CHANNEL CHIEF
AFRICA
Credence Security is a distributor which brings niche vendors to the market.
PHILIP CHERIAN, Regional Channel Director, Middle East, Africa &
India (MEAI) at Credence Security, explains why it is essential to understand
the pulse of the company’s partners and how to align with them.
DDescribe your current job
role and the parts that are
somewhat challenging?
I am the Regional Channel Director for
Middle East, Africa and India (MEAI) at
Credence Security, a leading regional
distributor of specialised solutions in
cybersecurity, forensics, governance, risk
and compliance.
I look after the channel business across
the region where my key responsibility is
to introduce, develop and execute localised
channel strategies in order to expand our
partner ecosystem, upsell into existing
partners and ultimately grow revenue and
our profit margins.
Working with partners is a different
ball game all together, with a set of unique
dynamics. At Credence Security, being a
distributor that brings niche vendors to the
market, it is essential for us to understand
the pulse of our partners and then align with
them. Once we have alignment, we need to
work on a robust go-to-market (GTM) plan,
conduct enablement sessions, joint customer
visits and regular performance reviews. We
understand that every partner has more
than 10 products in a portfolio, so to get
them to proactively sell our solutions means
we need to be extremely proactive and
always provide the best support.
Can you explain how your company
works with channel partners?
Credence Security is a 100% channel-driven
organisation. Our goal is to be the region’s
most trusted distributor when it comes to
cybersecurity and GRC solutions – working
closely with our vendors and partner
ecosystem to deliver tailored and intuitive
solutions that meet the security requirements
of enterprises across the region.
To that end, we look to build very tight
alignment with our partners. It’s very
important for us to understand what
I always strive to
build consensus and if
nothing else, keep an
open mind and foster
open communication
and (healthy) debate.
solutions they currently have in their
portfolio and where the gaps lie in terms
of their ability to provide holistic security
solutions to customers. As a next step,
we put a plan in place for them to align on
solutions, which would help them address
current threat exposure their customers
have and agree on a GTM strategy –
this is something that we customise
for each partner.
How do you ensure channel
partners flourish in a highly
competitive market?
It really starts with education – partners
need to stay abreast of the ever-evolving
threat landscape and, in parallel, must keep
informed on the latest technologies and
solutions available on the market, to fight
these threats.
Philip Cherian, Regional Channel Director, Middle
East, Africa & India (MEAI) at Credence Security
INTELLIGENT
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 30
TECH CHANNELS
61