FEATURE FUTURE OF THE CHANNEL
“ The goal is to take partners from awareness to competence to confident, repeatable selling, so they can lead these conversations rather than react to them.”
Holt similarly believes channel expertise will become increasingly valuable as several significant technology changes converge.
“ Enterprises are facing a convergence of challenges. Certificate lifecycles are moving towards 47 days, the clock is ticking on post quantum migration, and AI is creating a new wave of identities and potential threats.”
Rather than expecting customers to navigate those changes independently, partners can help them understand their existing environments, identify risks and determine which areas require attention first.
“ Our job is to give the channel the technology, knowledge and support to turn that complexity into a practical roadmap,” said Holt.
From certificate sales to recurring services The transition also creates an opportunity for partners to rethink how they make money from digital trust.
Remnant believes managed services and automation can shift the channel away from transactional certificate sales towards longerterm customer relationships.
One of Ignition Technology’ s priorities over the next 12 months will therefore be helping partners build services around DigiCert ONE.
Remnant described this as:“ Services and recurring revenue, helping partners move beyond transactional certificate sales into automation and managed digital-trust services, which is better for them commercially and stickier with their customers.”
The distributor will initially concentrate on recruiting and activating partners across
Most partners don’ t yet have that expertise inhouse, and they don’ t need to build it alone.
the launch markets while developing expertise around shorter certificate lifecycles, AI and machine identities and postquantum migration.
Ignition Technology’ s existing partner model includes sales and product training, pre-sales services, lead-generation support and implementation assistance.
For DigiCert, the relationship forms part of a wider partner-first strategy across EMEA.
“ We are taking a partner first approach across EMEA because partners bring expertise, customer relationships and local market knowledge that add real value around our technology,” Holt said.
Ignition Technology’ s cybersecurity expertise and established regional ecosystem were important factors in its selection.
“ This matters because customers are navigating several major shifts at once, from shorter certificate lifecycles and post quantum readiness to the rapid growth of AI. They need expertise as well as technology, and that is where the channel can make a real difference,” said Holt.
Convergence creates the opportunity Looking further ahead, Holt expects convergence to become the defining characteristic of the digital trust market.
“ The defining issue will be convergence. Shorter certificate lifecycles, post quantum
Paul Holt, Group Vice President, EMEA at DigiCert migration and the AI boom are all arriving at the same time.”
Despite appearing to be separate technology challenges, Holt believes they share a fundamental requirement: organisations need to understand what exists within their environments, what can be trusted and where risks reside.
That will increasingly turn digital trust into a strategic enterprise concern rather than a narrowly defined security function.
“ It also makes partner expertise increasingly valuable. Customers will need partners that can bring together technology, expertise and services to help them navigate these changes with confidence,” said Holt.
For channel partners, the opportunity therefore extends considerably further than distributing certificates. As organisations attempt to manage growing populations of machine and AI identities while automating certificate management and preparing their cryptography for the future, they will need expertise capable of turning those individual challenges into a coherent digital trust strategy.
Partners that develop that expertise have an opportunity not only to address an emerging customer requirement but to build differentiated services and recurring revenue around it. For DigiCert and Ignition Technology, that transition from transactional certificate sales towards strategic digital trust services is where the next phase of channel growth could lie. •
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