As organisations across EMEA continue to expand their SaaS environments, channel partners are under growing pressure to deliver stronger data protection, resilience and compliance services. Alex Walsh, Regional VP of Channel, EMEA North, Keepit, tells us why independent SaaS data protection, data sovereignty and recurring revenue services are becoming critical opportunities for partners navigating an increasingly complex cloud landscape.
Why did you decide to move to Keepit?
For me, the move was about doing something genuinely different. I didn’t want to join another vendor doing the same things in the same way. What attracted me to Keepit was the opportunity to help build a channel-first business at a point of real momentum, rather than joining a mature model that was already set in stone.
Keepit’s focus on pure SaaS data protection stood out immediately. We’re not a legacy infrastructure vendor that added SaaS backup as a feature; it’s our entire purpose. On top of that, Keepit owns its technology stack within its data centres, which gives us independence from hyperscalers and the ability to move quickly. That combination of technical independence, data sovereignty and a clear channel commitment felt genuinely disruptive.
Just as important was the culture. When I spoke to people across the business, there was a real sense of excitement about what the channel could become. That enthusiasm, coupled with a clear long-term vision, made it a compelling decision.
How can partners drive value and margin in today’s SaaS-heavy environment?
Partners need to shift away from a licence-led mindset and focus instead on business outcomes. In a SaaS-first world, customers are not simply buying tools; they are looking for confidence that their data is secure, recoverable and compliant when incidents occur. Value is increasingly measured by resilience, not features. What many still misunderstand is that SaaS providers such as Microsoft are responsible for service availability, not for long-term protection or recovery of customer data.
A common margin-draining mistake is only protecting part of the SaaS estate. Microsoft 365 and identity services are often addressed first, yet organisations typically run dozens and in many cases close to 100 SaaS applications, each with its own data risk. Applications such as HR, finance, collaboration and e-signature platforms all contain business-critical information, and none of them assume responsibility for backing up customer data. Leaving those workloads unprotected creates both operational exposure and missed revenue opportunities for partners.
The real opportunity lies in services. Partners that wrap technology with Backup-as-a-Service, recovery testing, compliance-led consultancy, migration support and multi-SaaS protection bundles can significantly increase margin while strengthening long-term customer relationships. These services elevate the conversation from products to resilience and assurance.
Because Keepit operates on a predictable recurring revenue model and owns its infrastructure, partners benefit from sustainable margin over the lifetime of the customer, including renewals and expansions, rather than relying on one-off transactional sales.
Why is avoiding hyperscaler lock-in and supporting data sovereignty becoming so important?
Hyperscalers bring enormous benefits, but over-reliance creates concentration risk. If your production environment and your data protection strategy both sit on the same platform, you’ve effectively created a single point of failure.
We’ve seen repeated outages across major cloud providers in the last six months. When those platforms go down, organisations can lose access not just to their applications, but also to their backups. From a resilience perspective, that’s a serious problem.
From a CIO and CISO standpoint, data sovereignty adds another layer of complexity. Regulatory pressure is increasing, geopolitical uncertainty is rising, and organisations need to know where their data lives and which laws apply to it. Sovereignty is no longer a niche concern, it’s a board-level issue.
This isn’t about abandoning hyperscalers. It’s about balance. Independent data protection platforms provide a genuine Plan B, allowing organisations to maintain recoverability, portability and jurisdictional control even during platform-level incidents.
What do partners need most from vendors today — and what do they need less of?
Partners are actually very clear about what they want.
- Technology they can trust – something customers genuinely want to buy and that won’t damage their reputation.
- Sustainable profitability, not just strong margins in year one, but predictable revenue over the lifetime of the customer.
- Ease of doing business, it’s about doing the basics well, consistently and reliably.
What partners want less of is inconsistency. Sudden strategy changes, reactive pivots, or short-term incentive programmes create noise rather than trust. If a partner has invested in enablement, training and customer conversations, and the vendor suddenly changes direction, that investment is undermined.
In a saturated channel market, predictability is a differentiator. Partners value vendors who say what they’ll do, do what they say, and stick to the plan. Long-term alignment matters far more than end-of-quarter incentives.
What makes the UK channel special, and what challenges and opportunities does it present?
The UK channel is one of the most mature and competitive markets in Europe. Partners are commercially savvy and selective about where they invest their time, which makes it a challenging environment for vendors but also a very rewarding one if you get it right.
UK organisations tend to adopt SaaS early and at scale, which amplifies concerns around data loss, resilience and compliance. CIOs and CISOs are under pressure to demonstrate control over increasingly complex SaaS estates, and that creates a strong opportunity for partners who can clearly articulate risk, sovereignty and recoverability.
The challenge is earning trust. UK partners expect consistency, local investment and a clear value proposition. But once that trust is established, momentum can build very quickly.
How would you describe Keepit’s ongoing channel momentum?
Keepit’s growth is the result of a very deliberate strategy. We operate a 100% channel model and remain selective about who we work with. Our focus is on long-term alignment, not rapid scale for its own sake.
Historically, we built strong traction with boutique and regional partners, particularly in the SMB and commercial space. What we’re seeing now is a surge in interest from larger, enterprise-focused partners and MSPs, often driven by direct customer demand around data sovereignty and hyperscaler independence.
We’ve invested heavily in sales and channel teams across the UK and Ireland, and that local presence is making a real difference. By staying focused on SaaS-only data protection, predictable partner economics and operational simplicity, we’re building sustainable momentum rather than short-term spikes.
As SaaS adoption accelerates and regulatory scrutiny increases, partners will play an even more critical role. Our goal is to be the most partner-friendly vendor in the market by delivering consistency, independence and real value over the long term.
