Antivirus vendor Bitdefender is looking to achieve a 400 percent growth in revenues from the UK by engaging more with the channel.
In an interview with Channel Pro, James Pearce, UK and Ireland regional sales director at Bitdefender says that the IT security company was keen to drive growth in both the SMB space as well as increasing its business among managed service providers (MSPs).
“We have a clear focus to drive sales in SMB and MSP markets through the channel,” he says. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without the channel.”
In 2014, the firm grew its partner base from 50 to 200 over twelve months and has built up a team of six focused on sales in the channel. Two new hires have also been brought in to target the enterprise market.
“We’ve put a lot of groundwork in 2014 to get the channel in place,” says Pearce.
The firm now has three distributors, each targeting different areas of the security market. PXS Distribution is centred on SMB opportunities, while e92plus and Blue Solutions target the enterprise and MSP markets.
Pearce also touted the firm’s partnership levels and Bronze, Silver and Gold as a way of partners achieving higher margins as well as access to training, marketing resources and lead generation activities “all funnelled through to key partners”.
“[The UK is] a key market to any security company,” says Pearce. “Channel engagement is critical to the success of [our] business.”
