Richard Fraser (SMX)
New Zealand email security specialist SMX is revitalising its partner programme with extra support and resources.
SMX, which protects a million mailboxes in A/NZ, including over 24 per cent of all New Zealand’s Microsoft 365 inboxes, said the changes will include more support and data insights to advise partners and customers on cyber security threats.
SMX said it will offer partners additional threat intelligence, marketing resources and new revenue opportunities starting 1 April. This includes an intelligence centre created to identify threat patterns from the company’s data, enabling partners to provide value-added consulting services.
Sales support includes greater access to SMX’s security experts while refreshed marketing resources include self-serve campaigns and case studies. A new customer success team will also streamline customer onboarding and billing for partners.
The renewed channel commitment is reinforced by SMX’s appointment of Richard Fraser, formerly a senior executive of NZX-listed Plexure and Orion Health, as CEO.
"As a business we've been looking at expansion, both geographically and in terms of our customer mix," Fraser told Reseller News. "We've had some attempts at driving growth directly into various markets. We feel it fits our culture, our strategy and our mould to be partner oriented around our sales and our growth."
The key to that was working with experts that brought clear go-to-market strategies and engagement SMX's end customers.
“Australasia has a unique environment where we see businesses interested in a region-specific, locally designed and supported approach to outsourcing cyber security, as opposed to using global providers whose more generic offerings can miss local nuances," Fraser said.
"I believe SMX has the data, technical expertise and the vision to deliver that attention to detail through our unique combination of local IT partnerships with leading global software vendors."
SMX has approximately 120 partners throughout New Zealand and Australia. In 2021 it appointed Rhipe as its Australian distributor and moved to an exclusively channel model in that country.
SMX head of channel Shayna Bryers said the strategy continued to put customers at the centre of how SMX goes to market.
"Our customers want greater sophistication in their cyber security efforts," she said. "We deliver that at scale by working alongside our strategic partners."
SMX is banking on Australasian clients to favour sophisticated bespoke solutions over more "generic" global security offerings which it said could miss nuances in the local threat and regulatory environment.
The new partner programme follows a two-year strategic transformation by SMX to become more customer-centric and intent on helping businesses approach cyber security proactively, rather than mopping up after an attack.
New services will also feature among the changes. SMX told Reseller News it expected to launch a new domain-based message authentication reporting and conformance (DMARC) managed service offering designed to enhance email security in the second quarter of the year. DMARC is a specification used to authenticate email and defend against compromises such as phishing and spoofing.
An increased emphasis on supporting end-user training among customers is also on the cards.
