**Editor’s Note: Click here to see which channel people were on the move in December.**

Big changes at Guidance Software, which says it is restructuring sales, training, channel and product development to improve its business.

The company, which provides digital investigations and endpoint data security, also has appointed Scott Skidmore as its vice president of global channel sales. He previously held a similar role at Permabit after serving as VP of channel sales for the Americas at CommVault.

Skidmore tells Channel Partners that he will be responsible for Guidance’s primary routes to market – channel and inside sales – in areas where the company does not have a field sales organization. His top three goals will be to: deepen relationships with Guidance’s most valued partners; maximize partner loyalty through strong partner commitment; and “ensure happy customers.”

“We’ve built a strong and successful foundation of partnerships which has served us well in certain market segments,” he said. “Restructuring our go-to-market strategy will help us focus our entire organization on a unified, global, channel-centric business. Guidance’s goal is to maximize partner profitability and ensure a high level of mindshare and execution from our channel partners — all of which will accelerate our product revenue growth. Everything we’re focusing on right now, namely elevating our capabilities and services, and continuing our commitment to our channel, will give our partners the tools and resources they will need to be successful.”{ad}

Guidance also has restructured its direct sales team under leaders in both North America and EMEA. Professional services, training and support will be unified as part of its global services organization.

Also, Jay Ackerman, chief revenue officer, and Shawn McCreight, chief technology officer, have left the company. Guidance says McCreight’s departure is a “continuation of changes” in the company’s product engineering leadership team announced in November 2015.

“Last year, we initiated a channel-first sales approach,” Skidmore said. “It’s time to move our channel program to the next level to ensure the proper processes and program incentives so we can accelerate product revenue growth and our partners can reach maximum profitability.”

Guidance’s apps have been deployed on an estimated 25 million endpoints and work with other enterprise technologies from companies such as Cisco, Intel, Box, Dropbox, Blue Coat Systems and LogRhythm.

“Guidance Software is poised for growth, in part, because of the progress made last year on bringing product to market faster and initiating a channel-first program to drive our go-to-market transformation,” said Patrick Dennis, Guidance’s president and CEO. “We need to take these initiatives to the next level in 2016 to capture the opportunities in front of us.”