Infinigate looks eastern after getting ‘comfortable’ in Europe
Denis Ferrand-Ajchenbaum speaks to CRN about which region the VAD is eyeing next to expand
Infinigate wants to continue its expansion into the Eastern Hemisphere after feeling it has grown to a “comfortable” size in Europe.
That is according to the value-added distributor’s chief growth officer, Denis Ferrand-Ajchenbaum, who joined the group in February from Exclusive Networks.
The Swiss group posted a revenue uptick of 16 per cent year-on-year, earning €600m in Q1.
It saw significant growth in Europe, with revenues rising ten per cent in the region.
Now, Infinigate has its sights set further afield to continue on this growth trajectory.
After entering Australia in July with its acquisition of Wavelink, the distie wants to double-down in APAC.
“Wavelink gives us one foot in the APAC region, but we want to grow that to extend to more countries. Particularly Southeast Asia.
“Why? Because we believe now we have a very comfortable size in Europe. So expanding in APAC would make sense to go to the next level.
“We are more keen to do it in APAC than in North America because NA is a very concentrated market, and the level of margin that they produce there is not fitting our model.
“So we prefer APAC, which is very much service-led and very associated with a tier two model.”
Infinigate is not just growing in Europe, however, as Ferrand-Ajchenbaum hails the group’s performance in the Middle East through its 2022 acquired business, Starlink.
The CGO tells CRN his goal for 2024 is to end the year on the same growth rate as its Q1 increase at 16 per cent.
“If we can reach the end of the year at the same number that we achieved in Q1 which was around 16 per cent we will be extremely happy,” he says.
“We faced headwinds the year before, so it will compensate a bit, but it's really achievable by the velocity with regards to the Middle East business, which is seeing spectacular growth.
“We want to replicate that model in the rest of Europe. The model is one of the best blueprints in value-added distribution.”
Priorities: Vendors, Infinigate Cloud
He explains his priorities centre on vendor management and development.
“This definitely is a game changer when you do value-added distribution targeting the right vendor with the right expertise, such as cybersecurity,” he says.
“In cyber, today we do more with some vendors rather than others who were considered leaders in the past. Palo Alto Networks, for example, it’s easier to grow with them than with Cisco.
“We don’t have a crystal ball for earnings, but we know how the market reacts, how the ecosystem adopts value propositions.
“My role centres on the selection of the right vendor for the coming quarter because we’re able to predict where they will be in a year’s time.”
The second pillar, Ferrand-Ajchenbaum says, focuses on the growth Infinigate “needs to display” around non-traditional go-to-market, such as professional services.
“We have taken the decision to remove silos with regards to the organisation. We have had a previous Central Europe organisation, rest of Europe organisation, and cloud organisation. We decided to unify everything, and we created two centres of excellence, one for Europe and one for the Middle East.”
And his third priority is Infinigate Cloud.
“We see a lot of traction from the CSP and the MSP community. We have around 6,000 partners in this ecosystem which are connected to our platform.
“Infinigate Cloud is a $200m ARR business and is one of the fastest growing segments in the entire organisation.
“The reason being is the velocity of onboarding is faster. It's all about software. You don't need to go through all those logistical aspects of carrying inventory and managing data etc.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for us to displace competitors who don't have strength in that transformation piece.”
Managing its vendor portfolio
The cybersecurity industry is fast evolving due to the unfortunate acceleration of cyber attacks.
Ferrand-Ajchenbaum says most companies, especially those in the enterprise segment, are more willing to splash the cash in cybersecurity, which is why it often comes at the top of the IT spending list.
He explains cybersecurity today is led by vendors who come as a platform. We no longer live in a time where cybersecurity is divided into categories and sub segments, like networking, endpoint, email, and storage.
“Most vendors, taking Palo Alto as an example again, were in network security. Now, it covers a huge spectrum, including cloud, SASE, endpoint, XDR and MDR.
“When selecting vendors, we consider these platforms and which will fit better for the ecosystem we address.”
Challenge of the marketplaces
Similar to what e92plus CEO Mukesh Gupta told CRN recently, Infinigate is no different when it comes to tensions with hyperscaler marketplaces.
“These platforms offer third party vendors they call ISVs. If you want to buy CrowdStrike, Okta, Zscaler from AWS, you can do it.
“You just need to convert your credit out of your enterprise discount program and tell AWS, ‘I want to use my credit to procure technology, even if it's not from you guys, but I know they are sitting on your marketplace.’
“This is distribution,” Ferrand-Ajchenbaum states.
“AWS has released a pilot program called DSOR which is supposed to include distribution.
“But today, the model in place is called CPPO, channel partner private offer.
“This is a pure tier zero or tier one model, where distribution has no fit.
“We are a little bit more protected because we play in the SMB space and there is no discount program in that segment.”