Open Systems Hires iboss, Cylance Vet as New CMO, New Partner Program Coming
The new CMO said the market opportunity for Open Systems is enormous.
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Channel Futures: Why did you want to take this role with Open Systems?
Open Systems’ May Mitchell: I am thrilled to join Open Systems, where I am applying my 25 years of experience in cybersecurity and digital transformation to expand our business and global marketing approach for next-generation managed detection and response (MDR). Open Systems has an incredible executive leadership team, and I was drawn to working with this world-class group of cybersecurity leaders. Expanding our business globally and to new regions is a particularly exciting challenge. And I’m looking forward to working closely with our product and sales teams in executing our go-to-market (GTM) strategy for our mission control approach.
CF: What’s the market opportunity looking like for Open Systems?
MM: The market opportunity for Open Systems is enormous given the great many companies that can benefit from our MDR service and the ability to operationalize their security investments. Thanks to our 24/7 monitoring, our customers can focus on their digital transformations and ensuring their employees are empowered for success and being productive with secure connectivity from everywhere.
Open Systems also represents a tremendous opportunity for the many members of Microsoft’s security partner community. They can augment their cyber practices with our MDR services, giving them a new recurring revenue opportunity and enabling them to build loyalty with their customers.
CF: Are you going to be working with Open Systems’ partners? What can they expect from you as CMO?
MM: Yes, in my role as CMO, I will work closely with the global sales and product teams to create a simple and compelling partner program that provides opportunity protection, enablement, joint selling/marketing and support for a growing partner base.
CF: How will your previous experience at iboss, Cylance and Symantec come into play in this new role?
MM: My experience includes leading cybersecurity programs and initiatives covering endpoint, network, secure access service edge/security service edge (SASE/SSE), endpoint detection and response (EDR), MDR and services, as well as partner experience with alliance/technology, OEM, MSSP, marketplaces and two-tier distribution models. With this foundational background, I am working with our Open Systems product team to develop new product introduction (NPI) processes and models to ensure our company, customers and partners are ready for new solutions to find new incremental and recurring growth.
CF: What’s at the top of your to-do list?
MM: My work begins with a marketing plan and operating model that goes hand in hand with our sales and product roadmap. With this in place, we are developing a communications and content mapping strategy, with the goal of sharing useful and critical cybersecurity insights to our customers, partners, stakeholders and prospects. By the end of Q4 or early 2023, we are aiming to launch a partner program.
When it comes to our MDR insights, deep understanding of Microsoft security products and overall cybersecurity expertise, Open Systems has much to share with the world. And we’ll continue educating the marketplace with our unique perspective into the threat landscape and our mission control-based approach to security.
CF: Are you planning any changes to Open Systems’ marketing strategy? If so, how?
MM: We are optimizing and expanding the marketing team to align with our sales coverage model. You’ll see more investment in the areas of partner enablement, joint selling and marketing with targeted partners. We’re excited to build upon our current momentum to grow our business alongside our partners with informative, critical cybersecurity insights to help enterprises worldwide accelerate their digital transformation while making security simple by reducing risk and actively protecting against threats.
CF: Will you help increase Open Systems’ competitive advantage? If so, how?
MM: Increasing brand awareness is key to communicating the competitive advantages of our services in the crowded and noisy MDR market. We are developing a straightforward narrative to clearly communicate how Open Systems enables cybersecurity maturity for organizations worldwide. This will include detailing how we help customers with key operational issues, such as maximizing their existing Microsoft security investments and hardening their attack services. We are also creating compelling bundles to get our partners and customers started with MDR services and allow them to grow their usage over time.
CF: Will you help increase Open Systems’ competitive advantage? If so, how?
MM: Increasing brand awareness is key to communicating the competitive advantages of our services in the crowded and noisy MDR market. We are developing a straightforward narrative to clearly communicate how Open Systems enables cybersecurity maturity for organizations worldwide. This will include detailing how we help customers with key operational issues, such as maximizing their existing Microsoft security investments and hardening their attack services. We are also creating compelling bundles to get our partners and customers started with MDR services and allow them to grow their usage over time.
Longtime channel vet May Mitchell, previously with iboss, Cylance and more, has joined Open Systems as its new chief marketing officer (CMO).
Open Systems’ May Mitchell
Mitchell replaces Aurelie Guerrieri as Open Systems’ CMO. Guerrieri left the company in June after three years in the role.
Open Systems tells us Mitchell has “incredible experience and passion for cybersecurity and digital transformation, with an established track record of successfully launching new solutions to market across various business segments, including global enterprise, midmarket and SMB.”
Here’s our list of channel people on the move in August. |
“This, combined with her success in building partner ecosystems that drive new customer acquisitions, makes her an excellent fit for Open Systems and our growing partnership with Microsoft and their partner community,” the company said.
Before joining Open Systems, Mitchell was iboss‘ senior vice president of marketing. Before that, she was vice president of global channel sales/alliances and field/partner marketing at Cylance, which was acquired by BlackBerry.
Open Systems’ Mission Control SOCs and NOCs provide 24/7 global coverage for nearly 10,000 locations across 184 countries.
See our slideshow above for more about Mitchell’s plans with Open Systems as CMO.
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