Zscaler new VP of partners and alliances EMEA: ‘Customers buy from people they can trust’

Hannah Wright discusses her plans for Zscaler and the channel, being a female leader, and the power of trust

Hannah Wright, an IT expert with nearly three decades of experience in the channel, joined Zscaler in September as VP of partners & alliances EMEA.

In her second week on the job, she sat down with CRN to discuss her plans for the zero-trust cyber vendor’s partner network.

An experienced channel leader, Wright is keen to build on existing strengths.

She aims to “harness the power of Zscaler” by working with the vendor’s current partners to build out services, trust, and profitable models they can use, all with the aim of “partnering with purpose”.

She says that to generate and keep customers, a vendor must focus on the customer’s challenges.

“It’s all about asking the right questions; How do you want to consume this? Do you want to buy it as a managed service? Do you want to buy it from a hyperscaler because you have a larger procurement agreement with them?

“My role is to create and continue to build all those different routes to market, so that they are robust and feel part of the Zscaler family. Customers buy from people they can trust.”

Zscaler is surrounded by various partners, such as global system integrators (GSIs), service providers, and VARs.

“We have those in abundance. We're very blessed.”

But besides focusing on existing key partners, Wright wants to bring on new ones, such as those involved in the commercial and distribution sectors.

Jewels and journey

After studying geology, she started her career far from stones and fossils, turning to the networking world as a European channel sales manager.

“When joining the channel, I discovered a fabulous community,” she tells CRN.

She then moved to distribution where she worked for seven years.

Her first move to cloud and IT was in 2006, when she joined Cisco.

In 2018, she joined Palo Alto as director of distribution EMEA, and then went on to lead Northern European channel.

“It was wonderful, because it gave me the opportunity to get really close to customers and partners,” says Wright.

She then moved to Netskope for two and a half years.

After a challenging family period, she says she really wanted a change.

After “an awful long time” spent working for the competition, she took the opportunity to join Zscaler.

“It’s the best product in my opinion.

“My former team was very supportive. I have absolutely nothing other than love for them.

“They understand my career aspirations, and a lot of them are my mentors.

“We'll probably all work together again in the future.”

Because she evolved through so many different roles, Wright has had to constantly challenge herself in order to adapt, she tells CRN.

“No transitions are easy, but great people surrounding you can make it easier.

“I’m not technical, and I’ve never pretended to be. My role is to enable people to be their very best.

“Leadership is about empowering people, not necessarily delegating.”

Keep reading to find out more about Wright’s personal ethos, experience as a female founder, and advice...

Ethos and being a female leader

Humanism is at the core of Wright’s ethos.

For her, when an employee enjoys their work, they give it their all.

“You're going to somebody because you like them, because you trust them. If you can build trust with people, you can overcome any challenges. You can celebrate together.”

But to create this sense of togetherness and build this feeling of trust, the industry needs to keep recruiting more diverse talent.

“We don’t’ have enough female leaders,” said Wright.

She asserts that “not only do we need to encourage women, but also the next generation to have an interest in IT,” as people in the channel need each other to reach their goals.

“We need to tell the younger generation that IT is an option, and that the industry is huge. It's broad.”

She concludes by sharing some unvaluable lessons she learnt throughout her journey.

The first one can be summed up in one word.

“Listen.

“When I was in my first job, I was told to have two ears and one mouth and use them in that ratio.

“Listen to your customers, partners, and employees. It’s about taking time out understanding rather than just assuming.”

She also emphasises the importance of working as a team and being true to yourself, to show vulnerabilities and allow others to be vulnerable too.

“Allow people to take risks and try out new ideas. That's how you innovate.”