SME Channels July Issue 2018 by SME Channels

PLUS

Nutanix Introduces New Velocity Program for Partners /08 www.smechannels.com

Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading IT magazine for channel business VOLUME 09 | ISSUE 05 | PAGES 36 | JULY 2018 | RS. 20/-

2018

PARTNERS RECOGNITION 5TH OCT 2018

HOTEL SHANGRI-LA CP NEW DELHI

THEME

“GROWTH OF THE PARTNERS IN THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ERA” For more information, write to sanjay@accentinfomedia.com kajal@accentinfomedia.com sanjib@accentinfomedia.com

E V E N T BY

100 Value Partners

Meetings

Awards

Pre - & Post event publicity

O R G A N I S E D BY

Presentation

Product Demo

Panel Discussion

PLUS

Sophos, the First to Offer Predictive Security with ATP & Anti-Phishing /10 www.smechannels.com

india’s leading IT magazine for channel business SECURITY/20

SME CHAT

BEATDEFENDER: “Five

F-SECURE: “We consider

Reasons Enterprises Aren’t Getting the Most Out of Security Automation”

our partners to be our extended teams that help support our end-customers.”

/22

SME CHAT/28 MATRIX: “Matrix brand is all about substance in everything we do”

MY EXPERIENCE EDITORIAL

PARTNERS NEED TO ENHANCE FOCUS ON SECURITY SANJAY MOHAPATRA

sanjay@smechannels.com

With more and more cloud computing, digitization, automation and IOT enablement happening in the market, security threat looks to be more and more. Specially for the country like India, which is at the curve of modernization with aggressively adopting cloud computing, digitization and automation, the chances of being attacked by the cyber criminals is more. A report says that in last two years, 84% of Indian organizations have been victims of security breaches. At the same time another survey says that India ranks higher than other developing countries in the world for malware and ransomware attacks, which is around 54% compared to 47% globally. Similarly, in last one year over 22,000 Indian websites, including 114 government portals were hacked. It has prompted the Indian organizations to invest more on the cyber security, which now occupies 30-40% of most overall IT budgets. In order to fight the menace, the government of India along with leading industry bodies have come together to prepare a road map for creating a platform for digital and cyber security products and solution companies. This includes creating a special fund for cyber security start-ups and grooming them to build local solutions to tackle internet security challenges. It also including creating awareness among the users. As per DSCI, Indian cyber security marketing would grow manifold to touch $35 billion in 2025. This would include appliance, software and managed security. This has a huge play for the channel partners. Until so dependent upon the hardware, the companies need to shun this strategy and start investing in software first and then security. The third step would be to invest in managed security. As the market is moving from on premise to hosted and cloud, the partners need to enhance their skillsets on managed security and cloud security. The model is quite simple as the cloud solution providers would take care of end to end activities but to add on more margin and profitability, partners need to have the skillset of solutioning and services. The advantage is that this does not need much of the financial commitment compared to earlier strategy where there was a need to invest in products and POC material. Now since it is a matter of licensing, it requires the maturity in consulting. Keeping this in mind we have started a pan India Security Event. Pls. join us in your cities.

DIGISOL 300Mbps Wireless Universal Repeater DIGISOL SYSTEMS’S NEW 300MBPS WIRELESS UNIVERSAL REPEATER - DG-WR3001NE enhances Wi-Fi range and improves the signal quality of the existing Wi-Fi network. The users can download, share and experience uninterrupted multimedia within the LAN. The DG-WR3001NE can work as access point, repeater and wireless client. Due to compact design the wireless repeater can be easily installed in the location where the wireless signals are weak and need enhancement. The DG-WR3001NE supports latest IEEE802.11n standard and is backward compatible with IEEE802.11b/g standard. Moreover, the device also supports WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) functionf for securely.

