Cloud24x7 Inc's primary objective is to enable Partners

Cloud24x7 is a solution provider of threat intelligence-driven Cyber security solutions focused on protecting clients from cyber-attacks. In the current global cyber security landscape Cloud24x7 Inc has a pure Channel based reselling strategy enhanced with intelligent data warehousing. In a chat with VARINDIA, Jacob Thankachen, President and CEO, Cloud24x7 Inc shares his views about the company’s key verticals, strategies, domestic market and further investment plans

Comparing global cyber security situations with Indian landscape Jacob Thankachen explains, “There is a huge demand for the market when it comes to cyber security as a whole.  US government is spending trillions of money every day because the breach and hack is very common everywhere. The demand is highly increasing day after day, because of the ransomware and the breaches we have seen. In the next five years, the cyber security demand will grow up in every vertical. So this is the same thing we have seen globally and we will definitely see the same thing in India also.”

OFFERINGS AND SERVICES
Adding cyber security as the key thing to their current offering Jacob says, “Most of the resellers right now are selling hardware and software solutions, primarily to firewalls to endpoints. The offering that we have includes the security assessment, penetration testing, SOC services (security operation services) as a service and again enabling the managed security services into a security services offering. So we have covered the broader range of services in our platform, which can definitely help the resellers to upsell, what they have currently with their product offerings.”

He adds, “The offering that we have start from security assessment which includes the risk management including the health check on the network security. We also have firewall based health check and firewall compliances, we audit the firewalls based on ITI standards. We also comply with the PCI DSS and the rest of other industry leading certifications and compliance platforms. We also have different frameworks. We adopt all those frameworks into our platform. We have something called the MDR platform, which we call managed detection response, which includes the threat intelligence approach, incident response tracking, soft monitoring, 24x7 monitoring, software reports and software to compliance and penetration testing, vulnerability management, fishing services and data encryption. So these are the current services that we have right now for our customers.”

DOMESTIC MARKET
Talking about the security services, Jacob feels, compared to the west, India is right now popping up or reaching up to the level. He perceives, “Enabling the cyber security services is very important in this market right now. I can see that this is a niche market right now for the resellers and the companies. We don't see much competition right now in India for us, maybe one or two people who are doing something and somewhere around but the approach that we have is a comprehensive cyber security services. It means we are trying to help resellers to have a one stop shop where they can have everything in one umbrella. We offer services from the assessments till encryption and anything all together as one whole platform.”

Cloud24x7 Inc has 100% channel-centric business model to help partners expanding their security portfolio in terms of scalability and profitability. With Security Operation Centers (SOC) the security company is planning to invest in Indian market. “We have two SOCs globally, one is in the US the primary SOC, and we have one is India. We are also planning to enable another SOC in Mumbai. So we are looking for further options where we can have that SOC center,” Jacob explains.

THE TARGET VERTICALS
With global company strength of around 60 people Cloud24x7 Inc work with primarily into PCI DSS which is into financials and credit unions and banks. They also have very good presence in the healthcare business. The company is moving into manufacturing and the education as well but their primary business right now comes from the financial segments and healthcare industry.

“The major markets in India are Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai. I think there are also other places to grow the market like Pune and further in smaller cities, where we can have a presence. So, currently, apart from the tier 1, I think Pune, Ahmadabad even Goa are the regions we are actually focusing on. Being on proximity to these places like being the sales and headquartered in Mumbai these are the nearby places which we are focusing,” adds Jacob.

Channels 
According to Jacob, “We are very focused on Channel business because the management team also comes from a channel perspective. We strongly believe in channel and we will definitely support channel. We have a top tier distribution model. We have to go through a distribution from channel to resellers and resellers send it to end customers. It is the workflow that we want to continue for everywhere. So we are not changing that structure in any countries. It is our primary objective to enable the channel and working closely with our channel partners, with more MV MDF, and more reseller activities and help those communities to grow further. So that is our approach at general.”

AT LAST
Cloud24x7 have close to 77 approximate partners, which are managed service providers. “In last three years, we have grown into a 400%, and we do have more than 250 end customers worldwide. So the approach that we have is just relatively new in India. We have added close to almost 35 partners. We are targeting at least 50 good partners in whole India. So, we may have ended up in a place close to 300 plus partners worldwide,” Jacob concludes.