaborated. “As a distributor, yes, we can sell the product and make our margin and the channel could sell the product and make their margin. But this is an operation that is actually almost pulling it through the channel and they are doing it really well.” Exclusive is also on the hunt for other opportunities that will allow it to build out its services offerings, Jones said. “We are looking for more services opportunities and we want to build out the group’s services,” he stated. “The strategy is to do more services on top of the traditional value added distribution bit and these guys are great services enablers. “We’ve got the distribution capability and they’ve got the skillset and its now about how we can best maximise that. Nuaware allows us to start looking at how we can build more services in that area and help them scale, and they can help us with the street cred in the DevOps market.” Jones is anticipating double-digit growth next year as vendors become more optimistic about navigating the challenges of the pandemic. “We’ve just finished our budget phase for next year and we’re budgeting for double-digit growth,” he said. “I’ve spoken to a lot of the VPs in the last two weeks about next year’s budget and nearly every vendor is thinking much more optimistically and most are recruiting again, so I’m mildly optimistic.”
Author: marian.mchugh@incisivemedia.com(Marian McHugh)
Date: 2020-11-27
channelweb.co.uk
| Mukesh Gupta (2020-11-16) | What has been your personal highlight of 2020? Working from home regularly for the first time has been enjoyable - more time spent with my kids improving my cooking and learning to play the piano Which three celebrities would you invite to a Zoom party? I think were all used to seeing our friends and having fun on Zoom so I dont need a celebrity to provide entertainment What has been your guilties.. |
| Nutanix hails channel as valuation soars (2020-11-24) | Sales dipped but earnings-per-share losses narrowed Nutanix has hailed the channel as key to its better-than-expected Q1 results The vendors valuation rocketed by nearly 10 per cent after the publication of its earnings with revenue beating Wall Street expectations Sales for the three-month period ending 31 October 2020 dipped 06 per cent to $3128m but losses per share narrowed from $071 a year ag.. |
| Marc Chang (2020-11-16) | What has been your personal highlight of 2020? The way my team responded to COVID Every single one of them provided nothing short of an amazing contribution to keeping our business running while having to accommodate such personal challenge This was especially true in how they helped all our clients in particular the NHS There were so many examples of courage innovation hard work and care for othe.. |
| Alicia Shepherd (2020-11-16) | What has been your personal highlight of 2020? My personal highlight has to be running four half marathons this year Im aiming for six but the clock is ticking Which three celebrities would you invite to a Zoom party? Mary Berry as every party needs class Elon Musk as his entrepreneurial skills appear to have no limits and maybe some would rub off on me and Andy Murray as after watching his Netfli.. |
| ‘The UK is our most important market right now’ - French software vendor on mid-pandemic expansion (2020-11-09) | Intranet in a box vendor Powell Software has fingered the UK market as most important to its expansion plans according to UK country manager Philippe Gomes The vendor was spun out from French reseller Expertime which has built intranet systems for large French firms Powell specialises in creating digital solutions built on Microsoft 365 as well as collaborative tools for Microsoft Teams It receive.. |
| Michelle Walker (2020-11-16) | What has been your personal highlight of 2020? Making my new office at home Which three celebrities would you invite to a Zoom party? Snoop Dogg Tom Hardy and Deadpool What has been your guiltiest lockdown pleasure? A glass of wine with lunch! Which tech figurehead has inspired you most this year and why? Tom Blomfield founder of Monzo Bank for founding a bank which disrupts the old guard and reac.. |
| 14 NCC Group (2020-12-02) | This cybersecurity supremo hailed its significant achievement of growing in a difficult market as it logged a five per cent revenue hike for its year to 31 May 2020 The LSE-listed goliath generated nearly two thirds of its 2637m revenues from security and risk management consulting but also saw product sales vault 69 per cent to 105m The UK contributed 117m of the total with North America and Euro.. |
| Ericsson closes $1.1bn Cradlepoint acquisition (2020-11-02) | Telco giant claims acquisition will help it grab market share in 5G enterprise space Ericsson has closed its acquisition of wireless edge vendor Cradlepoint as it looks to grab market share in the 5G enterprise space The $11bn all-cash acquisition was first announced in September and would see US-based Cradlepoint be acquired by the Swedish telco firm At the time Ericsson said the deal would close.. Ericsson closes $1.1bn Cradlepoint acquisition |
| Elon Musk is UK channel’s most inspiring tech figurehead (2020-11-24) | More than a fifth of CRN A-listers named the controversial Tesla and SpaceX boss as the tech luminary who has most inspired them this year Elon Musk has edged out Satya Nadella as the most inspiring tech figure among top UK channel executives Some 22 per cent of the 132 channel bigwigs questioned in the 2021 CRN A-list named the controversial Tesla and SpaceX boss as the tech luminary who has most.. |
| Scottish MSSP unveils ‘rapid’ international expansion plans (2020-11-23) | New CEO John Maynard and incumbent chief exec David Calder reveal the rationale behind new management structure and expanding into Europe Adarmas new chief executive John Maynard was brought on to rapidly scale the business internationally he told CRN Maynard takes over as chief exec at the MSSP from David Calder who will step into the chief product officer CPO role at the firm Formerly known as E.. Scottish MSSP unveils ‘rapid’ international expansion plans |
