Ilias Tsapsidis, Sales Director for Middle East, Greece, Cyprus & Malta at ESET, says the company’s presence at Black Hat MEA reflects its focus on advancing enterprise cybersecurity with stronger threat intelligence and endpoint protection as Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation accelerates.
How does ESET’s participation at Black Hat MEA align with your channel growth strategy in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East?
ESET’s participation at Black Hat MEA plays a pivotal role in strengthening its presence and reinforcing long-term channel growth across Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East. The company views the event as a strategic platform to deepen credibility, showcase its commitment to the Kingdom’s rapidly expanding cybersecurity landscape, and reinforce trust among existing partners. It enables ESET to engage with resellers, MSSPs, and system integrators, build new alliances, and expand partner capabilities around high-value solutions such as MDR and XDR. By creating direct executive-to-partner engagement and facilitating meaningful business discussions, the event accelerates partner recruitment, technical enablement, and sales pipeline development, supporting ESET’s ambition to expand and scale its enterprise-focused channel ecosystem in the region.
What key opportunities does ESET see at Black Hat MEA to strengthen relationships with existing partners and attract new channel players in the Kingdom?
Black Hat MEA provides ESET with an ideal environment to reinforce long-standing partnerships while also building new relationships with channel players in a fast-growing market. The event allows ESET’s leadership and technical experts to hold in-depth discussions with current partners, review shared business goals, and strengthen alignment around enterprise cybersecurity growth. It also offers an opportunity to engage customers jointly with partners, demonstrating the depth of collaboration and support ESET brings to the table. At the same time, the event attracts a large pool of MSSPs and system integrators looking to expand their cybersecurity portfolio, enabling ESET to present its capabilities and solutions as engines for profitable recurring revenue. By generating high-quality enterprise leads and showcasing its regional commitment, ESET uses Black Hat MEA as a catalyst for expanding its channel network and market penetration in Saudi Arabia.
How is ESET supporting its channel ecosystem in addressing the rising threat landscape, especially as Saudi organizations accelerate digital transformation?
As organizations in Saudi Arabia rapidly scale digital transformation initiatives, ESET is equipping its channel ecosystem with enterprise-grade solutions and intelligence to help partners respond to evolving cyber threats. The company is enabling partners to deliver advanced security services centered on platforms such as ESET PROTECT Enterprise, which supports XDR and MDR delivery for continuous detection, response, and incident management. To build confidence in deploying these capabilities, ESET provides structured technical and commercial training through its partner programs, ensuring resellers and service providers can successfully implement and manage large-scale cybersecurity environments. This is complemented by actionable threat intelligence from ESET’s global research labs, giving partners the insight needed to anticipate threats and guide customers proactively. Through this combination, ESET positions its partners as trusted security advisors capable of addressing the sophisticated threat landscape emerging across Saudi enterprises.
Are you unveiling or highlighting any new solutions, threat intelligence capabilities, or partner-focused initiatives at this year’s event?
At this year’s Black Hat MEA, ESET is placing strong focus on showcasing its strengthened portfolio of enterprise cybersecurity solutions and expanded partner strategies rather than announcing entirely new product launches. The company is giving prominence to the depth of its XDR capabilities through the ESET PROTECT Enterprise platform, as well as the growing adoption of its Managed Detection and Response services designed for organizations seeking 24/7 protection and faster incident remediation. ESET is also highlighting the intelligence and analytical capabilities developed by its worldwide research labs, which partners can leverage to strengthen their advisory role with enterprise customers. Additionally, the event serves as an opportunity to expand ESET’s channel base by engaging new MSSPs and system integrators interested in building recurring revenue models around ESET’s enterprise solutions.
What differentiates ESET’s channel model from other cybersecurity vendors operating in the region, and how do you ensure consistent value creation for resellers and distributors?
ESET sets itself apart by operating a fully channel-driven model that avoids competing directly with resellers, ensuring that partners maintain full commercial ownership and profitability of their customer engagements. This model delivers transparency, predictable margins, and strong protection of renewal cycles, enabling partners to build recurring revenue with confidence. ESET also focuses on simplifying operations by offering solutions that are efficient, lightweight, and designed to reduce operational overhead, which directly benefits partners responsible for large enterprise environments. To continuously create value, ESET provides structured programs for sales and technical enablement, marketing development support, and localized assistance across pre-sales and post-sales phases. The company also prioritizes lead generation and handover, ensuring that resellers and distributors receive tangible business opportunities supported by strong vendor commitment.
How is ESET investing in partner enablement—training, certifications, technical workshops—to ensure the channel is fully equipped to sell and support your solutions in the Saudi market?
ESET is making sustained investments in upskilling and certifying its channel partners to ensure they can confidently sell, deploy, and support advanced enterprise cybersecurity solutions in Saudi Arabia. Through dedicated online learning frameworks and formal certification paths, partners gain deep sales, engineering, and configuration knowledge that enables them to manage large-scale customer environments effectively. This is reinforced by ongoing technical workshops—delivered both virtually and through local distribution partners—that provide hands-on experience focused on deployment, optimization, and service delivery for offerings such as XDR and MDR. Localized assistance from ESET’s sales and engineering teams provides additional support throughout customer engagements, ensuring partners have the technical backing required to transition from product resale to delivering high-value managed and advisory security services.
What are ESET’s priority areas for expanding its channel footprint and enhancing its local presence in the Kingdom?
Following Black Hat MEA, ESET plans to build on the momentum generated at the event by fast-tracking the onboarding of new MSSPs and system integrators and quickly converting exhibition-generated leads into active opportunities. Strengthening local presence remains a major focus, with ESET continuing to invest in Saudi-based talent and technical support functions to meet local compliance and data governance expectations. The company also aims to accelerate adoption of enterprise solutions such as XDR and MDR across priority verticals including financial services, energy, and government, where demand for advanced cybersecurity capabilities continues to rise. By combining local investment, stronger partner engagement, and enterprise-focused campaigns, ESET is positioning itself for sustained expansion and long-term revenue growth in the Kingdom.
