‘Not in every country but in every region’: Illumio CEO talks channel strategy
Andrew Rubin wants to focus on building a worldwide channel footprint
To build from zero to 100 has been Illumio’s ambition for the past couple years, as its CEO Andrew Rubin wants the company’s revenue to come “100 per cent from the channel, or as close to that number” as possible.
Following a year marked by its partner track evolution in Europe, the zero-trust segmentation (ZTS) vendor intends to keep working towards its goal in the near and far future.
CRN met with Rubin in London, during the third and last stop of the company’s world tour, to discuss his channel plans.
Road to 100
Even though the company is a channel novice, “the numbers indicate that [Illumio’s strategy] is working,” as the CEO says that the whole team is focused or in some way aware of the channel plans.
“It’s our priority,” says the CEO.
“The sales team knows it, the channel team knows it, and quite frankly, even the engineers in California know it, because I say it all the time.”
The company is engaged with various partners in the channel, “not just resellers or VARS” but also consultancies.
To drive this global strategy, Todd Palmer, Illumio’s SVP of global partner sales and alliances, has “incredibly simple marching orders”, which are “go build a worldwide channel and make sure that we're aligned with them as much as humanly possible.”
Alongside John Lens, the company’s CRO, their mission is to promote global growth within the channel, building from a base of indirect revenue that “was close to zero” until recently.
“That number is not yet, and probably never will be 100 per cent, but it is going exactly in the direction we hope for.”
Even so, Rubin did not disclose what percentage of the company’s revenue currently comes from the channel.
EMEA second but UK first
Overall sales are mainly driven by the Americas, which represent “around 60 per cent” of its revenue, followed by EMEA with “20 to 30 per cent”, and “ten to 20 per cent from the Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) region.”
When asked about specific numbers regarding company revenue, Illumio told CRN that the company does not “disclose revenue information”.
Despite not being able to communicate exact calculations, Rubin said the UK represents the company’s “biggest market in the region by far.”
“It's where we have our biggest team in EMEA.
“From a company’s perspective, the UK and the London area have a special place.”
Keep reading to find out more about Illumio’s territorial expansion and Rubin’s views on the future of cybersecurity...
Geographic expansion
To spur its channel expansion, Rubin says he wants to rely on a wide array of partners rather than focus on a partnership with limited key partners.
“If you had a key partner, I would argue you're doing something wrong,” he explains.
“While the partner relationship for us is obviously insanely important, the most important relationship is the one with the customer.
“Partner relationship doesn't matter one bit if there isn't a customer on the other side of it.
“We want to work with partners that our customers are happy and comfortable working with in every market.
In particular, the vendor is interested in partners which would allow it to geoclone its relationships.
“We have unbelievable partnerships with BT in the UK, but also with WWT across the UK, the US, and in Asia.”
As the vendor “is not in every country, but in all regions,” Rubin wants to strengthen Illumio’s worldwide presence by entering new markets.
“Expansion is for sure happening,” Rubin tells CRN.
“During the last four years, we've opened Japan, we've opened the Middle East region, we've opened certain countries in Europe that we weren't in.
“It required luck, timing, and brilliant execution on the team's part to place us in the position that we're in.
“It's also an indication that the market for ZTS is growing.”
From AI to ZTS
ZTS, which is a type of cybersecurity that aims to reduce the surface of a cyberattack, is “greatly necessary” in a time where “the outcomes [of cyberattacks] have gotten significantly larger and worse,” according to Rubin.
“You go back 20 years ago, there were breaches, but they weren't that catastrophic.”
The CEO says he is also closely watching the growing importance of AI.
“We look at it the same way that we look at everything; we start by thinking about its impact on the customer and how they can process it, how they are using it, and its impact on their cyber resilience.
“The second thing we think about is, ‘how can we use it?'
He explains that the company sees AI as a tool, and how it can help boost productivity.
“As an example, our CPO is looking at AI saying, ‘Can it make my engineering effort more efficient?’
“We're then thinking about where this technology fits in our product offering for our customers.
“We're trying to implement AI around things that require a lot of manual effort for customers, in order to make sure that their experience using the product gets a lot easier and faster.
“Cyber is also going to end up with the defenders using it to defend more efficiently, faster, better.
“On the other hand, attackers are going to use it to attack more effectively, faster and better.
“I don't want to say it's an arms race, because that implies that in the end, one side wins and the other side loses, but it's a tool in that both sides are going to use it.
“But to predict what AI is going to look like years from now, it’s as the old expression goes; It’s way above my pay grade.”