SPECIFICATION: The DG-WR3001NE supports latest IEEE802.11n standard and is backward compatible with IEEE802.11b/g standard. FINAL WORDING: With a pricing of Rs.1499/- and limited lifetime warranty, this product is very good. OVERALL RATING

SME CHANNELS JULY 2018

contents

Trusted Advisor of Channel Business

VOLUME 09 ISSUE 05

2018

JUL ER COV RY STO

Publisher: Sanjib Mohapatra Editor: Sanjay Mohapatra Associate Editor: Deepak Singh Associate Editor: Chitresh Sehgal Designer: Ajay Arya Assistant Designer: Rahul Arya Web Designer: Vijay Bakshi Technical Writer: Manas Ranjan Satya Sagar Sinha Lead Visualizer: DPR Choudhary Guest Editor: Prof. NK Goel, President CMAI & Chairman Emeritus - TEMA MARKETING Marketing Manager: Kajal Sharma Circulation and Printing: Panchanan Bhoi SALES CONTACTS Delhi 6/102, Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas New Delhi-110016 Phone: 91-11-41055458 / 8587835685 sanjeev@smechannels.com Bangalore #28/1, 3rd Floor, Sri Lakshmi Krupa, Near Shamanna Park, Model House Street, Basavanagudi, Bangalore - 560004 Ph. No. +91 88618 21044 Mumbai Tahmeed Ansari 2, Ground Floor, Park Paradise, Kay-Bees CHS. Ltd.,Opp. Green Park, Oshiwara, Andheri (west), Mumbai - 400 053. Ph. +91 22 26338546, Fax +91 22 26395581 Mobile: +91 9967 232424 E-mail: Info@smechannels.com Kolkata S Subhendu BC-286, Laxmi Apartment, Kestopur Kolkata-700101

It’s Raining Cloud Opportunities for Partners /24 With even the government organizations joining the race to deploy cloud-based solutions in India, the public and private cloud are gaining a great traction in the country creating immense market opportunities for partners

Phone: 9674804389 EDITORIAL OFFICE Delhi: 6/103, (GF) Kaushalya Park, New Delhi-110016, Phone: 91-11-41657670 / 46151993 editor@smechannels.com Bangalore Bindiya Jadhav #28/1, 3rd Floor, Sri Lakshmi Krupa, Near Shamanna Park, Model House Street, Basavanagudi, Bangalore - 560004 Ph. No. +91 88618 21044 E-Mail bindiya@

GUEST ARTICLE CRM / 19

“How Technology Has Revitalized the Financial Planning Market in India”

accentinfomedia.com Skype ID: b1diyajadhav

GUEST TALK 5 MISTAKES

/ 32

“Top 5 Mistakes Local Businesses Are Making That Is Driving Away Customers”

SECURITY BITDEFENDER / 20

“Five Reasons Enterprises Aren’t Getting the Most Out of Security Automation”

SME CHAT MATRIX COMSEC / 28 “Matrix brand is all about substance in everything we do”

Printed, Published and Owned by Sanjib

more inside Editorial~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 04

Mohapatra Place of Publication: 6/101-102, Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas New Delhi-110016

Phone: 91-11-46151993 / 41055458

Snippets~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 08

Printed at Karan Printers, F-29/2, 1st

Products~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 33

SME CHANNELS

Subscription: Rs.200 (12 issues)

JULY 2018

All payments favouring: Accent Info Media Pvt. Ltd.

SNIPPETS PRODUCT | CHANNEL | CONSULTING | SERVICES

for more log on to smechannels.com

Nutanix Introduces New Velocity Program for Partners Targeting the Mid-Market Nutanix is launching a new channel partner program targeted at key partners focused on the midmarket. The new Nutanix Velocity program includes accelerated selling processes, incentives and marketing investments for strategic, midmarket focused channel partners. As part of the program, Lenovo is joining forces with Nutanix to provide specific HX product bundles for mid-market customers based on the HX appliance. In addition, the

two companies are launching a new hyperconverged software-ready product offering designed specifically for enterprise customers called Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Certified Nodes. The Nutanix Velocity channel partner program offers partners more incentives and opportunities to provide the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud OS software to customers in the mid-market segment. Through this new program, Nutanix is

