Vaultive Hires Ken Knueven to Lead Channel Strategy

Encryption vendor Vaultive has hired a former Microsoft (MSFT) executive to lead its channel strategy. Ken Knueven, who previously was the Federal Programs director for Microsoft, has joined Vaultive as the senior director of Channels, making him the go-to guy for all things channel-related at the vendor.

In his new role, Knueven will be responsible for continuing to drive Vaultive’s channel strategy while focusing on “facilitating adoption of cloud-based services in tandem with partners in key verticals, including federal, higher education and healthcare markets.”

At the same time, Knueven announced partnerships with public sector technology firm immixGroup and CoreBTS, a Microsoft mid-Atlantic partner. The two new partners will deliver persistent encryption to companies that want to adopt cloud services while also remaining as secure as possible.

“Cloud adoption is at a crossroads, with organizations in every industry balancing the cost and flexibility benefits of tools like Microsoft’s Office 365 against high-profile privacy and data ownership concerns making international headlines,” Knueven said in a prepared statement. “Vaultive’s approach to persistently encrypting cloud data empowers businesses to take advantage of the latest cloud applications, without fear of losing direct control of their data. Our partnerships with immixGroup and CoreBTS significantly extend our reach into the public sector and healthcare markets and will help drive significant growth for Vaultive.”

Not a bad way to start your new job leading a vendor’s channel organization.

Vaultive’s channel strategy revolves around its Advantage Partner Program, which aims to help partners remove the roadblocks that are keeping some organizations from adopting cloud services. And by that the company means providing security and control of data.

Vaultive has been growing its number of partners, and the company touts itself as having a channel-centric go-to-market strategy. It’s a good fit, as many in the channel are still battling perceptions that cloud equates to “less secure.” By providing the technologies, such as encryption, to make cloud more secure, they have a chance at turning naysayers into believers.