technologyreseller.co.uk 23 DISTRIBUTION How has Ignition Technology fared since its acquisition by Exclusive Networks? James Goulding finds out from Chief Strategy Officer Sean Remnant for Exclusive Networks, is its record of simplifying and demystifying very complex, technical offerings by focusing on solutions, stories, messaging and business outcomes rather than just technical pitches. “Over the years, what we’ve done is really put solutions and stories at the forefront of our messaging and focused more on business outcomes. That’s not a normal way for a distributor to work. In the case of identity management, for example, we would look at stringing together two or three different solutions that provide an offering and then take our partners and their customers on a bit of a journey where they can get some early transactions and engagement just to prove it’s real.” Identity management is one of Ignition’s key technologies and growth drivers. “When we first started the business, we looked at the endpoint security market and we looked at the identity market because they were identified as the largest growth areas by all the analysts. At the time, identity was the remit of the Big Four consultancy firms and had not really been taken to the wider channel. We saw an opportunity there and that has been very good to us.” With continued growth in identity predicted for the next couple of years, vendors such as Okta, BeyondTrust and Sailpoint are going to be key for Ignition. Cyber insurance “Another area that’s been really good for us this year is cyber insurance. Our partners have been telling us that their customers either can’t get insurance or their premiums have gone up or the insurance companies aren’t insuring for the amount they were. A lot of insurance companies are basically saying, you must have these technical controls in place and be able to demonstrate you’ve got them before we will even quote cyber insurance. “We’re taking that to our partners and saying if you are in conversations with your customers about this, you probably need to look at these seven or eight areas and make sure they’ve got coverage, because that’s going to put them in the best position to be able to actually get insurance. That’s been working really well because, again, it’s a business outcome kind of conversation rather than just going in there going ‘oh, you need antivirus or you need identity governance’. It seems to be much better approach.” New vendors Remnant, who describes himself as a cautious optimist, also has high hopes for a couple of new vendors signed this year: Abnormal, an email security solution; and AppOmni, a software security management company specialising in the protection of SaaS applications. “Part of our skill set is identifying the next big thing. We have probably looked at over 2,500 vendors in eight years – looking at the market space, the management In July 2021 Exclusive Networks acquired Ignition Technology to bolster its credentials as a specialist distribution partner for emerging cybersecurity innovators. In the 18 months since, the security VAD specialising in early-stage SaaS vendors has continued to thrive and maintain its own identity and, in the words of Chief Strategy Officer Sean Remnant, is now ‘stronger than ever’. “When smaller organisations are acquired by larger entities they can get sucked up and digested, but we’re still here and stronger than ever. We have a separate P&L, a separate management team, a separate go-to-market and are growing very well. “That said, our new big brother has helped open up new opportunities and relationships that we couldn’t have before, when we were smaller. It has also accelerated our international expansion. We’ve opened up Ignition in France and the Middle East, and we’re looking at DACH in the spring. We were already well established in the Nordics and Benelux and are growing strongly there too.” A distinct identity Even though Ignition and Exclusive Networks are both specialists in cybersecurity, Remnant is confident the junior partner can maintain its own identity. “We are completely independent in terms of portfolio and strategy. What we’re here for is the adoption of fast growing, innovative vendors that are younger either in terms of their scale and revenue or their channel approach. Basically, we can provide that runway into Exclusive so that when those vendors get to a certain critical mass and want to scale out, there’s that Exclusive engine to give them more reach.” It is still too early in the relationship for vendors to have followed this development path, but Remnant says that having a journey mapped out from incubation, start-up, growth to scale-out is generating interest with vendors. Business outcomes He adds that one of Ignition’s big strengths for new technology vendors, which he believes was also an attraction Firing on all cylinders Sean Remnant continued...
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