US cybersecurity vendor Rapid7 is moving to MSPs and firing 18 per cent of its workforce – about 470 employees.
Most of the cuts are in sales and engineering. The company will close some office locations too.
Rapid7 CEO Corey Thomas said that the layoffs were a tough decision. But “making decisions from a place of strength allows us to restructure intentionally.”
We suspect it would have been tougher for those who were fired rather than the person deciding they have to clean out their desks, but maybe that is just us.
Earlier this year, publicly traded Rapid7 reportedly considered a sale to private equity investors. In March, Rapid7 acquired Minerva Labs for $38 million in cash and stock.
On the vendor’s quarterly earnings, Thomas told listeners that Boston-headquartered Rapid7 sees “massive potential to drive high-margin managed services, both through existing offerings and investing in accelerating our strategic managed service partnerships.”
Rapid7 has about 800 worldwide channel partners. Although the vendor has sustained 20-plus per cent growth “for many years,” customers have sought a more integrated experience from the vendor, according to Thomas.
During the earnings call, Thomas said that an integrated experience will also help with MSP recruitment. “It gives them the ability to go to customers with a holistic solution,” he said. “That’s critical.”
Thomas added that MSPs were important for customer interactions because of a lack of talent and expert job candidates.
During the vendor’s earnings call for the second fiscal quarter, Thomas said the cuts “include streamlining management layers, reduction of role overlap and optimising our own and offshore talent mix.”
Rapid7 will look into new investment in managed service partnerships.
The vendor’s board of directors approved the restructuring plan Monday, according to a regulatory filing.
