CyberArk picks Nextgen in value-add play for A/NZ

Identity security specialist CyberArk has appointed Nextgen Group as its first value-add distributor in Australia and New Zealand. 

The deal will bolster Nextgen’s cyber security portfolio in the market. 

CyberArk A/NZ area vice president Thomas Fikentscher has been running the local operation for the past four years and said the business has been successful in Australia and globally.

“CyberArk is very focused on ecosystems and partnerships,” he said. “We’ve done a reasonably good job to get to a certain size, particularly in the enterprise space, and we were at a point where we needed to think hard about scalability and this is where the conversation with Nextgen started taking place.”

Prior to CyberArk, Fikentscher previously worked for Oracle and Ingram Micro and had a sound understanding of what he was seeking in a distribution relationship. 

“We were looking for a value-add model and that’s where Nextgen really has an outstanding position in the marketplace when it comes to services that are really valuable for us, whether it’s digital marketing, demand generation capabilities, proof of concepts in cyber labs. There are areas where we can create operational efficiencies when it comes to data management and knowledge of the channel,” he said. 

Fikentscher said he would like to grow its scale in Western Australia and Queensland, spotting opportunities in the mining and transport sectors.

“The geographical coverage and the right and relevant partner selection for segments is extremely important,” he said.  

Nextgen A/NZ managing director Gavin Lawless said Nextgen’s business has evolved during the past few years creating a very strong stance in the cyber security space, an area where CyberArk’s portfolio will fit in well. 

“We built out a very strong cyber security offering for our partners. It’s the vast majority of our revenue these days and we’re always looking for new vendors that operate in the areas that we don’t currently have an offering,” he said. “Fortunately we do cover most of the spaces in the cyber security arena and CyberArk operates in a space we really don’t have an offering.

“Some of our vendor partners operate in their space on the fringes of what they do, but nobody really owns that part of the market and that was really attractive to us with CyberArk.”