CheckPoint UK channel director: 'Projects have been delayed, but market is getting better'

Martin Rutterford discusses state of cybersecurity market and the company’s ambitions

CheckPoint UK channel director Martin Rutterford says the current economic climate has been slowing down and delaying projects, but they are not being dropped, he tells CRN.

Rutterford explains that this is a reason for positivity as scrutiny is being raised, but the company's projects are still "definitely not going away".

"We saw a slower Q2, but Q3 and Q4 are definitely picking up and that's the general feedback from the wider partner community as well," he says.

"Generally speaking, I see the market improving.

"We're seeing that in terms of the increase in interest, we're seeing it in pipeline as well, across the technologies."

Rutterford explains how CheckPoint is trying to bring improvements to its partner programme by simplifying the go-to-market process.

"We are a recognised global brand and predominately looking at that enterprise market space. Now, the MSSP can incorporate the high-end enterprise, but it also incorporates the smaller market, both the mid-market, and SMBs.

"So, it's coverage across the market, making sure that we're targeting the right partners with the right approach and the right messaging."

He plans to simplify the go-to-market by gaining a better understanding of what solutions are right for what partner and their target market.

"We're not looking to push a specific solution if it doesn't fit within their remit or skill set.

"Understanding what they want to do as a partner, whether they want to be a resale or whether they want to provide that service attached, beacuse a lot of our partner community work with us based on the service attached that they can add.

"And there's a lot of partners that have built their business on CheckPoint, the technology and the services that they can offer in monitoring, managing and providing consultancy around that."

MSSP-power

When asked about missing trends in the market, Rutterford explains that there's a desire for specialists in the security market that managed security solution providers can fill and that is an area of possible expansion for partners.

"it's a conversation that we have on a regular basis, along with cloud.

"With our traditional partners, adopting cloud and securing cloud is still a huge market and opportunity for everybody."

Forward-looking

In the next 12 to 18 months, Rutterford says CheckPoint is hoping to keep expanding its channel partner community - both through looking for new partners, but also expanding the relationships it already has and its go-to-market proposition and mutual investment.

"We want to ensure that we are embedded with our channel partners, but we're also driving and thriving for mutual growth.

"Everything that I look to do within the organisation and ultimately with the channel community, it's all about true partnership and partnering for growth.

"It's very much the mutual investment and that mutual go-to-market and I think the highlight and the key strengths of CheckPoint's go-to-market is our channel philosophy.

"Being a 100 per cent channel organisation gives our partners a lot of peace of mind in terms of engagement."