enabling partners to demonstrate to customers in the mid-market how hyperconverged infrastructure can help provide an elegant solution to their needs without the cost and security challenges they may face with public cloud-only models. Nutanix is also working with Lenovo to provide midmarket customers with HX product bundles, which include a faster purchasing path for pre-defined bundles and various configurations

at an attractive price. Partners can use these offerings to drive business momentum through streamlined sizing and quoting. “With the launch of our new Velocity program, Nutanix is empowering its partners to more easily offer Nutanix Enterprise Cloud OS software to the midmarket segment,” said Rodney Foreman, Vice President of Global Channel Sales, Nutanix. “

Plantronics Completes Acquisition of Polycom for $2.0 billion Plantronics has completed its acquisition of Polycom. The acquisition will accelerate and expand Plantronics’ vision and enable it to deliver the broadest portfolio of end points in the Unified Communica-

SME CHANNELS JULY 2018

tions and Collaboration (UCC) ecosystem . “We are pleased that Plantronics and Polycom are moving ahead as one company focused on putting people at the center of every

collaboration experience,” stated Joe Burton, Plantronics’ President & CEO. “Plantronics now offers an unparalleled portfolio of integrated, intelligent solutions that spans headsets, software, desk phones,

audio and video conferencing, and cloud services. This combined offering empowers people with the tools and flexibility they need to create the best experience when connecting to what is most important”

SNIPPETS

COSEC Standalone Access Control Solution TheSecurity has become a major concern across the globe. Essentially, this requires restricting unauthorized people from reaching pre-defined areas while ensuring easy access for authorized people. Matrix COSEC Standalone Access Control solution is an ideal solution for SMB and SME units where door controllers are connected to a small panel over Ethernet. Moreover, it does not require any kind of software installation. Standalone Access Control solution improves security, simplifies installation and enhances reliability required for an ideal access control. Thus, Admin can monitor devices, define policies and generate reports directly from the COSEC PANEL without installing any application software. KEY BENEFITS: n Controls up to 255 Doors from a Single IP Panel n Advance Access Control Features with Capacity of 25,000 Users n Leverage IP Technology n Connect Existing Third Party Readers n PoE Door Controller for Powering Readers and Locks n Standalone Operation without Server n Scalable for Future Expansion

Rashi Peripherals Launched Scheme on ECS products In order to celebrate the success of its partners, Rashi Peripherals, India’s only value-added distributor and Elitegroup Computer System (ECS,) rolled out the ‘Fly to Computex with LIVA’ scheme. Under the scheme, top performing SI partners were offered an exciting trip to Taipei. A joint initiative between Rashi Peripherals and ECS, the ‘Fly to Computex with LIVA’ is first of its kind channel incentive program focused on LIVA mini-PCs, including LIVA X, LIVA Z/ZE, LIVA Q and LIVA ONE. The scheme was aimed at making LIVA mini PC business more rewarding for partners. The major highlight of the program was partners were given an opportunity to attend Computex 2018, the biggest IT show in the world and get hands-on experience of futuristic technologies showcased in the event. Total 9 SI partners traveled from India for the 5 days and 4 nights trip. Rajshekhar Bhatt, Country Head, ECS India said, “The motive of this reward program was to recognize efforts of partners in expanding the ECS business in India. Being a partner-oriented company, we understand the importance of partners’ encouragement and motivation in order to succeed in the business.”

10 SME CHANNELS JULY 2018

MY POINT

“EACH TIME I VISIT, IT IS INCREDIBLE TO SEE THE ADVANCEMENTS TAKING PLACE IN INDIA.” SATYA NADELLA, CEO, MICROSOFT

Sophos, the First to Offer Predictive Security with ATP & Anti-Phishing Now the mails will be boosted by artificial intelligence, protects emails on Microsoft Office365, Google G-Suite, Exchange 2003+, New anti-phishing authentication using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, Cloud-managed protection through Sophos Central. According to a recent study conducted by Sophos 50 percent of organizations worldwide have suffered a ransomware attack in the last 12 months. To save your e-mails, Sophos Email Advanced includes CryptoGuard technology in the sandbox to stop ransomware before it makes it to your employee’s inboxes. Another primary defense against ransomware and phishing attacks is Time-of-Click protection, which scans the URL at the time of click, preventing stealthy and delayed attacks. It is easy to avail the facility of Sophos Email Advanced from registered Sophos partners worldwide. Additional information can be found on the Sophos website.

