CyberArk CEO Udi Mokady and CFO Joshua Siegel provided new clues about the cybersecurity company's MSSP partner strategy during an earnings call yesterday. A multi-tenant version of CyberArk's software, positioned for MSSPs, provides a key opportunity to win more business with midmarket customers, the executives indicated.
For the company's first quarter of 2018, revenues were $71.8 million, up 22 percent compared with the first quarter of 2017. The figures were roughly $2.5 million higher than Wall Street had been expecting, according to SeekingAlpha.
CyberArk MSSP Partner Strategy
During the call, CyberArk's leaders also offered an update on the company's MSSP strategy. "In early April, we rolled out our first multi-tenant offering from managed security service providers, which can be licensed based on pricing," Mokady said during the call. "Our partners can now further extend privileged access security through organizations of all sizes, including deeper into the mid market."
After an analyst asked CyberArk for more details on the MSSP pricing vs. traditional pricing, CFO Siegel didn't share exact dollars and cents information, but seemed to indicate that the MSSPs will enter annual contacts or just pay as they go in terms of pricing.
The goal, CEO Mokady added, is to help midmarket customers find MSSP partners that offer pay-as-you-go offerings.
In some ways, CyberArk is late to the MSSP partner sector. Companies like Webroot, Sophos and Cisco Umbrella have long offered multi-tenant dashboards for MSP and MSSP partners.
CyberArk Channel Strategy
During the quarter, channel partners drove 60 percent of CyberArk's business, the company also disclosed.
In addition, advisory firms like PwC and Deloitte continued to invest and build out their CyberArk practices as they recognize that securing privileged accounts is critical to a comprehensive security strategy," Mokady said. "We saw nearly 60% increase in business influenced by the advisory firms in the first quarter of 2018 compared to last year."
While both PwC and Deloitte are big consulting firms, they also rank among among the world's Top 100 MSSPs for 2017, according to MSSP Alert research.
Customers and partners should also keep a close on CyberArk's C³ Alliance strategy and associated marketplace -- which now includes 80 alliance partners and key integrations with companies like OKTA, Sailpoint, Ping, ServiceNow, Rapid7, Tenable, AWS, Chef, Puppet and Ansible.
