Q&A with Hannah Wright, vice president EMEA partners & alliances at Zscaler

Wright tells CRN how the first 90 days in her new post has been, her top priorities, and where Zscaler is investing

Zscaler’s new vice president EMEA partners & alliances is focused on enabling partners to grow their profitably by building out offerings like deployment and managed services.

Hannah Wright joined the zero trust vendor in September and outlines to CRN her priorities around the business, channel partners and investment.

How have your first 90 days with Zscaler been?

“My first 90 days have been focused on deep immersion into Zscaler’s vision and understanding how our zero trust strategy resonates across Europe. I’ve connected with partners and customers to hear firsthand about their successes and the opportunities to go deeper together. I have had the opportunity to meet with many of our partners, distributors and technology alliances, and the feedback from all our different routes to market has been invaluable.

“I’ve been impressed by the maturity and innovation of Zscaler’s EMEA partner ecosystem. They are not just resellers; they’re trusted advisors driving transformational projects and enabling customers to embrace cloud-first strategies.

“Conversations with partners revealed a shared focus on services—from deployment and integration to ongoing optimisation. These offerings are key to helping customers realise Zscaler’s value and ensuring they maximise their return on investment.

“Overall, the spirit of partnership within Zscaler and our ecosystem has been incredible. I see a tremendous opportunity to build on this collaboration to unlock even greater growth across EMEA.”

What are your immediate priorities in the next few months?

“My top priority is to leverage the momentum Zscaler has in region and continue strengthening our focus on partnering with purpose, ensuring our partners are equipped to guide customers through the full lifecycle—from acquisition to adoption, expansion, and value realisation.

“As people buy from people, one of my additional first steps was to extend the team. We now have got the right people in the right organisation with the right products in the zero trust security space and we have launched updates of the partner programme, which is going to enable partners to continue their profitability and grow their service offering with us.

“Our role is to go to the customer to ask them how they want to consume our products and our partner programme is focused on enabling partners to build those services so they can make that customer experience exactly as the customer would like it. So we have a new programme with additional services that partners can take to the market.

“Partners play a crucial role in delivering value-added services. I’m focused on enabling partners to grow their Zscaler practices profitably by building out offerings like deployment and managed services for maximum customer impact. These services represent a major growth area for partners and an opportunity to differentiate.

“A large focus will also be to scale new customer wins. By collaborating with partners to expand our reach, we aim to drive net-new logos across strategic verticals and regions. Partners’ ability to position Zscaler as the leader in zero trust is central to this effort. We’ll prioritise adoption and expansion strategies, ensuring customers not only deploy Zscaler solutions effectively but also experience the transformative outcomes that drive long-term loyalty and measurable ROI. Customers are under pressure to simplify their IT infrastructure to make it more manageable in a secure way and we bring value on that consolidation journey.

“Recently, Zscaler enhanced the Summit Partner programme, with a large focus on enhancing operational efficiency, and we’ll continue to be focused on how we’re working to refine and simplify how partners interact with Zscaler. Tools like Partner CPQ and deployment guides, combined with regional enablement efforts, will make it easier for partners to execute and deliver excellence.”

What are your priorities around Zscaler channel partners and growth opportunities?

“We have a heavy focus on enablement for our partner community, as it all comes down to knowledge. ‘Knowledge is power and power is pipeline’ has been one of my strap lines for decades.

1. Building Highly Skilled Partner Practices: We’re focused on enabling partners to create thriving Zscaler practices, emphasising opportunities to deliver lifecycle services that drive adoption, expansion, and continued customer value.

2. Driving Net-New Customer Acquisition: Partners are key to scaling our reach. By aligning with partners’ regional and vertical strengths, we can drive new customer engagements while expanding Zscaler’s relevance in the European market.

3. Supporting Differentiation and Relevance: Partners that tailor offerings to industry-specific needs or compliance challenges will gain a competitive edge. Our role is to provide the tools and resources they need to deliver this differentiation effectively.

4. Empowering Global Adoption and Expansion: Partners are uniquely positioned to guide customers through the complexities of adoption and to identify expansion opportunities. Together, we’ll ensure customers see ongoing value and make Zscaler a cornerstone of their security strategies.

Where is Zscaler focusing on its investment strategy?

“The overall goal is to help our partners to solve those customer business problems by being able to expand their service offering by positioning themselves as a trusted Zero Trust partner building business outcomes in the market.One of Zscaler’s top corporate investment priorities is to continue to strengthen and support the success of our partner ecosystem. Over the next year, you’ll see our investments focus on four key areas:

● Building a highly capable partner ecosystem with a laser focus on enablement, helping partners evolve their business models and maximize the value of the Zscaler platform approach.

● Enabling the partner lifecycle by investing in tools and programs that empower partners to drive value across the customer lifecycle, from net-new acquisition to ongoing adoption and expansion.

● Empowering our partners to expand relevance and differentiation through the continued evolution of the Summit Partner Program, with a specialization track to help highly skilled and specialized organizations and individuals resonate with customers and drive deeper market penetration.

● Continuing to foster profitability for partners: Our goal is to help partners create highly profitable Zscaler practices by enabling them to deliver lifecycle services and secure expansion opportunities that lead to long-term customer success.