Defenx PLC (LON:DFX) Chief Financial Officer Philipp Prince caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss their new channel partner agreements
Q1: Philipp, great news today with the extension of the channel partner network again, how have these agreements come about?
A1: This announcement that we put out earlier in the week is really about Cloud Backup and selling Cloud Backup to new distributors, the two distributors we mentioned were specifically interested in this product offering. So back in January we announced strategic alliance with Memopal and that has allowed us to bring this product to the market and it really gives us two approaches into distributors, backup and anti-virus security solutions. Also it’s worth adding that our sales team, although small, is very well networked and continues to convert good quality European partners and I’m sure there’s going to be more of that in due course we’re can announce to the market.
Q2: So what do these agreements mean for Defenx?
A2: Well really the first one we mentioned which is Dylog and their subsidiary Gruppo Buffetti, both very strong brands in Italy, and it’s the start of us up-scaling the size and scale of our distribution network to names that have more recognition, in this case in the Italian market. So it’s showing that we’re punching above our weight and it’ll help us to generate further business in Italy in this instance, also see it as beginning of scaling up to larger end users so from small and medium businesses to larger corporates. In the case of Mandarin, it’s a telco in Sicily, a challenger brand, and they very much like working with us because they see us also as a challenger brand so there was brand synergy and their choice of choosing us.
Q3: Now, just stepping away a second, in recent news AVG has just been bought by Avast for $1.3 billion, what do you think this means for your market?
A3: Well clearly it’s big M&A news, it’s a big deal and it correct gets plenty of attention, two big operators in Europe coming together. In terms of direct impact on Defenx, there really isn’t very much, their business model is very different, they essentially target end users whereas we target existing channel partners, distributors, OEM’s, insurers, systems integrators and telco’s to help us get to market. So it’s a very different business model but it’s undoubtedly going to help people look at the market as interesting and exciting and I’d like to think we can certainly be having some of that excitement.
