'The opportunity is massive' - Vectra's UK&I boss on new channel hires and NDR possibilities for partners

Gary Veale explains Vectra's partner strategy following three new channel appointments

AI cybersecurity vendor Vectra has made three new channel hires in the UK as it looks to double the size of its partner programme by the end of 2022.

The California-based network detection and response (NDR) firm has brought in Richard Vines as its UKI commercial sales manager, Andy Forshaw as regional partner manager and Sacha Rehmat as director of global service providers and systems integrators.

Vectra, which does 100 per cent of its business through the channel, claims that it has doubled the size of its partner programme this year and expects to do the same next year.

Speaking to CRN, the company's regional director for the UK & Ireland, Garry Veale, said the opportunity for partners to take advantage of the fast-growing NDR market - which is expected to reach almost $4.7bn worldwide by 2027 according to the Network Detection and Response Industry 2021 Global Market Research report - is "massive".

"This challenge is there for everybody, so if you're a partner that thinks this challenge is only for the very large customers or this channel is only for customers that are in a specific vertical, no. The opportunity, or the total addressable market, for this is massive," he explained.

"This NDR revenue stream is a new revenue stream. It wasn't there before, it wasn't a problem until these bad actors prove that they could defeat traditional perimeter security software. This is a new incremental revenue stream and if partners can secure this revenue stream, it's probably theirs for a long time.

"So, as we've seen the market react and we're getting more calls and developing our relationships with the channel in the UK and Ireland, we've had to recruit to help cope with that and that's what we've done."

Veale said the move towards cloud, remote working and the wider use of applications like 365 had driven the increased need for NDR services and therefore the opportunity for partners.

He added that Vectra is now seeking to strike more partnerships in the UK with a variety of resellers following the company's new channel appointments.

"We've got a very dedicated focus on commercial partners. For commercial customers its Rich Vines, enterprise partners in the UK and Ireland is Andy Forshaw and for global SIs that operate in our territory its Sacha Rehmat," Veale said.

"They've got very clear missions now about how to go and add value and how to go and help these guys build our technology and our platform into their solutions.

"It's a busy time right now as we package up the offerings and this thing doesn't stop. This journey to cloud is accelerating so we are also introducing new products and technologies that work with Azure, that work with AWS and other cloud platforms."