D3, which has been in business since 2002, has always had channel partners, but has decided to get more systematic about recruiting and training them. They have hired Peter Marini as their first channel leader, and launched their first channel program.
Peter Marini, Director of Global Channel Partnerships, D3 Security
Vancouver-based D3 Security has had channel partners since their inception in 2002, but its partner management in the past has been ad hoc. While much of their business historically has been around incident response, in recent years D3 has pivoted to cybersecurity and security orchestration, and has created their first channel program and hired their first channel leader to recruit and train an expanded channel of cybersecurity partners.
D3 is a well-established Canadian cybersecurity company, well out of the startup stage, although their business has evolved in recent years.
“The company was formed in 2002, and from inception until 2014, we were focused on developing and selling a scalable case management system using role-based technology for security, anti-fraud an d compliance, which was purchased by Fortune 500 companies,” said Alex MacLachlan, D3 Security’s Director of Marketing. “Because the product was so configurable, SOCs began to use us to manage response to cybsersecurity incidents, which led to us developing an incident response platform. From 2016 on, we emerged as a leader in security orchestration, and the last three years, we have been pivoting to cybersecurity and now define ourself as a cybersecurity company. We are launching a new website today emphasizing this identity.”
While D3 is a Canadian company, their U.S. business is proportionately larger than their Canadian business, although they do have some of the larger Canadian banks and transportation companies as customers.
While the channel has not been the focus of D3’s business historically, they have used partners from the beginning.
Alex MacLachlan, D3 Security’s Director of Marketing
“We began to work with partners organically from Day One, because some clients had to work through a partner,” MacLachlan said. “Partnerships are such an important component off the cybersecurity business. Until now, however, our partnering strategy has been ad hoc. We need to be more strategic. We have metrics we want to hit and partnerships help us do that.”
To build out that channel, D3 appointed Peter Marini as Director of Global Channel Partnerships in September, and now has launched their CONNECTED Global Sales Channel and Partner Program.
Their channel as it exists today is small and fairly eclectic.
“It is mostly resellers, and is a mix of large and small ones, some of whom are more specialized,” Marini said. “There are one or two service providers who incorporate and white label us as a service, and we have one large partner in the UK that bundles us into implementations.” They have a few Canadian partners in the Greater Toronto area, and about five in the U.S.
Marini’s background includes six years as a Partner Technology Strategist at Microsoft and two years as an MSP/ Cloud Provider Manager for Check Point Software, covering Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.
“Both Microsoft and Check Point were channel companies from day one,” Marini said. “Here, we don’t want to build our own professional services program, because doing it ourselves isn’t scalable. In the past, D3 would get involved with this because some partners couldn’t configure the products. Going forward, we want to bring in partners with a cybersecurity focus or practice – not generalists. We want partners who want to talk to security customers. We will develop business plans together and support them with an enablement program.”
D3 would love to enlist some of the top-tier security names in the channel to the program, but know that isn’t likely out of the gate.
“There is no magic to recruitment,” Marini said. “The large ones especially go by market share or customer requirements. Some of them will want to be ad hoc with us until they see our market grow, but we expect there will come a time when we will interest them.”
While Marini’s prior roles have all been based in Singapore, he said that the initial focus of the partner program will be in the U.S. and Canada.
“North America is a good place to start because there is a huge market there,” he said. “In Asia, a local presence is often requested, so reaching out from Canada there would be a challenge. Once we get a good channel base going, we can expand more in Europe and Asia Pacific.”
Marini said that D3 has some features that quality partners may find attractive.
“We are privately held, without VC funding,” he said. “We are looking to grow and scale and develop deep partnerships around the product road map. That could appeal to partners who want a very strategic relationship with a vendor.”
“We are also highly experienced and highly technical, and have been responsible for difficult security response and incident orchestration in the world,” MacLachlan added. “Partners can trust us to deliver for their clients. We have gone through hundreds of implementations.”
