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Cyber security solutions vendor Imperva has appointed Nextgen Distribution as its sole Australian distributor, in a bid to accelerate its channel-first strategy in the local market and build out a strong cyber security partner community.
California-based Imperva provides data protection solutions in the enterprise, web application, bot protection, and content delivery network markets.
According to Terry Durnin, Imperva Australia and New Zealand area vice president, the move to a new distribution arrangement in the local market, which saw it end its previous distribution arrangements in Australia, comes as the company works to drive its software-as-a-service (SaaS) model via the channel.
“We went to review the market for distribution; we weren’t satisfied with our legacy arrangements,” Durnin told ARN. “We’ve shifted to software-as-a-service (SaaS) and subscription, it has to be easy to consume to be able to drive value and drive those protections quickly.
“This caused us to review what we were doing. We wanted someone to partner with that could augment our team,” he added, noting that the move to a sole distribution arrangement was a strategic decision for the company.
“In the context of moving from a hardware-based business to a more software-based business, we were looking for someone we could partner with to take that next step, to build a services-oriented model it’s a different prospect to a traditional distie model,” he said.
Earlier this month, Imperva revealed it had appointed Chillisoft as its sole distributor in the New Zealand market. While Nextgen also has a presence in New Zealand, Dernin said he was conscious of wanting to go with an NZ-headquartered distributor to go to market in the country.
Regardless, for Nextgen managing director Gavin Lawless, Imperva’s SaaS play lends itself well to the distributor’s own model, which is very much focused on cloud and SaaS offerings, while helping to drive the company’s efforts to build out its cyber security portfolio, which recently saw the departure of Bitdefender to fellow distributor Bluechip Infotech.
“If you look at our business, our focus is on enterprise applications, SaaS solutions and cloud,” Lawless told ARN. “We’ve been focusing a lot of our time and attention over the past 24 months on growing our cyber security area of our business.
“Our approach is to work with vendors that are complementary. We don’t want too much overlap in technology and we want vendors operating in that enterprise space with a heavy channel-focused strategy,” he said, noting that he isn’t finished yet in terms of where the company is going in the security space.
From the perspective of Imperva’s A/NZ channel account manager Lisa Curiel, the SaaS approach is an important factor when it comes to security, especially now.
“COVID[-19] may have shifted some priorities around but meeting regulatory, compliance and security obligations remain unchanged” Curiel said. “As Australian businesses and the Government head into this new normal and accelerate their digital journey, security services need to be easy to consume.
“Imperva’s SaaS based application and cloud data security offerings allows digital groups to focus on what they do best - building amazing digital experiences securely,” she said.
