Jesper Trolle (Exclusive Networks)
The X-OD – short for ‘Exclusive Networks On-Demand' – platform was launched last year and is designed to make the transition to subscription-based consumption fast, safe and simple for partners and their customers. Moreover, it gives vendors that are not currently subscription-based the ability to derive subscription-based revenues.
Trolle said the company would be growing the platform with more vendors and launching it in more countries, with A/NZ set to land this year.
“We are working a lot on adding more functionality to the platform, more countries to the platform, vendors and partners. There's a team project managing this and we want to make sure we do that in the right sequence,” he said.
Besides the continuous supply chain and talent shortage issues, the fragmented cyber security market continues to be a sticking point for distribution, particularly, as Trolle pointed out, there could be upwards of 3,000 vendors introducing different solutions for cyber security.
“There's a lot of fragmentation and complexity in the market coupled with a rapid increase in cyber security breaches and because of that comes new vendors that want to address some of those threats,” he said. “Coupled with shortages of skills and capabilities, this presents a major opportunity for us to address some of those needs for our partners with innovative products, skills and new services around that.
“I think the supply chain continues to be facing a bit of headwinds for some time this year and we are navigating this. We don't have a significant hardware business but there are some firewalls and other areas that are impacted to some extent. And so we are mitigating and managing that where we can with alternative configurations, different products and solutions.”
Since Exclusive’s IPO six months ago, Trolle said it’s attracted more public awareness and reach into a different audience. At the same time, there are aspects of the business that will remain the same such as its operating model and laser focus on the cyber security space.
“There's obviously public visibility to our numbers, our performance, but what I think is really important is it's made us a stronger business,” he said. “Raising capital is giving us a lot of strategic options to continue down the road of implementing our growth strategy, but also take advantage of big opportunities coming across our desk.”
