IT security and data protection firm Sophos has appointed Ciaran
Rafferty as the new vice president of UK and Ireland. Based at the
company's headquarters in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Ciaran will lead
and manage Sophos's UK&I sales and marketing function, and
support the development of the company's global sales program
strategy.
Ciaran joins Sophos from Seidor, one of SAP's top 10 global
partners, where he held the position of Director and exceeded
growth targets to raise the company's UK profile. Formerly VP of
SAP UK&I, Ciaran has held a number of channel-centric
positions, more than trebling year on year revenue rates, and
taking the lead in high-impact sales wins with large
organisations.
With over 15 years experience, Ciaran's channel, field sales and
management expertise will lead the UK&I businesses to new
heights. The role will include strengthening relationships with
Sophos's reseller community, identifying opportunities in which to
grow the data protection business and engaging with customers to
identify higher levels of service excellence.
Equipped with a 100% channel-focussed sales model, Sophos
continues to develop a strategy that makes doing business with
Sophos easy and profitable in a competitive industry. As vice
president of Sophos UK&I, Ciaran will be responsible for
understanding the market opportunity for sales of Sophos products
by resellers, VARs, integrators and distributors and feeding this
knowledge into the development of the Sophos Partner Programme
strategy announced earlier this year.
The Sophos Partner Programme delivers real and measurable
benefits and has been designed to provide partners with the
resources they need to ensure they maximise their sales
opportunities. Sophos's strategic partners have experienced 60%
year on year new business growth year to date following the launch
of the new global partner program in April 2009. Ciaran and his
team of 90 will continue to engage with partners through this
co-selling programme so that they may take advantage of the
opportunities associated with selling IT security solutions.
Speaking on Ciaran's appointment, Chris Doggett, director of
global channel programmes, said, "Sophos's business is built on
high value partnerships and our complete commitment to achieving
joint success with our partners. As we look to grow our business,
it will be this foundation that will be integral to leadership in a
competitive marketplace. Ciaran brings deep extensive experience
and a deep understanding of the needs of our partners to our own
organisation, both of which are key to ensuring continued growth
and profitability for our partners and for Sophos."
Ciaran
Rafferty added, "Data loss prevention, compliance and
encryption will remain the top priorities for UK businesses
throughout the next 12 months. This represents a great opportunity
for VARs to grow revenue and increase customer retention rates. My
job will be to ensure that existing Sophos partners have access to
the right solutions and support in order to make the most of these
opportunities, as well as meet our aggressive partner recruitment
targets over the next twelve months."
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.