Arrow Electronics and Trend Micro bridge Australia's widening cybersecurity skills gap

Arrow and Trend Micro are helping channel partners manage the cybersecurity skills crunch.

Despite having 134,690 cybersecurity professionals,[1] Australia will be short 26,000 professionals this year[2] capping a 10-fold surge for these skills since 2015[3]. Advertised demand for cybersecurity skills outpaces artificial intelligence, IT automation, and Internet of Things,[4] according to the Australian Government National Skills Council.

So even as cybersecurity domestic demand booms, Australian channel partners must compete with nations such as Canada that this year will fall short 25,000 cybersecurity professionals, Singapore (16,000), Britain (33,000), and the US (377,000).[5] Even the Australian Government has pledged to hire 1900 staff for spy agency Australian Signals Directorate, further pressuring local skills and price.[6]

How do Arrow and Trend Micro help boost my cybersecurity skills?

The solution is local capability that also hikes capacity so Australian ICT channel partners can continue to serve their customers especially in the booming mid-market tier, says Scott Hayman, engineering services director for Arrow’s enterprise computing solutions business in ANZ.

“Smaller channel partners serving mid-market customers, may not always have capabilities or budget, and  bigger channel partners often encroach on their install base,” Hayman said.

Together with Trend Micro, Arrow’ will inject scarce cybersecurity skills into the channel and streamline project delivery. While continuing to provide pre-sales, planning and support services, Arrow now also elevates its channel partners’ capabilities to assess an end-customer’s needs, install and deploy a solution, and oversee from a project management office (PMO).

The PMO ‘Brains Trust’ distinguishes Arrow, Hayman said.

“Arrow is a friendly set of hands; we’re an aggregator that complements our channel partners’ services,” he said.

“We will never turn up in an end-customer account directly. Everything we do is in collaboration with the channel to support our channel partners.”

Arrow can step in at any point along the project lifecycle from augmenting a channel partner’s in-house skills with Trend Micro-certified experts to ‘shadowing’ a project, which cuts risk and liberates a channel partner to focus on what they do best. Arrow and Trend Micro can even introduce channel partners to each other, assured there will be no conflict.

Arrow and Trend Micro are in lockstep, the distributor supporting the cybersecurity vendor’s unique blend of end-to-end solutions for hybrid cloud security, network defence, and user protection. These include container, workload, file storage, conformity and application security in Trend Micro Cloud One, and Cloud Access Security, Apex One, Worry-Free Services, Deep Discovery, data science as a service, Endpoint Detection and Response, Mobile Security, Email Security and more.

How do I capture cybersecurity opportunities with Arrow and Trend Micro?

Arrow and Trend Micro also collaborate to reveal and seize more net-new business opportunities for their Australian channel partners.

They invest in sales and go-to-market enablement that support channel partners expanding their cybersecurity footprint. This includes co-selling and providing channel partners with qualified leads.

“As the distributor role is changing, we upskill the channel partner so they can sell, support and maintain their customers,” Hayman said.

Arrow also ‘white labels’ Trend Micro services for managed security channel partners and  offers a security operations centre as a service (SOCaaS) — a ‘nerve centre’ for rapid incident response.

“Everything we do is to complement and augment the channel partner’s capability and make them more capable in market through the adoption and onboarding of Trend Micro solutions,” he said.

“Arrow and Trend Micro provide services ranging from consulting to professional services, finance and education. It’s a suite of offerings — developed in partnership — to accelerate the adoption, onboarding and capability of Trend Micro channel partners.

“‘Collaboration is the big word here.”

Do you want to know more about how you can rapidly level up your cybersecurity practice and compete with bigger businesses for customers without breaking the bank? Contact your Arrow account executive or visit the Arrow website for how to seize more business opportunities with Arrow and Trend Micro.