For Security provider Symantec, the Indian market is one the fastest growing markets within the APAC region as the company has announced to separate the Veritas business from its parent company. The company has renewed its focus on the Symantec business, which has been going through bumpy rides for both enterprise as well consumers.
During his first visit to the country, chief executive and president of Symantec Michael A Brown in an interview to Channel Times, said he is not only looking to collaborate with the Indian government, but it is also investing $500,000 in building cyber security professionals in India in partnership with industry body Nasscom. Excerpts from the interview.
CT: How do you see Indian market, post Modi’s announcement of the Digital India program?
Brown: We have lots of excitement here, we have been present in India for last 20 years, as it serves the best talent. It has been the fastest growing country worldwide, we have customers and offices in Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, now in Delhi. We are gearing up for the tremendous opportunities in the security space and we will see more engagements with the Indian government and making investments for growing the cyber security skills.
CT: Post the announcement of Veritas separation, what has been the transition?
Brown: We have made a decision to separate the two companies, as per the new changes. Symantec will be focused exclusively on ‘Security’, the reason for that is there are so many changes in the security and that is also an opportunity. We don’t think we will be able to keep up adequately by trying to cover both of those markets. Henceforth, Symantec will be focused on security. As of today, we are still one company, in 2016 we will complete the process and each company would have two different CEOs, We are managing the separation by end of this year. Today, Veritas business is built on managing information and we see bright future for Veritas. Operationally, we will be separated by beginning October this year, but legally we will be operating as two independent companies in January, 2016.
CT: Since this is your first visit to India, what can we expect from Symantec Global CEO?
Brown: We are opening a new office in Delhi. From investment stand point of we will continue to be present in Pune, Bangalore and Chennai. We have seen improvements in our Norton products, that we have few support calls, we don’t need the same amount of support. Norton business worldwide its not growing, but we feel it will grow in India. In terms of revenue generation, Asia Pacific is pretty proportional to its share of the information technology economy and India is going to be one of the most important countries in Asia Pacific.
CT: In last couple of years, we have seen entry of lots of global players, how do you see the competition in the overall scheme of things?
Brown: Security is one of the complex areas to understand, as the attackers are continuing to innovate and we are not worried about our competition. Attackers are very smart people motivated by greed, who are continuing to changing the game, so we need to make sure that we are quick and responding to the cyber threats. We expect the industry will continue to be fragmented with lots of competitors. Today, we serve the largest enterprise customers. We focused on enterprise and customers range of products. On the enterprise side, we want to have lots of products and solutions. We can provide products and target areas in security threat protection and information protection and services.
CT: In the past, there has been lots of movement of people at Symantec, when can we see stability in the Symantec business?
Brown: We have made lots of changes in the last year about splitting the companies into two. We have had quite a bit of changes. Now, we have long-term strategies and leadership in place. With the two business units and organizational structure. We should be having more stable environment, as we finish this year.
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