vArmour partners have a new channel leader in Louise Cooke, previously with BigID and Cylance, as head of channel alliances. The company also is expanding its channel program globally.

Cooke brings more than 20 years of security and enterprise industry experience to her role.

vArmour’s Louise Cooke

Alongside the launch of the vRM Global Channel Program, vArmour will also expand engagement with partners such as Optiv, WWT, Guidepoint and Telstra.

Cooke said it was “very apparent” that vArmour’s application relationship management approach was solving an enormous need for enterprise security.

“They articulated a clear vision of where they want to go, what they want to achieve and the company culture that will make this happen — one that puts the channel front and center,” she said. “I knew right away that I wanted to be on board for this adventure with vArmour.” 

Cooke served as BigID‘s vice president of worldwide channel. Before that, she held several senior business development and channel positions at Cylance, recently acquired by Blackberry, Fortinet, Accuvant and NTT.

“The top priority is actually in the name of our program,” Cooke said. “vRM stands for vArmour Relationships Matter program. How are we executing on it?  By building a PRM tool to make our sales process with partners as frictionless as possible, while doubling down on focus partners across the globe with enablement and marketing activities. Expanding the team globally to support in local markets is on the list as well. We take the notion of ‘build globally, act locally’ very seriously to ensure we’re addressing each market’s unique needs.”

What vArmour Partners Want

All that partners want is clarity on your message and why customers buy vArmour, Cooke said.

“In other words, what business problem are we solving, and how effectively do we do that?” she said. “This is what we will be providing to the channel: clarity of message and method.”

vArmour also offers partners a “healthy” pricing model, Cooke said. That enables them to make a good margin for their own business through partnership with vArmour.

Cooke said a year from now, vArmour will have met her goals for the vRM program. That includes managed locally, supportive of certification and measured for partner-initiated growth.

“Channel is a team sport at vArmour, and everyone is prepared to help achieve this,” she said. “With a clear vision and the dedication to see it through, we will reach those goals and then some.”

Todd Weber is Optiv‘s CTO.

“vArmour’s execution of bringing full visibility in a platform-agnostic and agentless manner helps keep security simple for our joint clients,” he said. “We look forward to a continued partnership and congratulate vArmour for their new channel program.”