Anthony Stevens (6clicks)
Melbourne-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform operator 6clicks is looking to ramp up its channel base in Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ), luring partners in with “competitive” rebates.
The cyber security management and compliance specialist is offering partners rebate margins of between 20 per cent to 40 per cent for licences sold to customers in an effort to compete with the likes of ServiceNow.
Speaking to ARN, 6clicks CEO and co-founder Anthony Stevens said the company had recently revamped its partner portal and was encouraging partners to “work their way up” the partner program via an online academy.
Specialising in risk assessment and compliance, 6clicks works with both traditional resellers, managed service providers (MSP) and consultants.
It currently has a channel encompassing 65 such partners spanning A/NZ – which includes companies such as CyberCX and Tesserent – as well as the US and South Africa.
The company has recently refreshed its Partner Program for resellers, which has three tiers: Silver, Gold and Platinum.
The program comes with a number of sales certifications which partners are required to maintain, online training, channel account managers and 24/7 support.
The program refresh comes almost three years after 6clicks acquired fellow software vendor TrustyGate’s assets, people and customer contracts in 2019, with the TrustyGate brand coming under the 6clicks umbrella.
The combined outfit provided a unified cyber security management and risk assessment platform for businesses and service providers.
Stevens claimed 6clicks differentiates itself from its competitors – including ServiceNow and “dinosaurs” such as IBM Open Page and RSA Archer – with its higher rebates.
“A lot of the vendors in our space tend to offer just 10 per cent margins, so ours is a lot more competitive,” he said. “Customers love the product. We’ve only been around two years, but we’ve got a very high conversion rate.”
With advisory firms, the “relationship [with 6clicks] goes a lot deeper and is more extensive and strategic”, explained the platform operator.
They, alongside 6clicks’ MSPs, work by licensing its platform in order to streamline their own delivery service.
“MSPs use our platform to provide services like virtual CISO, managed cyber compliance or risk management – anything where there is a repetitive human-based activity that needs to be performed,” Stevens said. “Our platform gives them the scalability of those offerings
“We’re probably the only platform out there that spends time with all [their] MSPs, helping them use it alongside their clients.”
Stevens said the company is now “significantly scaling” its partner program and has new partners “coming on board every week”.
In addition to this, 6clicks is about to sign a deal with “one of biggest distributors in the US”, which Stevens said will give the vendor “significant wholesale reach”.
Having raised a total of $12.7 million, of which included $5 million raised last year, 6clicks said it is looking to cement its growth in the Australian domestic market and has secured a number of new customers and partners in Australia and overseas. It also employs a total of 55 people across its four markets.
Discussing why the platform has gained momentum, Stevens said the current cyber security climate has created a high demand for cyber risk assessment, especially among its target market of small-to-medium-sized businesses and mid-market companies.
“A lot of companies are trying to get cyber insurance and they can’t because they can’t demonstrate cyber security risks adequately,” he said. “Our platform helps offset that risk.
“It helps them demonstrate that they better manage risk, are more compliant and therefore can better manage operations.”
In addition, demand for security and compliance is likely to increase around the public sector and critical infrastructure, Stevens added.
“We’ve had a huge uplift in public sector growth, with almost every state now using our platform.
“There’s a huge emphasis by the government now to focus on cyber security,” he said. “In Australia, we have an IRAP- [Information Security Registered Assessors Program] protected iteration of the platform for government clients. It means we have compliance for cyber security requirements around information.
“Ultimately we’re looking to move really quickly,” he added. “The interesting thing about the landscape is that most of the players are old, slow and the sales cycles are long. We see a huge advantage of being able to move quickly; people love our product; it’s about volume.”
