Tanium Vet to Lead Secureworks MSSP Partner Program

Secureworks has hired Tanium vet Ian Williamson to head its global MSSP partner program.

Williamson joins Secureworks from Tanium, where he designed, developed and led its MSP program. Over a 30-year career, he has held leadership positions at FogHorn Systems, Hitachi and Sun Microsystems.

As general manager of global service providers, the Tanium vet will work closely with Secureworks service provider partners to drive mutual growth opportunities as demand for open architecture cyber platforms continues to rise. He’ll report to Chris Bell, Secureworks’ chief strategy officer.

SecureWorks Ian Williamson

Williamson said there’s two primary reasons why he’s “very excited” to be at Secureworks.

“First, I was drawn to the power of a mature, open extended detection and response (XDR) software platform in Taegis that is solving significant security challenges across 4,000-plus customers, in all market segments around the world,” he said.

Williamson said the Taegis platform caters to MSPs and advisory companies, using a multi-tenant platform in the cloud. The platform will drive profitability for MSSP partners, Williamson said.

"Second, I was very impressed by the leadership team here at Secureworks, specifically for their understanding of the MSSP market given the company’s unique heritage as a former MSSP themselves, and the fact that they are at the forefront of innovation with Taegis and its unique service provider offerings," Williamson said. "The leadership team here has a long history in the managed security market and understands the most important areas for innovation.”

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Over 50 MSSPs are building out their managed security service business on the Taegis XDR platform.

What the Tanium Vet Brings to Secureworks

“Having built, with a collective team, the cloud service provider (CSP) program at Hitachi and the MSP program at Tanium, it is clear to me what it takes to build successful partnerships in this space,” Williamson said. “Our service provider partners expect technology and a team focused on their success in creating unique outcomes-based value to the market. Our partners want the full value and expertise of all lines of business from a software company like Secureworks to help them build the offerings, enable them for the best-in-industry SLAs, and very importantly, focus on their marketing and sales efforts to build a joint pipeline that is balanced between the partnership. Having this commitment from both companies to align in technical SMEs, delivery, operations, sales and marketing in the partnership is vital to our success.”

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Secureworks has several mature partnerships that need to continue to grow with new Taegis offerings such as its virtual data room (VDR)-XDR integration, network detection and response (NDR) and other product roadmap items, he said.

“In addition, we offer compelling integrations through key technology alliance partners that our MSSPs can leverage for expanding their service catalogs,” Williamson said. “I’d like to also focus on a number of new partnerships that we’d like to accelerate our time to market with – a process called service design and go-to-market (GTM) workshops. It is all about developing a joint partner business plan that unifies all disciplines with key milestones for success. Top of mind for me in any action is always how do I accelerate our partners’ growth with our software – and that can be Taegis powering their managed service offerings, or using our software for their consulting and advisory services.”

Addressing MSSPs’ Most Pressing Needs

The most pressing needs of MSSP partners in Secureworks’ industry are centered on serving and managing their customers’ risk, Williamson said. Secureworks’ MSSP partners are under pressure to "stay ahead of the bad guys" by leveraging technology, people and processes to optimize their customers’ risk posture, and then detect issues and respond quickly to allow companies to continue their operations.
“The MSSP’s customer wants to remain focused on their core competencies, while the MSSP focuses on keeping them secure, " he said. “The Taegis platform particularly stands out in the market as an open platform that ingests data from just about any telemetry source (IT, OT, cloud, etc) while leveraging AI, Secureworks threat and partner threat intelligence – all to minimize noise and focus security personnel on the threats that matter most. We are here with a compelling technology and a dedicated global team focused on assuring our MSSP partners success with their customers.”