WSO2 has a new UK&I Country Manager, Richard Evans, who joined the company in March. He has over 22 years of experience working with channel businesses, open-source and managed services providers. As such, he brings a significant amount of knowledge and expertise to the role. Enterprise Times recently caught up with him to find out what his priorities are for the coming year.
Evans experience of managed services and open source will be important to WSO2 as it looks to accelerate growth. Since its acquisition by EQT, the company has increased its cadence of new and updated products.
At WSO2Con in Barcelona, it announced that AI would be a first-class concept across all its products. As part of that, it released AI-driven automation for its identity and access tools, and announced a new AI strategy led by Rania Khalaf.
The company also made its first acquisition with the purchase of Moesif in May. While Moesif will run as an independent unit, WSO2 will integrate its API observability, API monetisation and customer experience tools.
An aggressive set of growth targets
Despite arriving at WSO2 just as all this was being announced, we asked Evans what this meant for growth. He said, “We’ve got some aggressive growth targets because of the EQT acquisition. We’re on a trajectory of about 30% growth year-on-year. That’ll be a combination of logo acquisition and expansion in existing accounts.” He went on to explain that logo acquisition meant adding new customers, and it will be interesting to see who the company announces in the next few months.
It is not just end customer acquisition and expansion that the company is targeting. It is also looking at an expansion of its channel partners. Evans admitted that when he stepped into the role, there were not as many partnerships in the UK as he would have liked. He commented, “We’re looking to broaden that expansion to middleware and integration partners in this space to leverage their expertise to grow the business.”
An example of this is the three vertical markets that Evans says WSO2 has focused on: telecommunications, financial services, and utilities. These are verticals that Evans has deep experience in from his 17+ years at Red Hat, targeting them and the partners and Global Service Integrators (GSIs) that operate in them.
He points out that the GSIs are now the subject matter experts (SMEs) in those verticals, and you have to work through them. “The whole landscape of sales has changed now. You can’t go in and just do product sales. I’m getting the team to attend events in those industries for them to understand that space.”
GSIs are not the only SMEs Evans wants
In addition to the GSIs, Evans is looking for partners who are SMEs in areas that align with the WSO2 product stack. He wants to help them grow their business by expanding their knowledge and product expertise.
He commented, “In identity management, we’re looking at partners who have some PAM capabilities, but maybe don’t have the CIM capabilities in that space. Where they have an existing customer base and an existing gap in that solution, we’re looking at those types of partners.
“We’re looking at existing middleware partners in this space, and working to use their expertise and have knowledge in those domains, and looking to upskill them.”
This is a programme that WSO2 has already put in place and which Evans expects to deliver benefits. Importantly, Evans views the greater use of GSIs and partners as essential to scaling WSO2. With a target of 30% growth, it will be interesting to see how this develops.
Training and certification
That growth among partners and GSIs and getting them to use more WSO2 products is not about lower pricing. If they don’t have the skills, they can’t deliver the products. That means that there is a need for better training and certifications.
Enterprise Times talked about this with Isabelle Mauny at WSO2Con. Mauny is focused on building out a better developer and community programme for WSO2. In April, the company formally announced its Ambassador Programme. Evans saw the power of certification and training at Red Hat and knows it will be a key element in delivering his growth target.
Evans admits that a lack of training is a major barrier to technology adoption and that WSO2 is a little behind the curve in certification. He sees the work that Mauny is doing as fixing that. Having said that, greater skills training is needed to grow the partners and GSIs. How quickly will that be put in place?
Can AI be the growth engine for WSO2?
As seen at WSO2Con, AI is now front and centre, underpinning WSO2’s product development and tools. Evans commented on that. “Like most companies, AI is a big play for us. A lot of companies have invested in it, but we are looking to develop real-world solutions in our product portfolio. We’re not selling it as a standalone offering but embedding it into the products for customers to utilise.”
When asked about the challenge of AI agents and security, Evans pointed to the company’s Asgardeo product. He talked about how the company had baked AI into the product. More importantly, there is an Early Adopter Programme (EAP) that allows customers to get an understanding of how it works. He says that the company does recognise that AI is going to be an issue and its announcements are already seeing traction in the market.
The partners and GSIs with whom WSO2 is working will also be important here. They are all being asked about AI by customers. Having a product portfolio with it baked in will make it easier for Evans to hit his growth targets.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean?
Picking up Evans is a big win for WSO2 in the UK. His extensive experience in the open source market, particularly with Red Hat, provides them with someone who understands the market. His relationships with GSIs and channel partners will open doors for the company. It will also make it easier for him to position WSO2 as a necessary part of the channel stack.
Having an aggressive growth target of 30% will mean that Evans will want to reshape the department quickly. He talked about the three main verticals, but the WSO2 product portfolio is about much more than just those.
We didn’t have the opportunity in the interview to discuss the community and developer market, apart from a brief mention of training. However, Evans will be all too aware of how critical those are to any vendor. It will be interesting to see what input he has into Mauny’s plans to widen WSO2s offerings in that space.
