CyCognito’s New Global Channel Chief Gunning for RiskIQ, Expanse, Other Competitors

… what picture are we really trying to create. So I think CyCognito has a lot of pieces, and now it’s just about putting those pieces together and creating strength. I’m definitely focused on going further and wider with the current partners that they have in place. They’ve done a good job of identifying those partners. And I think we can be doing more and greater things there.

But there are also some new ways that we’re going to be looking at in the security space in terms of new opportunities to partners. And there’s certainly an opportunity to fine tune our partner program and our engagement with partners in the field by way of partner portal, incentives and different things. So we’ll be looking at ways to increase our value proposition to and with partners.

CF: As global channel chief, are you going to be building a new partner program or expanding the existing partner program?

LC: We’re going to be looking at really expanding that for sure.

CF: What sort of feedback are you receiving from CyCognito partners? What are they hoping you’ll bring to CyCognito’s channel leadership?

LC: They love the technology. They love the fact that the product works as advertised. It’s a very simple and an easy sell for partners, and especially the partners that are deep in the security play. So the idea now is to kind of simplify our models, making it easier to do proofs of concept, bringing more enablement training, making that easier for others to understand the value proposition, to understand the pitches. So being able to create new assets and tools to help them sell, and become stronger and more competent on the technology.

CF: What are the biggest issues facing CyCognito and its partners, and what will be your role in it in addressing those?

LC: CyCognito is still young and they still have a lot of growth. The biggest thing we can do is translate our value proposition into meaningful pieces for partners. That means making sure that partners understand where we fit in the solutions that they’re bringing, and allowing them to add their secret sauce around the solution as well. Can they add support and services around that? Services are obviously where partners make a lot of their revenue and create stickiness in the equation.

We’re going to be looking at different ways that we can start to help partners, and also add additional things around what they can be doing, such as remediation and API integrations. All of those kinds of services are really interesting for partners. And they can absolutely provide additional value-add around the services that we offer around this technology.

CF: What’s at the top of your to-do list?

LC: Right now, it is just listening and learning a lot, and then being able to come out and say, “OK, here are the three things that will create impact.” I’m always focused on how we can really create lift in the equation, how we can get partners generating new logos for us and developing strong pipeline for us.

CF: What do you hope to have accomplished a year from now?

LC: We have a really healthy part of the business with channel. Right now we are at 63% channel and I’d like to see us at 95% channel. I’d like to see partners stepping into more partner-oriented opportunities where we’re creating lift. I’d like to see the brand in the market. We’re creating a really disruptive force in the market. So those are the things that I’m looking forward to over the next year.