Peter Bellini also steps up to the CEO role to initially build out better support for the core vulnerability management platform, and longer term, expand the platform beyond vulnerability management.
Peter Bellini, ConnectSecure’s new CEO
CyberCNS, which launched in 2021 with a vulnerability management solution specifically targeted at SMBs, and designed for MSPs as the route to this market, has made a pair of important strategic decisions. The company has rebranded to ConnectSecure, as a better fit for a future vision where vulnerability management will be just one of the services it offers, under the ConnectSecure brand. The company has also announced that Peter Bellini will be the new CEO, with their North American operations moving from British Columbia to Tampa.
“The product was co-founded by Sri Sreenivasan and Shiva Jagannathan, two Indians who I have had a long-term relationship with,” Bellini told ChannelBuzz. “They had been developing the product for about three years, and it has only been on the market for two years now. They hadn’t really done any kind of marketing. It has all been word of mouth.”
CyberCNS expanded quickly notwithstanding the lack of publicity.
“We went past 1300 MSPs the other day,” Bellini said. “We do things like having a community call with our MSPs every Wednesday at 1100 am ET. We ask them what they would like to see in the product, how they are using it, what they would like to see improved, and their direct feedback on our latest release. Through this, we are effectively establishing a set of best practices.”
The MSP focus was there from the very beginning.
“Our vulnerability management tool is designed from the ground up for the MSP business model, including being made multi-tenanted,” Bellini indicated. “The MSP uses it to identify vulnerabilities on the networks, look for open ports, and scan for compliance standards. We also give them a remediation plan. We then take all that information and put it in a nice report for the customer to justify the cost of cybersecurity and let the MSP demonstrate their value. It also lets MSPs do monthly and quarterly reviews.”
The direct competition from purpose-built tools for this market is limited, with the main one being RapidFire Tools, now a Kaseya company.
“Most MSPs use tools that were originally designed for enterprise companies,” Bellini said. “They are designed for enterprise teams, not MSPs.”
Cloud distributor Pax8, which partnered with CyberCNS last year, handles their North American Go-to-Market.
“We are leaning into the two-tier distribution model, and Pax8 makes up the bulk of our North American sales,” Bellini indicated. They have also partnered with some European distributors.
Bellini joined the company as vice president of operations earlier this year and recently made a significant investment in the company, which accounts for much of their funding. He said his move into the CEO role made sense to drive the company forward.
“I have known the two founders well for about 10 years,” he said. “They needed a partner in America, as they are both Indian-based. They originally set up their North American operation in Canada, but we had to move to the US for tax reasons. They needed a US based partner to fund development and it made sense to take on the CEO operations role, which allows them to focus on making great products.”
The rebranding as ConnectSecure is testament to Bellini’s plans to broaden the company out from its vulnerability management origins.
“Vulnerability management is only phase one,” he said. “We will create a suite of product solutions. ConnectSecure is the umbrella and will have a suite of products under the umbrella. CyberCNS was just vulnerability management.”
These changes are longer term, however, with the shorter term changes being focused on improving support around the ConnectSecure Vulnerability Management platform.
“The short-term plan moving forward is to improve consulting and support around the product, and improve technical documentation for the product itself,” Bellini stated. “It’s a wonderful tool with a very high user satisfaction. However, we want to address the infrastructure surrounding the tool. We also will add faster and more responsive U.S. based support. The product will remain on a month-to-month contract, and we have no plans to raise the prices. We just want to surround the tool with the infrastructure it needs to truly flourish in the MSP channel.”
