While Kaspersky Lab was focused on consolidation in 2014, it seems poised for a healthy growth trajectory in 2015. Significantly it looks at strengthening its channel network to achieve its growth. DT had a conversation with Mr Altaf Halde, Managing Director, Kaspersky Lab -South Asia on the sidelines of company’s plan for the whole year.
A.2014 has been a year of consolidation and moderate growth for us. We had a change in our B2C distribution structure but we believe we are poised for a 25% growth in 2015 in B2C as our current distributors are well entrenched in tier 2 and tier 3 markets in addition to tier 1 markets. VR Infotech has a strong channel network that is spread across the country, and with their expertise in channel business, VR Infotech will work closely with Kaspersky Lab to strengthen the market share of Kaspersky Lab in the consumer segment in 2015.
In B2B, we expanded our footprint in the large enterprise space even as we consolidated our presence in the SMB space. Our dedicated and focused partner strategy has started to pay off, and we believe, we will reap bigger dividends as we roll out our new partner program for B2B in January 2015.
A.We are a 100% channel centric company and as our business depends on our partners' success, we - at Kaspersky Lab - do our best to ensure our partners prosper. We do not sell directly to customers - so all business is managed and fulfilled by our channel partners. Literally, our partners’ success is our success.
A.For B2B, our focus would be to work closely with our partners, offering a wide range of benefits: training and enablement, lead generation support, marketing support and rewards to ensure mutual growth and give them a competitive edge. We will ensure our partners have access to resources needed to develop expertise, grow business, increase customer satisfaction, and maximize profitability. For B2C, we would like to establish connect with the last mile reseller to motivate them to increase their business performance and achieve better growth.
A.We have made consistent efforts in 2014 to increase our presence through channel partners in tier 2, 3 and 4 cities and we plan to continue the momentum to expand our outreach efforts.
A.Kaspersky offers a wide range of benefits, training, certifications, marketing support and rewards to our partners to ensure mutual growth and give them a competitive edge. Our partners will have access to resources needed to develop expertise, grow business, increase customer satisfaction, and maximize profitability. Our message to partners is that we give them an opportunity to secure a competitive edge in the world’s fastest growing sector, IT
A.Companies are now realizing the importance of IT to improve processes, deploy and support new systems and technology as well as manage and protect an ever growing amount of corporate data. However, in a tough economic climate it is really tough for IT teams to meet their objectives with limited resources and budget. Well quite simply they need to do more with less.
At the same time, today’s customer is the most aware stakeholder of the industry ecosystem. Knowledge is driving their buying decisions. In such a scenario, it is quite important for partners to have up-to-date knowledge about the evolving security threats and industry trends. We foresee that partner awareness is a high opportunity area.
As mobility has become a segment evolving rapidly but also brings added security threats, customers expect trusted advisors on this. Partners should take on the role of their trusted advisors by sharing the knowledge they possess.
