Specialism: Cybersecurity
Key vendors: CrowdStrike, Sailpoint, BeyondTrust, Abnormal Security, Imperva, Illumio, Extrahop, Axonius, Cranium, Mastercard
Revenue: £74.2m (+31%)
Headcount: 50
Identity remains a high-growth area for this Farnborough-based security VAD, its UK&I Country Managed Dave Risk told us (see Q&A below).
Despite being part of 6th-ranked Exclusive Networks since 2021, Ignition’s numbers aren’t yet consolidated into Exclusive’s UK total and it remains a separate brand – hence why we have opted to break it out separately.
The CrowdStrike and Abnormal Security partner saw revenues vault by nearly a third to hit £74.2m in calendar 2023, with the UK generating £71.9m of the total.
“Cybersecurity continues to be both highly relevant and highly resilient for every organisation”
Quickfire Q&A with UK&I Country Manager Dave Risk
What is Ignition’s sweet spot?
If you drew a Venn diagram with SaaS and cloud cybersecurity, with fast growth and disruptive vendors, and reimagined and redefined value-based distribution services, you would find Ignition in the sweet spot!
Which product, service or vendor has stood out for you in 2024?
Crowdstrike (NG Siem) and Abnormal Security. Identity remains a high growth area.
If you could change one thing about your business at the stroke of a wand, what would it be?
Better recognition and understanding of the value delivered by the channel.
When will the UK distribution market return to growth?
We are still experiencing solid year-on-year growth as cybersecurity continues to be both highly relevant and highly resilient for every organisation.
Name one area of your business where you are expecting to add staff in 2025
Is it OK to have three? Business development, services and pre-sales. These are key to both our vendors and channel partners
At its Channel Forums EMEA in October, Canalys characterised AWS Marketplace as one of the world’s largest distributors, owing to its growing third-party software business. On balance, do you agree?
Hmmm! The channel is still learning how to embrace Marketplace and understand the relevant areas of value. There are elements of traditional distribution in the model, however it’s different to a value-based offering like we have at Ignition.
If you could undertake a secret, two-week apprenticeship at another distributor to see how they roll, which would you choose?
Following on from the previous question I’d choose AWS to further understand the key value to channel partners.
See who made the wider Oxygen 50 Must-Know IT Distributors 2024 here.
