Women and Diversity in Channel Awards 2024: Q&A with James Greenham, Fortinet

James Greenham, growth solutions director, UK&I at Fortinet sits down with CRN to talk about the WDCAs and the vendor’s 2024 milestones

James Greenham, growth solutions director for UK&I at Fortinet, leads the strategy for key growth solutions across Cloud, SASE, SecOps, OT, and Advanced/Professional Services. With a strong background in technology, including leadership roles at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, James brings over two years of cybersecurity expertise to his current role. Passionate about nurturing talent and fostering community, he has championed Intern & Graduate development programmes and drives initiatives to build a strong sense of belonging within Fortinet.

In this Q&A, Greenham shares insights on the importance of diversity and inclusion within the tech industry, the significance of the WDCA awards, and Fortinet's achievements in talent development and community inclusion. He also addresses the challenges faced in 2024, the evolution of the channel, and the opportunities Fortinet sees in the coming year for channel growth and collaboration.

CRN: Why do you think awards like the WDCAs matter? What would winning this award mean to your company?

JG: It’s incredibly important for organisations to not only think about deploying strong diversity and inclusion practices, but to actually promote and celebrate successes on this journey too. The WDCA’s are a fantastic platform for the entire industry to achieve this, and celebrate individuals and as a company, but also as a broader community.

Fortinet are so proud to have such incredible award nominees, and finalists as individuals; but also to have the company named a finalist in the Cultural Inclusion category too. We’d be over the moon for any winners!

CRN: What would you say is your company’s proudest achievement over the past year?

JG: Our consistent approach to hiring new talent in a difficult market, twinned with our determination the to close the cyber skills gap at grassroots level within the United Kingdom and Ireland. We’ve embraced diversity and inclusion programmes, championed improved community inclusion projects, and have kept in mind those less fortunate through volunteering programmes and our UK-led Channel Charity initiative (now entering its 8th year), which has raised large sums of money for our annually chosen charity.

CRN: What have been the biggest challenges of 2024 so far and how have
you overcome them? How have your people helped with that?

JG: The fact the UK economy and political landscape has been so tumultuous with a snap General Election earlier this year has been disruptive to the entire business ecosystem. large enterprises, mid-market and commercial customers and public sector spending has been up in the air while they’ve assessed the landscape and project investments. Staying close to customers and partners business priorities, project dependencies and demonstrating flexibility to accommodate changing customer priorities has been critical and positive in maintaining credibility and engagement. Staff, partners and customers alike have been super engaged and collaborative to ensure visibility and ability to change direction to support changing landscape and needs.

CRN: How do you think the channel has changed over the past year and what changes do you think it still needs to make?

JG: Customers are finding it increasingly difficult to manage their IT estates due to reduced staff, tighter budgets, and the growing complexity of multi-vendor solutions. Partners who recognise the opportunity to deliver business outcomes through a simplified, consolidated platform—with streamlined vendor management and integrated services—are thriving, achieving growth, and maintaining healthy profit margins.

However, these discussions must take place at a strategic, business level. Channel partners should challenge traditional approaches and demonstrate tangible value to executive leadership. Partners are encouraged to align with vendors that support their growth and profitability. Fortinet’s Engage Partner Programme empowers partners to retain margins, specialize in areas such as OT, SASE, and SecOps, and, when paired with our unified platform strategy, unlock budgets and deliver meaningful business value.

CRN: What do you see as the main opportunities for the channel in the coming year? How do you plan to capitalise on those opportunities?

JG: Fortinet is a 100 per cent channel GTM company. We are accelerating our presence and growth in the Single-vendor SASE, and SecOps markets and this represents a huge opportunity for our partner community, to skill up, understand the value in our solutions and take these to market.