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The offering, Pillr, is targeted at MSPs that serve SMBs, with its platform that enables partners to bring 24x7 SOC services to SMB customers. A platform like Pillr’s is needed because, first and foremost, most security vendors tailor their products to the requirements of large global enterprises, saidAdam Gray, chief science officer at Pillr. But for SMBs, many products are “either too complicated or too watered down, or don’t really fit their budgets and people and expertise,” he said. “I founded the Pillr side specifically to fill that market and that void,” said Gray, who is also the CTO of Novacoast. Now a separate entity from Nova- coast, Pillr currently works with 1,300 partners in NorthAmerica and Europe. Notably, for the MSPs that work with Pillr to bring SOC coverage to their SMB customers, something interesting tends to happen: They naturally improve their capability for delivering valuable security services, according to Gray. “They become much better practitioners around remediation and response,” he said. And from there, MSPs will often get more involved with deploying vulnerability management controls and helping their customers with improving their cyber hygiene, Gray noted. By working with Pillr, MSPs also “get better at reading the threat intel reports, they get better at the advisory reports, and they start to get a lot more proactive,” he said. “They become much better stewards of security simply by having access to the information and having it digested in a way that is suitable for them.” Building Trust For Cyderes and its recently introduced channel program, the focus so far has been on working with reseller partners.The program includes the major com- ponents of a typical channel offering: discounts and margins, deal registration and protection, training, dedicated channel account managers and co-selling opportunities. JamieWolf, formerly a channel executive at cybersecurity vendors including Black Kite and Onapsis, leads the partner program as Cyderes’ head of global channel, alliances and ISVs. By working with channel partners, MSSPs such as Cyderes get the classic benefit of a boost to their scalability, noted Alacrinet’s Duhaime: “It’s cheaper to give us margin than it would be to try to acquire all those customers on their own.” There are some differences with a partnership between two companies in the channel, however, as compared with a partner-vendor relationship. For instance, from the get-go, extra effort may need to be put in around building trust—especially when it comes to navigating potential areas of competition. As part of establishing its in-channel partnerships, Cyderes has made clear to itsVAR partners that product resale is not a top priority, according to Cyderes’ Aurigemma. “They need to be assured when working with you that you aren’t going to step into their space,” he said. “That’s the piece of the puzzle that I think we’re starting to unlock. I think others will figure that out as well.” Ultimately, “when they meet us and realize that we’re not looking to encroach on some of their core services—that we know our swim lane—we’ve had some great outcomes.”
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JUNE 2023
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