16 01732 759725 “SharePoint is a great tool, but it’s not designed to be a file server, which is what people start to use it for. That’s probably okay at the lower end, subject to what you are trying to achieve, but it can only go so far before it starts to creak. In some respects, Egnyte competes with SharePoint but it also complements it. It can sit across the top of SharePoint, handling large files more efficiently and with less latency, supported by governance and compliance. If you wanted to, you could use SharePoint for certain parts of your repository and use Egnyte to overlay permissions on that.” He adds that Egnyte also includes smart capabilities that can help organisations tackle the challenges of data sprawl, from the cost of storage to security risks. Product development Egnyte is continuing to add value to its solution through on-going product development, which it is now looking to accelerate. Last year, for example, it introduced 300 new product features and a generative AI-powered assistant, Egnyte Copilot, that transcribes and summarises documents, creates reports and enables users to organise and query information across thousands of files using natural language. Egnyte is also using AI to automate complex document workflows; to create agents for specific tasks, such as translation, spelling/grammar checking and the writing of job descriptions; and to improve security, for example through anomalous behaviour detection and automated compliance classification. These new capabilities, says Tulip, make Egnyte an even more compelling solution for MSPs. “MSPs are looking to solve customer problems, which is what we do. We’ll also give them some recurring revenue and reduce tickets on their ticket desk – just think how many tickets an MSP receives because SharePoint is asked to do something it shouldn’t be used for. My mission over the next 12 months is to find the right MSP partners to help us grow the business. That’s the focus. That’s why I’m here,” he declared. www.egnyte.com 1,200-person global software business with 22,000 enterprise customers and approaching £300 million in annual recurring revenue. Now, with new finance coming in, I think we’ll start to see some hockey-stick growth.” As part of its growth strategy, Egnyte is planning to expand its partner ecosystem, giving more VARs and MSPs the opportunity to develop new revenue streams and differentiate themselves by helping clients with compliance and governance. “It’s still a great time to be an MSP,” said Tulip, “but every industry eventually becomes commoditised. We’re not there yet with MSPs, but it’s certainly a maturing space and IT managed service providers need to keep evolving to stay ahead of their competitors. I, and others, have been talking about governance and compliance as an opportunity for a couple of years, in light of new regulations like DORA and the emergence of compliance-as-a-service. Egnyte complements those trends.” Integrated platform Egnyte does this by integrating file storage, content collaboration, AI-enhanced workflows (incorporating PDF editing and e-signature capture) and data security and governance into a unified platform that makes it easier for dispersed teams to edit and share documents securely, on-premises and in the cloud, in real-time, with policy-based governance, permissions and other controls. The platform, accessed via web, mobile and desktop applications, is suitable for all files, but its edge caching capabilities have proved especially useful when collaborating on very large files in the cloud, even in low-bandwidth areas, which has helped Egnyte gain traction in sectors such as AEC, life sciences, financial services and media production. Tulip says that building on its existing MSP offering will enable Egnyte to attract more mid-market and smaller businesses that may not have the scale of an enterprise, but which still require a premium, enterprise-grade product. He adds that for MSPs, which are typically Microsoft-focused, Egnyte is a useful alternative or complement to SharePoint. In February, David Tulip surprised many in the MSP community by announcing that he was leaving Network Group after six years as leader and almost 20 years of association to take up the position of Director MSP EMEA at Egnyte, a provider of cloud-based content intelligence, governance and collaboration tools. His announcement coincided with strategic growth investment in Egnyte by GI Partners and TA Associates to support the company’s global expansion and platform development, including AI-driven product features. Reporting to Bob Gagnon, the newly appointed Senior Vice President of Global Channel Sales, Tulip and his 30-strong team in Reading will have a key role to play in expanding Egnyte’s presence in EMEA, where it already has circa 150 active channel partners, including several Network Group members. This will play to Tulip’s strengths as a ‘connector’, bringing VARs and MSPs across EMEA together with a vendor that does not yet have the profile in the region that its achievements and potential warrant. “This is a really exciting time to join Egnyte,” he said. “There’s such a big market opportunity around compliance and regulation, and the leadership here is committed to making the most of that. Over the last 15 years, Egnyte has not taken over the world, but it has moved steadily forwards, growing into a David Tulip joins Egnyte to drive channel growth across EMEA Exciting times COMPLIANCE David Tulip
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