Kaspersky eyes the Enterprise segment with renewed interests

In the wake of Kaspersky re-aligning its focus on the Enterprise segment and signing Comguard as its National Distributor, VARINDIA caught up with Altaf Halde - Managing Director, Kaspersky Lab, South Asia to know more about its Marketing plans & strategies and how best it tries to position both the Consumer & Enterprise segments of Kaspersky

Prior to 2006, the license business was the biggest revenue generator for Kaspersky. Only after 2006 a lot of focus and interest went into the B2C space when Retail business started picking up."And this is the reason why we have reached to a position of such a recall in the B2C segment across the globe as well as in India," says Altaf Halde - Managing Director, Kaspersky Lab, South Asia.

To reinforce its focus on the Enterprise segment, Kaspersky has appointed Comguard as its National Distributor for Enterprise products. ComGuard will take its 10-year old relationship with Kaspersky by focusing on strategic customer accounts and address the enterprise market of 1,000 users and above.

L to R - Maxim Mitrokhin - Director of Operations, Kaspersky Lab, Asia-Pacific, Ajay Singh Chauhan - Chief Executive Officer, ComGuard, Altaf Halde - Managing Director, Kaspersky Lab, South Asia

“With the enterprise segment, we need to consider whether we have the right solutions to target this space. We have launched this year new product - Kaspersky Security for Business in which we are offering anti-malware, mobile device management, encryption, systems management and virtualization protection,” Altaf shares. This according to him is going to be a path breaking product or technology that corporate houses are going to welcome with open arms. It offers the advantage over competition of giving the solutions in what it calls as one platform - one console and 1 cost. 

But given that Kaspersky has always been perceived as a brand offering consumer products, it is going to take some time before this notion in user’s changes. “When perception of Kaspersky as a consumer brand happened, it took a lot of time, effort, investment and money to let people know of what a strong brand we are. So it does not happen overnight. What matters now is whether we have the right product, the right partner who will go into the market and give the message. We are already seeing the perception change happening but now with Comguard on board it is going to happen in a much faster and bigger manner,” opine Altaf.

When it comes to its Enterprise solutions, they are designed to be used across verticals. Kaspersky has identified 3 verticals – Govt. BFSI & IT/ITeS that are also going to be its growth areas. This falls under the 1000 users and above category and the company is going to focus on them with help of Comguard and large SIs. In the existent scenario, Kaspersky is already strong in the education and Manufacturing segment. 

As long as its Marketing initiatives are concerned, a lot of lead-generation campaigns are planned where leads will be generated and will be given to Comguard. Kaspersky has also got a good number of marketing collaterals for its new product – Kaspersky Security for Business like EDMs, Web Banners, White Papers and a Dummies Book for BYOD. To this Altaf adds, "We want to make marketing activities regional specific. For instance if a partner from Delhi asks for a Channel Meet specific only for the Govt. segment, we are most willing to do it. In addition, we have roped in Sachin Tendulkar as the Brand Ambassador for both Consumer & Enterprise Brand. This is going to be added advantage for the brand."

Nonetheless, the present focus on the B2B market also does not mean that the consumer market will be forgotten. As Maxim Mitrokhin - Director of Operations, Kaspersky Lab, Asia-Pacific says that both the segments are going to be very important for Kaspersky and it is going to provide excellent solutions for Home users as well as Enterprise customers. 

samrita@varindia.com