AppViewX, a significant force in automated certificate lifecycle management (CLM) and public key infrastructure (PKI) software, has announced that Troy Dankworth has joined the company as Vice President of Global Channels & Partnerships. In this role, he will accelerate global partner growth, deepen strategic alliances, and scale AppViewX’s channel ecosystem to meet rising demand for enterprise-grade machine identity orchestration, private PKI modernization, and crypto-agility solutions.
“AppViewX is an organization dedicated to helping companies of every size manage digital engines,” Dankworth stated. “They ensure that data is a secure handshake and is about retaining privacy of data. Companies need a platform to manage those – not a spreadsheet. Failure to do so could be catastrophic. Doing so makes the rest of their business operations possible.”
“As organizations grapple with shrinking TLS certificate lifecycles and emerging quantum risks, Troy brings to AppViewX a proven track record for building world-class channel programs for the leading names in cybersecurity and enterprise software,” said Stephen Tarleton, Chief Operating Officer of AppViewX. “He has consistently delivered double-digit growth and created partner ecosystems that served as a force multiplier for customer success and global expansion.”
So how has Dankworth created ecosystems like this in the past, at places like RSA, SolarWinds and NetApp?
“I feel I have a unique advantage,” he said. “I was able to work and be accountable for relationships with hundreds of vendors. I learned how I bring those – what to do and what not to do. I was particularly blessed to be at NetApp, which is very vested in how they worked with partners. They did not see them as a necessary evil, but as a seminal part of the value chain, creating a cycle of meaningful relationships they knew would never be unbound. My last three roles in theatre or multi-theatre showed me how not to do some things, so I learned more about program development. In addition, because I had more of a selling background, it pretty much made sure that I don’t lose touch with the partner base.”
Dankworth acknowledged however, that the channel still needs work.
“In my three weeks here, I found that we had a very fragmented approach dealing with the ecosystem,” he stated. “There was never a strategy about how to move forward globally. We have had 20 impactful partners driving 90% of the business – in a way that rewards them for actions that create customer value. It is still transactional historically though. We want to create a strategy everyone can work with. That includes multiple hyperscalers, 8 to 10 SIs and 7 or 8 regional integrators. In North America we have done a small amount of distribution with Ingram, and an even smaller amount with Liquid PC. Westcon has been more strategic for us in Europe, but we’ve been engaged at a micro level, and are looking at a much more strategic relationship.”
AppViewX used to have more relationships with strategic ISVs.
“That’s how I went to market at first, with a broader and more strategic alliances strategy committed to a more holistic story,” Dankworth said. “With SaaS, it is hard to be a meaningful part of the growth strategy. NetApp was good at that. I’m deeply invested in that. But you often don’t tell the story through the right set of channel partners.”
AppViewX is doubling down on channel expansion and global growth with this new appointment.
“For us here, it’s less about the volume of partners than the ecosystem,” he said. “Now the emphasis has been on hyperscalers and investing that in a proper way. We want it to be like that in distribution and with service providers. The growth hype will come as we invest in resources and programs, and lean in with 100% of our sales motion.
“AppViewX is at a market inflection point,” Dankworth added. “As one of the few partner-first vendors in the machine identity space, service providers are central to our growth strategy. Working closely with our partners, we can scale faster, unlock new opportunities for their business, and deliver greater value to customers. My focus will be on building a high-performance ecosystem that not only accelerates AppViewX’s global reach but also helps partners grow their revenues by solving critical machine identity and certificate lifecycle challenges.”
So how does Dankworth see his strategy playing out into the new year?
“We want to finally set a real framework that is meaningful to the entire ecosystem and that provides visibility,” he said. We want to organize a proper partner program, because right now, we don’t have one. We want to create an architecture for where partners are going. We understand that the maturity of sales teams is necessary to remove a barrier to scale. We want to double our partners and programs at a pace that is sustainable and helps business grow. Put this all together and the Go-to-Market with ecosystem will define changes with us in the foreseeable future.”