WithSecure’s™ Sphere22 cyber security event took place from 1st to 2nd of June 2022 in Helsinki, Finland where numerous cyber security experts from around the world had gathered to participate in the first-ever co-security SPHERE ‘unconference’.
Great speeches and inspiring points of view were presented about cyber security collaboration with South Africa’s iOCO being among the many experts to have shared valuable insights on the future of co-security worldwide in their valuable presentation. Successful, mutually beneficial partnerships are at the core of WithSecure™ brand and partnerships with the company’s ten largest resellers have lasted for an average of 17 years. Hundreds of the organisation’s valued partners gathered in Helsinki earlier this month to participate in the inaugural SPHERE event.
There were three awards provided to partners at the Sphere 22 event. “No one person or thing can solve every cyber security problem alone. This is a lesson we’ve learned over the last three decades by working with the best partners in the world,” said Juha Kivikoski, Executive Vice President of Business Security at WithSecure™. “We’re thrilled to honor these nominees who typify the excellence that’s possible when we live up to the promise of good partnership.”
iOCO (South Africa) won the Growth Partner of the Year award. The Growth Partner award is for partners that performed exceptionally well in growing new sales or managed service sales. Other nominees included Valtti (Finland) and LisenseIT (Benelux). Paul Spagnoletti, Business Unit Executive: Cloud & Security South Africa, made the following statement at the event: “iOCO has seen phenomenal growth offering WithSecure’s portfolio to customers across all major industries throughout South Africa. A big part of our success can be attributed to the partnership WithSecure’s technical and professional services team that provide unmatched levels of partnership management and support to our own sales and technical professionals. The relationship between WithSecure and iOCO is even more critical during a time when cyber security has become one of the biggest issues businesses face today. This partnership is a non-negotiable for us.” WithSecure’s distributor in Africa, CyberVision, also attended the Sphere22 event and were very grateful to both WithSecure™ and iOCO for achieving the award.
The other two awards at the event were given to Atea (Finland) for Best Performance and Metsys (France) for MSP Partner of the Year. The Best Performance award is for partners that have a long-term relationship with WithSecure™ performing in all areas, sales, growth, & commitment. Other nominees for this award were Sky (Japan) and OCI Group (France). The MSP Partner award recognizes partners that thrive by offering managed services through flexible, subscription-based model that delivers high-value services with success proven by sales, growth, and creative deployments. Other nominees for this award were Upheads (Norway) and IT-Onnet (Germany).