Security is the new overarching IT challenge. Recently, we worked extensively on a cover story for 360Magazine, issue dated January 31, 2007, on how the paradigm shift in security is opening new vistas for the channel with a broader range of products and solutions to do business with.
At times, during our interactions with the channel, vendors and security specialists, we were also confronted with questions like – Is the flight to safety and data protection also making IT users at various levels paranoid? Instead of adopting new paradigms, are enterprises getting more involved in minimizing costs and doing more with what is already there? Not much movement beyond status quo!
As the internet penetration in India leapt up by 54 percent, taking the netizen population to 38.5 million, enterprises and individuals are only getting more exposed to the scourge of security breach than ever. Don’t we see that the times have changed?
The catchwords in the internet heyday were Growth and Innovation. These have now been replaced by Security, Integration and, to a large extent, Survival. So, if playing it safe has become the order of the day, is IT as a tech-movement also getting derailed?
Whatever the size and type of business, these days a secured network is the foundation for any organization looking to reap the benefits of a vibrant growing economy like ours. Mid-size enterprises and corporate houses have a wide variety of security technology projects either in progress or in the offing. Some of these include security infrastructure management, encryption, intrusion detection/prevention and vulnerability scanning.
The good news for the channel is that much of the demand is from the SMBs apart from banks, hitherto lesser active verticals like manufacturing and home segment. According to Symantec’s Ajay Verma, director-channel, 86 percent of the recent attacks were targeted at home users as they are the “weakest link”. The vendors are also rolling out a variety of data security products, opening up brighter prospects for partners. However, the simple fact is that the channel partners who consider investing in security like to examine how the investment is finally justified.
From our end we can readily tell them that the security business offers lucrative margins of profit – anything from 15 to 30 percent. Many of my good friends in the channel say that they are happier selling antivirus solutions as opposed to the hardware business as they can garner higher profits.
So what’s new behind this renewed emphasis on security and the opportunities therein? Certainly there is a huge opportunity for the channel to convert the threats to information security into revenues, but the partners need to pull up their sleeves. The end-customer is revealing enough when he says that the partners often end up dismissing complaints by saying, ‘It’s your mistake and not our call’.”
It ought to be understood that the customer looks at a security solution as a touchstone of help and to the partner as an ally for counseling. The worse scenario can be when customers see only a salesman in you. The IT hardware channel already faces that problem when customers shift to direct dealing with vendors, thereby costing you the share of the pie.