Barracuda CEO Rohit Ghai On Accelerating ‘True Platform’ In Security For MSPs
In an interview with CRN, Ghai discusses his recent move to Barracuda and how the company is seeking to enable ‘platformization’ for resource-constrained customers by doubling down on MSPs and other partners.
In an interview with CRN, Ghai—who departed as longtime CEO of RSA to become Barracuda’s chief executive in September—said the company is uniquely positioned as a “true platform player” for customers that lack the security expertise of a typical enterprise.
[Related: Barracuda Exec: New BarracudaOne AI-Powered Platform Tackles Cybersecurity Tool Sprawl]
With AI-powered security tools spanning email, network, data, application and managed XDR, Barracuda can specialize in simplifying security for MSPs that previously have had to focus heavily on integrating numerous security capabilities, he said.
“MSPs have a choice. They can go to best-of-breed solutions, but then they have to stitch those together—and then they’re not focused on security outcomes,” Ghai said.
For MSPs working with Barracuda, however, “that breadth of our portfolio and our platform play, I think, is differentiated in the market,” he said.
Barracuda is also increasingly seeking to enable MSPs with plans to refresh the company’s partner program in its new fiscal year, which begins in March, according to Ghai.
Ultimately, “we’re not just partner-first, but partner-only,” he said. “All of our business gets touched by partners in some form. And that requires us to really make the investments that are necessary.”
Prior to joining Barracuda in September and succeeding Hatem Naguib as CEO, Ghai had served as chief executive of well-known identity security vendor RSA since 2017. Earlier roles had included serving as president of EMC’s Enterprise Content Division and holding executive positions at companies such as Symantec and CA Technologies.
What follows is more of CRN’s interview with Ghai.
What prompted you to make the move to Barracuda?
With Barracuda, there were a few opportunities that really got me excited. Barracuda is a partner-first company, focused on resource-constrained organizations that often don't have a CISO. They are really in need of help from a cyber perspective. Then there’s the promise of AI. There's a big AI play here because these [customers] don't have big security teams. You need to really apply AI to address the cybersecurity challenges for this set. And No. 3, cybersecurity is a hard subject. And the promise of making it easier by delivering a platform for this set of customers is what attracted me to Barracuda.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities to reach those customers through partners?
We're doubling down on the MSP segment of the partner ecosystem, because for this [customer segment], there is an increased propensity to consume cyber solutions in a managed configuration. So this has been the fastest-growing segment within Barracuda, and we want to double down on it, to grow it even faster. We believe we are well-positioned to do that with the investment we've made in BarracudaOne.
We've made some moves as it pertains to the BarracudaOne platform, which [involves] taking all of our different solutions together, bringing them together for ease of configuration and management. And many of these solutions can benefit from the context of the other solutions and can improve security outcomes for our customers. So the platformization play, for our customers, is being received very well. It's resonating in the marketplace.
Area No. 3 is applying AI for the use cases that we serve. We launched the BarracudaOne assistant, which is a pretty cool capability that our customers are leveraging to do a few things. They are getting insights in terms of the threat intelligence, in terms of what threats are playing out in the market. They're using it to interact with our systems, for ease of configuration or for ease of access to information. So it’s really about talking to your data, talking to your system—as opposed to having to navigate a UI, which always introduces complexity. So those three things are focus areas for us as we go forward.
What is your focus and strategy in terms of doubling down on MSPs?
There are a few different things at play. If you think about the role of the MSP, the MSPs themselves are evolving. They want to help their customers achieve security outcomes. In the past, they were more focused on more rudimentary [tasks]—deploying the solution, or configuring it, or integrating it—because these solutions were siloed. They were forced to buy siloed solutions from the marketplace that they had to integrate together to offer a stack to their customers. So through the availability of the BarracudaOne platform, what we want to do is help our MSPs move up the stack to focus more on security outcomes for the customers, as opposed to spending their time stitching together siloed solutions. So [that way] they can really provide the value that customers seek, as opposed to being in the plumbing business, let's call it. So strategy No. 1 is helping our MSPs move higher up the stack, and focus on security outcomes versus the being in the business of integration.
