In line with its strategy to add more value back to the channel and tap the SMB market, the regional value-added distributor Computerlinks has signed up Sophos.
“We are very strong in the enterprise space and over the last 12 months, we have had a major push into the mid-market, which we will continue to do this year as well. Most of the vendors are asking us to play in this market, which is looking for end-to-end solutions and that’s exactly what Sophos offers,” said Lee Reynolds, MD, Computerlinks, MEA and APAC. 
He added that in the Middle East, Computerlinks’ focus is on bringing to the market some of the smaller brands which can offer more value to the customers and margins to partners. “It is really important that we offer more than top-tier brands to help small and medium-sized resellers. And we are still very much a VAD, which means we will bring the same levels of technical and commercial resources even to the mid-market. We are growing at a rate 25% year-on-year and we have to find a strategy to sustain that growth momentum. It doesn’t mean that we are going to de-focus from the enterprise market, but drive our growth into the mid- market.”
Under the agreement, Computerlinks will distribute the whole Sophops product range in the Middle East. “We are a 100% channel company and Computerlinks will distribute the whole portfolio right from gateway to end-point protection to mobile device management solutions. There is a huge demand for security solutions in the SMB market and our focus is to make security easy and usable to address 99% of their pain points,” said André Scheffknecht, Vice President NEEMEA, Sophos.
Sophos now has two distributors in the region, and Scheffknecht said Computerlinks was chosen for its loyal and pro-active partner base. “The value Computerlinks brings to the table is their pro-active channel and our strategy to enable our partners to sell, install and maintain our products. We segment our channel partners into two categories- general partners and solution partners, who need twice the number of certification training as there is a direct relationship between the education levels of partners and brand reputations. Computerlinks will play a big role in training and educating our channel.”
