Pleased to share our most recent Nerd Icon interview with the one and only Lamon Gorman, Director, Service Provider Channel, Trend Micro!

This is the latest in our blog series introducing you to the experts you’ll hear live at NerdioCon 2023, taking place February 27 – March 3 in beautiful Cancun, Mexico. Our agenda is now live on our event website – www.nerdiocon.com – and we encourage you to check it out in addition to downloading our NerdioCon app via the Apple or Android stores where you easily can plan your event schedule and identify sessions to attend.

Tell us a bit about Trend Micro and your current role with them. 

As a global cybersecurity leader with 7,000 highly skilled “Trenders” in 65 countries, equipped with the world’s most advanced global threat research and intelligence, Trend Micro empowers organizations to confidently navigate the complexities of the connected world. With our innovative solutions, we simplify security and ensure a secure exchange of digital information for organizations worldwide.

I’ve been a Trender going on almost 15 years and have worked with MSPs for the majority of that time. In my role today, I help look after our overall MSP strategy for North America. I love that in my role I get to see the best of both worlds, as I’m able to collaborate and innovate with both MSPs and internal stakeholders.

How did you get to this point in your career, and what sustained or prompted your interest in the tech industry?  

I’ve always considered myself a “techy” and pursued such interests growing up. While in high school, I explored programming, learning the fundamentals of C++ and QBasic. My career in cybersecurity kind of found me after graduating with a degree in psychology of all things. I’m passionate about trying new things & seeing new places and this spill-over into my love of the tech industry. I’ve gotten to this point in my career by focusing on my strengths; my tenacity, positive can-do mindset, and my ability to connect people.

Can you tell us about what you plan to speak about at NerdioCon? Why will this be relevant/important for partners?  

I plan on educating MSPs on strategies that can help them reframe the cybersecurity conversation they are having with their clients. Their clients understand that cyber risk is a business risk, and MSPs are in a prime position to help them better navigate (and manage) cyber risk.

As cybersecurity is now a “boardroom” conversation with their clients, MSPs have to level up the conversation and map IT spend to business outcomes vs the threat or tech of the day.

MSPs and their clients are facing a myriad of dynamics in the market

• Macro-economic conditions have clients more cost-conscious, and MSPs can help them consolidate and maximize IT spend by aligning to business outcomes.
• The continued evolution and sophistication of threats create new risks to clients’ resilience and long-term growth.
• The growing attack surface – digital and cloud transformation continues and the client’s attack surface is expanding, impacting visibility and creating new risk exposure.
  • MSPs are tasked with managing and securing more connected digital assets and are hindered by limited staff and cybersecurity expertise.
• Navigating the compliance, regulation & cyber insurance landscape has increasingly become more challenging for MSPs and their clients.

What are you looking forward to at the event?  

Looking forward to networking, collaborating, and learning with peers.

What trends do you think we’ll be seeing in the partner space in the year to come?  

• Partners will explore ways to incorporate AI into their automation workflows.
• Partners will continue to prioritize building out their cybersecurity and cloud skillset.
  • For cybersecurity – Finding and consolidating true partnerships (vs “vendors”) that augment the partner’s staff will be key a to closing this gap.
  • For the cloud, enablement resources available via the major cloud providers and cloud-focused distributors will be key go-to resources for partners to bring the cloud skillset in-house.
• Partners who are unable to pivot the cybersecurity conversation and better align to their clients’ business outcomes will risk losing business to those that do.

Finally, who are your “nerd icons”? That is, who do you look up to in the tech industry? And/or who has influenced your career in it? 

I’m drawn to those who think ”BIG” and outside-of-the-box , and one of my favorite and inspirational nerd icons is Katherine Johnson, she truly was a “human computer” and is the epitome of thinking outside the box, in this case, outside the planet.