No. 2 is that we are providing an open platform. We'll integrate with other technologies that our MSPs really need, and we are being open about that approach. So as an example, we recently launched integrations with six PSA offerings that our MSPs most often use to solve their ticketing challenges. We integrate with Datto, ConnectWise, HaloPSA. We are offering an open ecosystem, so MSPs have the choice of using the technology that they want alongside our platform.
Strategy No. 3 is really about the enablement, training and incentive structures. So leading up to FY27 [starting in March] we are focused on reimagining the partner experience. We'll have a new partner portal [with] all kinds of training and enablement materials, available on-demand with the AI-curated platform—so they can learn about Barracuda and can get confident in terms of deploying it and configuring it. And we'll have incentives where, if they double down on the platform, as they help us cross-sell the platform and consume more of our solutions, they'll have economic incentives.
So you're envisioning a refresh of the partner program?
We are looking at a partner transformation play for FY27. We are reimagining that to really scale our business and really double down on MSPs, but also the sell-through side of the business. We’re not just partner-first, but partner-only. All of our business gets touched by partners in some form. And that requires us to really make the investments that are necessary.
How are you thinking about deploying AI for securing smaller customers?
First, we actually provide complete protection for businesses of all sizes. Our [customer target] is more resource-constrained organizations. So it's not just smaller customers—there are customers that are slightly larger, but are resource-constrained and don't have security expertise. That's our sweet spot. And in this area, the need for AI is pronounced.
AI is very powerful, but you need some level of expertise even to operate AI. So you have to make AI easy. It’s the “easy button” for AI that can solve a problem. That's what we are trying to build. We're focused on making cybersecurity easy by applying AI, but applying it in such a way that it's very easy to consume. That's the difference in our approach.
Phase one of the innovation has been around the GenAI-type use cases, where we launched BarracudaOne assistant. The assistant allows you to interact with your system, get the information you need in a conversational manner, as opposed to having to navigate and learn a UI. The next phase of the journey is releasing agentic solutions, which can actually act on behalf of customers and automate the security workflows. So when we detect a threat, we’ll have an agentic solution that can remediate it more autonomously. So the next phase in the journey is this automated resolution of cyber incidents that are playing out, and this agentic phase of the AI innovation.
What are the biggest differentiators at this stage with Barracuda, that you’d want MSPs and other partners to know about?
It boils down to, frankly, our philosophy. We’re partner-only, [so] there's no conflict of interest. We’ll do what’s best for the customer and best for the partner.
No. 2 is our platform play. MSPs have a choice. They can go to best-of-breed solutions, but then they have to stitch those together—and then they’re not focused on security outcomes. So our differentiator of being a true platform player and offering solutions in the email, data, networks, applications and managed XDR solutions to provide cyber resilience—that breadth of our portfolio and our platform play, I think, is differentiated in the market.
And No. 3, we are a global company. And we offer solutions that are available where our MSPs want to play. So the global nature of our footprint and our presence, I think, allows us to serve MSPs wherever they want they choose to play.
Does Barracuda have a goal around going public at some point?
Right now, we are just focused on building a fast-growing business that is driving great security outcomes for our customers. We have great sponsors that want us to do the right thing in terms of serving the market that we seek, and we're building a valuable business. And at the right time, an exit would be contemplated—but there is no imminent focus on exiting the business one way or another, including an IPO. Right now, I'm just focused on accelerating innovation, doubling down on the partners, doubling down on AI, so we can create a highly valuable company with an easy-to—use cybersecurity platform that our [customer base] really needs.
What is your message to partners, and particularly to MSPs?
That message would be, we've done a ton of innovation on behalf of the MSPs. We are doubling down on their success. We believe that we are the most differentiated cybersecurity platform for an MSP that wants to offer cybersecurity solutions into the marketplace. So if you haven't already done so, take a look at us. We are going to be innovating on your behalf. And we are a very attractive partner for MSPs globally.