Progressive Infotech becomes a Microsoft Azure Expert MSP Progressive Infotech has earned Microsoft Azure Expert MSP recognition. The new program from Microsoft Azure is designed for partners who hold in-depth expertise across cloud, DevOps, & automation and helps customers realize their business value with seamless operations. “Progressive’s recognition as an Azure Expert MSP stands as a strong testament of its commitment to investing in cloud practice. With extensive experience in deploying customer solutions on Azure anda strong bench of trained and certified technical consultants, we will continue to elevate customer experience and contribute towards their success. I’m truly humbled by the recognition.” – said Prateek Garg, CEO of Progressive Infotech. In terms of its breadth of services and technical capabilities, Progressive does a laudable job of delivering managed hybrid IT services to SMB & enterprise clients. “Progressive has shown a dedication to invest and advance in the capabilities required to earn the status of Azure Expert MSP.We are delighted to have them onboard as an Azure Expert MSP,” said Gavriella Schuster, Corporate VP, One Commercial Partner at Microsoft Corp.

SNIPPETS

Dell Launches New Portfolio Of Gaming In India Here is a good news for all the gamers out there who are looking for superior quality gaming system. Dell has announced the launch of Alienware laptops Dell G Series ( G3, G7, Allienware 15 & 17 and Inspiron 24 5000) high performance gaming laptops and Inspiron high performance All-in-one. They are launching the systems which serve a spectrum of users ; casual gamers to gaming pros, the new range is exciting and adds versatile gaming portfolio to already available gaming portfolio range. The new devices are equipped with better thermal cooling and 8th Gen Intel Core processor, packed with a sleek design so that user can have ultimate immersive gaming experience. Users who are looking to turn their machine into a gaming system then Inspiron 24 5000 All-in-one, is one complete package because Alienware 15 and 17 feature upto 8th Gen Intel Core i9 k-Series processor. “Dell, today stands tall, having earned the trust of our consumers as the ‘most trusted brand’ in 2018*. It is our responsibility to maintain the trust with the best in all categories of PCs we operate in. Gaming, is the latest and the most dynamic segment, where we find gamers, calling out performance needs from their PCs,” said P Krishnakumar, Senior Vice President and General Manager- Consumer & Small Business, Dell.

Zebra Technology has launched a new mobile printer Zebra Technology has launched a new mobile printer high-performing RFID reader. The new mobile printer offers both receipt and label capabilities along with enhanced wireless connectivity, battery and power management options. Designed to meet customer needs, a stylish option is available for customer-facing retail applications while a more industrial option is ideal for T&L, manufacturing and government applications. The rugged ZQ300 Series printers are built to withstand any environment – from the front of retail store to the warehouse to out in the field. They are sealed from dust, dirt and liquid, meeting IP54 standards, and have been rigorously tested to withstand drops and tumbles. RFID reader provides can deliver high accuracy and long read ranges, even in high traffic environments or most challenging materials. Deep Agarwal, Regional Sales Director – India, Zebra Technologies, says, “Driven by the always-connected, tech-savvy shopper, retailers, manufacturers and logistics companies are collaborating and swapping roles in uncharted ways to meet shoppers’ omnichannel product fulfillment and delivery expectations. Zebra’s Future of Fulfillment Vision Study found that 95 percent of survey respondents in Asia-Pacific agreed that e-commerce is driving the need for faster delivery. In response, companies in India are turning to digital technology and analytics to bring heightened automation, merchandise visibility and business intelligence to the supply chain to compete in the on-demand consumer economy.

