Ericom Software Snags Ex-Symantec Exec David Canellos For CEO Role
Ericom Software has brought in David Canellos from Symantec to drive more cross-selling of the company's whole portfolio and pursue integrations with other security technologies.
The Closter, N.J.-based company also plans to double down on the channel under Canellos' stewardship, and hopes to increase the share of business flowing through partners from upward of 80 percent today to virtually all non-legacy engagements. Canellos started at Ericom Jan. 1, and had previously spent two and a half years at Symantec as senior vice president of global service providers, supporting top telecom and cloud services players.
"Ericom was probably the best company I'd never heard of," Canellos told CRN. "It's growing, it's profitable, and it's never had any institutional money."
Canellos said he was extremely impressed by Ericom's portfolio of customers, which includes more than 30,000 businesses of every industry and size operating in more than 45 countries. Ericom was founded in 1993, and employs 87 people, according to LinkedIn.
Under Canellos, Ericom plans to focus on becoming a valued member of an organization's IT ecosystem through integrations, making it easier for the company to scale while still remaining in compliance with common standards.
Ericom is focusing on building the architecture for its products by leveraging widely available and commonly used technologies for cloud services, according to Canellos. Specifically, Canellos said Ericom needs to make sure that it's using technologies such as Kubernetes, Docker and Rancher to work seamlessly with other organizations.
"Our goal is to provide a valued and material capability within a cyber security ecosystem," Canellos said. “The last thing an organization needs is a product that doesn't fit in their ecosystem."
Canellos wants Ericom's product to be orchestrated to work seamlessly with firewalls, secure web gateways, cloud access security brokers (CASBs), endpoint protection offerings, and endpoint detection and response offerings. To date, Canellos said the company has already integrated with all the major players in the single sign-on space.
At the same time, Canellos said Ericom's product should continue to conform to cloud technologies. Going forward, Canellos said he needs to give Ericom's team the resources and vision needed to capture the rest of the integrated footprint.
From a customer standpoint, Canellos said Ericom has done a really good job of acquiring new customers but has room to improve from a cross-selling standpoint, ensuring that businesses understand the importance and points of differentiation around the company's Connect application and desktop access product as well as its Shield remote browser isolation product.
Ericom also plans to work with its channel partners to ensure they're selling everything in the company's portfolio rather than just an individual product line, Canellos said. He said the company works with a good mix of global partners as well as regional channel players, and is looking to further empower them through a combination of sales and marketing campaigns, training and cross-selling strategy.
The company sells through distribution, has a three-tier channel program, and processes thousands of partner transaction orders each year, according to Canellos. But Ericom doesn't plan to rest on its laurels, and Canellos said he's already met with some channel partners to ensure the company is providing the right tools and support.
"It's going to be channel, channel, channel for us," Canellos said. "This is a hot space right now."