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Whether it is an individual, a small organization, a mid-sized firm or an enterprise, it goes without saying that in today’s circumstances none of the IT users is safe – as far as the chances of attacks on their IT systems or networks are concerned.
With the spread of network connectivity and bandwidth expansion, the rates of propagation of the worms and viruses are also becoming faster. Controlling the ever-increasing packs of spams is a major concern for all using the Internet service these days. Yet another rising concern for the organizations of all sizes is the internal threat.
Due to several reasons (mainly misconceptions), so far in India, reseller partners have not put much attention on this segment of IT business. However, this is the right time when channel partners can make much money from this inadequately tapped segment of IT business.
In the words of Anil Gupta, Head of National Sales, MicroWorld, “Today resellers are looking at security solutions as a commodity rather than a solution. This, coupled by the free availability of pirated software, has prevented them from capitalizing on the revenue potential of security business.”
“The resellers have to differentiate between hardware commodities and solutions, especially security software solutions. During this period of the fast growing threats from all types of Malware (Viruses, Spyware, Adware, Trojans, Keyloggers etc.) to both home and business users, this is an ideal platform to provide security solutions as a value added service rather than a product. This will generate better revenues for the reseller through year on year renewals of the licenses. Also, they should actively participate with the vendors and help spread awareness of the IT security threats looming around, and the advantages of having genuine software,” he added.
Ajay Verma, Director, Channel & Alliances, Symantec, said, “With the landscape changing constantly and increasing dependence on IT, there is an increase around the ‘information risk’ that exists for organizations today. It is therefore imperative for partners to understand the depth of this change and the various nuances that this brings forth. This in itself is an opportunity, and the opportunity has tangible revenue streams associated with it. It is therefore incumbent on them to first understand the ‘new’ risk profile and concern of the customer, and then the revenue is a real number that our partners can see on their books.”
According to Kartik Shahani, Regional Director, McAfee Inc., “The number of threats has grown multifold, and so has the complexity. It’s no longer good enough to have antivirus software and be protected from the multitude of attacks. This opens up a whole new opportunity for resellers and/or system integrators (SIs) for becoming consultants to their customers. Now the role played by the partner is that of a ‘trusted advisor’, which takes them away from being treated as a commodity supplier.”
Tushar Sighat, Operations Head, Cyberoam (India), opined, “The UTM market is a bright spot in the security industry across all business segments. The demand for third generation UTM solutions, which are smarter and more intuitive, enables resellers to sell them into SME and mid-market sectors like never before. The overall threat management security appliance market is designed to satisfy customer needs for security in the face of complex threat landscape, functionality, and ease of deployment.”
He continued, “Resellers, therefore, are uniquely positioned to command higher margins by deploying such solutions, and advising customers to make their networks future-proof and scalable. Some of the factors, like – growing security requirements across SMBs, high business potential etc., are highly loaded in their favour, and therefore those (factors) can act as stimuli for their (partners’) growth.”
Thus, the potential for selling security solutions is huge in this sub-continent. There are many vendors too to offer protections to the IT users at different levels – starting from individuals to big enterprises. Obviously, in this vast land they have to do it in association with partners, who may be attached to them in different capacities and under varied terms and conditions.
Although, it may appear that selling security solutions is completely different from that of selling other IT products, one thing is obvious that – only resellers can reach the message of secured connectivity to all the IT users in this large country. They can act as a connecting bridge between the end users and the security vendors. While in search of genuine security under constrained budget, the users often choose pirated software, only sincere resellers can be instrumental in changing their paradigm, so that they realize the need, and importance of buying genuine security solutions. Will our progressive resellers make wise use of this opportunity?
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