WORLDWIDE SERVER REVENUE GREW 33.4 PERCENT IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2018, WHILE SHIPMENTS INCREASED 17.3 PERCENT

EXECUTIVE MOVEMENT Brad Maiorino Joins NETGEAR Adds as a Board Of Director

The growth at the end of 2017 continued for the worldwide server market in the first quarter of 2018 as worldwide server revenue increased 33.4 percent and shipments grew 17.3 percent year over year, according to Gartner, Inc. Dell EMC experienced 51.4 growth in the worldwide server market based on revenue in the first quarter of 2018.

Cybage appointed Walter Mastelink to their board of directors.

Worldwide: Server Vendor Revenue Estimates, 1Q18 (U.S. Dollars)

Publicis.Sapient gets Nigel Vaz on board as CEO EMEA and APAC

Company

1Q18 Revenue

1Q18 Market Share (%)

1Q17 Revenue

1Q17 Market Share (%)

1Q18-1Q17 Growth (%)

Dell EMC

3,593,916,375

21.5

2,373,171,860

19.0

51.4

HPE

3,321,304,736

19.9

3,009,569,241

24.1

10.4

Inspur Electronics

1,188,428,802

7.1

539,259,419,

4.3

120.4

Lenovo

1,088,922,220

6.5

731,647,279

5.8

48.8

IBM

1,067,701,728

6.4

831,622,879

6.6

28.4

Others

6,432,219,303

38.5

5,023,547,428

40.2

28.0

Total

16,692,493,164

100.0

12,508,818,106

100.0

33.4

Source: Gartner (June 2018)

12 SME CHANNELS JULY 2018

Axis Communications have appointed Sujith Sebastian. Based out of Bangalore, he will be reporting to Sudhindra Holla. Ness Digital names Anshul Verma as Chief Sales Officer

Snippets

Hitachi Vantara Holds its leadership in Object Storage Hitachi Vantara has been placed in the Leaders category of the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Object-based Storage 2018 Vendor Assessment (DOC # US42665518, June 2018) based on its Hitachi Content Platform solution According to the IDC MarketScape report, “Hitachi Vantara’s biggest strength lies in the company’s vision to remain aligned to market needs through its tightly integrated product portfolio and ecosystem of technology and channel partners. The company remains committed to the HCP portfolio with an aim to double down on the content business through financial funding and hiring skilled engineering and sales staff. Hitachi Vantara has made strides in aligning its HCP portfolio to address new workloads such as data analytics on structured and unstructured data and media streaming across verticals.”

TERA 1000 Becomes the Most Powerful European General-Purpose Supercomputer Atos the CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission)’s direction of defense applications (CEA/DAM) place Tera 1000 – a supercomputer they developed together for defense and nuclear deterrence uses – among the world’s 500 most powerful machines. Reaching the 14th position, Tera 1000 thus becomes the most powerful European generalpurpose supercomputer, with a computing power of 25 petaflops and a very competitive power consumption of 4 Megawatts. The result is achieved due to the hard work of two partners, who designed the strategy 18 years ago as as top contenders in the international competition towards exascale capacities – reaching a billion calculations per second. Developing an exaflop-class supercomputer by 2020 is a necessity for some of the defense programs implemented by the CEA/DAM. To reach this capacity, technological breakthroughs are needed – most notably to maintain low levels of energy consumption, one of the key challenges in the high-performance computing market, but also to ensure smooth information flows and process the significant volumes of data produced by increasingly precise simulations of multi-physical, multi-dimensional phenomena. François Geleznikoff, the director of defense applications at the CEA, says: “Once again, the partnership between Atos and the CEA/DAM has allowed a major technological milestone in the power capacities of supercomputers. With the Tera 1000, we have very significantly increased the quality that digital simulations can attain for defense applications, but also for research and industry uses. This step opens the way to the exaflops in the coming decade.”

DDoS Attacks Vary in Speed and Complexity – Verisign Verisign observed a 53% increase in the number of attacks in Q1 2018 compared to Q4 2017 and a 47% increase in the average of attack peak sizes. From Q1 2017 to Q1 2018, Verisign observed a Y-o-Y decrease of 21% in the average of attack peak sizes. Verisign additionally observed that 67% of customers who experienced DDoS attacks in Q1 2018 were targeted multiple times during the quarter. Overall, DDoS attacks remain unpredictable and vary widely in terms of speed and complexity. Multi-Vector DDoS Attacks Remain Constant 58% of DDoS attacks mitigated by Verisign in Q1 2018 employed multiple attack types. Verisign observed attacks targeting networks at multiple layers and attack types that changed over the course of a DDoS event. Today’s DDoS attacks require continuous monitoring to optimize mitigation strategies.

Juniper Networks Delivers EVPN-VXLAN Fabric to Connect Enterprise Data Center and Campus Networks Juniper Networks expands its campus portfolio, including extending EVPN-VXLAN fabric to the campus, enabling a common architecture for campus and data center fabrics by unifying disparate architectures. Through this unification, Juniper Networks is providing the building blocks for an enterprise-wide fabric, a key component in building a simple, secure and automated multicloud. Juniper also announced enhancements to its branch portfolio with new capabilities in its Contrail SD-WAN solution, utilizing NFX Series, SRX Series and vSRX Series WAN Edge devices combined with Contrail Service Orchestration. To facilitate the way customers can deploy their entire campus, Juniper has also expanded its campus portfolio via a resell agreement with a global Wi-Fi leader, Aerohive Networks, and today announced the expansion of their strategic partnership to provide a cloud-managed, wired, wireless and WAN solution.

14 sme channels july 2018

NetApp Excellerator Program graduates second batch of startups NetApp celebrated the second group of NetApp Excellerator Program graduates at NetApp Excellerator Demo Day. Upon graduating from the program, startups SigTuple, Nanobi, ArchSaber, Anlyz, Dataken and BlobCity presented how they will change the world with data to an audience of venture capitalists and prominent industry leaders. The NetApp Excellerator Program, launched earlier this year, empowers startups to create innovative market-ready products and solutions by providing access to NetApp expertise and its ecosystem of partners and customers. The startups also benefit from NetApp platforms and technologies, tools, co-working space, HR, marketing, legal and tech support. NetApp offers an equity-free grant of US$15,000 to startups upon completion of the 4-month program and the startups own their intellectual property (IP). “These six startups were carefully selected from over 450 applications,” said Ajeya Motaganahalli, senior director and leader of the NetApp Excellerator Program.

Snippets

NICE launches Enterprise Robotic Virtual Attendant NEVA A personified desktop assistant, NICE Employee Virtual Attendant (NEVA), transforms employee capabilities to enhance operational efficiency, bolster sales efforts and drive regulatory compliance via on-demand and automated, always- on guidance NEVA offers real-time process guidance when called for or automatically when an opportunity is identified. This enables employees to efficiently execute even the most complex requests as well as upsell or cross sell at the most optimal time within an interaction, driving front and back-office process effectiveness, boosting sales delivery and ensuring compliance adherence while increasing employee engagement and morale.

WD intros Data Center innovations fast Big Data Applications

Accelerate Business Transformation With GCR’s Cloud-Based IoT Solutions The role of the MSPs (IT Managed Service Providers) is paramount in implementing such solutions. The challenge for the MSPs is that their focus is more on solution implementation rather than doing design and development to integrate the IoT solutions. Thus, they find it difficult to service the market demand. This is where GCR Indiacomes into the forefront to play a pivotal role by offering cloud-based technology platform and an online marketplace to help MSPs to deploy SaaS connected, pre-integrated IoT solutions, worldwide. GCR India’s online marketplace connects global IoT vendors (ISVs) with the end customers, through the skilled MSPs. It collaborates with worldwide cloud-based/networking solution providers and enables channel partners providing IoT solutions and cloud services. GCR also offers a combination of smart connected IoT hardware and software solutions to serve end-customers via its MSP partners. GCR India’s unique platform fortifies its Solution Partners to provide a wide range of solutions, services and applications to help accelerate business growth and keep pace with the development of the Internet of Things and Cloud Computing era. The current channel maintains the flow from product vendors, distributors, system integrators and telecom services providers, before finally handing over to the customer. In the near future, the role of the distributor will be shortened to form a path from product vendors and system integrators.

Western Digital Corporation announced new additions to its data center solutions portfolio, giving customers the flexibility to design modern infrastructures and extract greater value from data. The new solutions include the ActiveScale 5.3 object storage system, extensions to the IntelliFlash N Series family of all-flash arrays, and the new Ultrastar Serv60+8 hybrid storage server platform. This broad portfolio provides the building blocks to rapidly deploy data center solutions for better performance, efficiency and TCO while opening up opportunities to capture, preserve, access and transform data in ways that were not previously possible. Driven by the volume, velocity and variety of data, from edge to core, data centers are undergoing tremendous change as organizations try to find innovative ways to fuel growth while managing flat IT budgets.

Cisco and NetApp Simplify the Delivery of Cloud Infrastructure with New FlexPod Solutions

Trend Micro brings Managed Detection and Response Services to Enterprises

Cisco and NetApp’s new FlexPod solutions combines Cisco UCS Integrated Infrastructure with NetApp data services to help organizations accelerate application delivery and transition to a hybrid cloud with a trusted platform for innovation. The new Managed Private Cloud solution offers new consumption options for more flexible access to powerful IT infrastructure and applications as customers modernize their data center for hybrid cloud. Additionally, FlexPod Datacenter for Epic EHR, a key healthcare application, is the first in a series of new pre-tested vertical solutions, with support for more healthcare applications, coming soon. FlexPod continues to be a platform for innovation and investment protection, introducing new validated solutions for the latest virtualization software, enterprise applications, and databases incorporating the latest technologies from Cisco and NetApp.

Trend Micro announced the Trend Micro Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service. In addition, multiple new AI-powered capabilities are being embedded across the entire portfolio of Trend Micro’s products to allow security operations centers (SOC) to triage their most critical threat alerts. Regardless of their size, organizations today share a common challenge: IT security teams are understaffed and overextended. The number of security alerts, the challenge of what to prioritize and the shortage of expertise can be overwhelming and introduce risk. Nilesh Jain, Vice President – South East Asia and India, Trend Micro, said, “The Trend Micro approach combines advanced security capabilities to stop threats with the aid of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to sift through massive amounts of data. With the goal of reducing risk and automating response, a single ‘API everywhere’ approach will enable information to easily flow across all layers of the IT stack. These enhancements will reduce analysis time for those performing their own incident response and reduce the burden overall for organizations leveraging the new MDR offering.”

sme channels 15 july 2018

Snippets

TAIT hosts an open discussion forum to address common trade problems TAIT held an open forum discussion to address some key problems plaguing traders and System integrators. The event was held at the Krishna Palace Hotel, Nana Chowk, Mumbai, and saw enthusiastic participation from members. The evening was dedicated towards solving crucial issues faced by IT traders and System Integrators community, causing business concerns among members. The event started with the Board of Directors introducing the agenda and then opening the house for a free-wheeling discussion where every

member could share their experience and offer possible solutions. The first topic to be discussed was that delayed payments and extended credit periods. Several members voiced their concerns over losing crucial deadlines or even completely losing out on payments. While the directors shared their views, the members too came up with suggestions on how to effectively tackle the situation. The focus was to find a universal solution that can be implemented by all members of the community, while uniting everyone with the benefit of collective growth and goodwill.

Quick Heal Customer Mr. Mehta Hitesh from Mumbai wins a free trip to Hong Kong ‘Quick Heal Kharido Foreign Jao’ contest is part of Quick Heal’s broader strategy to increase adoption of robust IT security solutions Quick Heal Technologies announced the lucky winner of the ongoing ‘Quick Heal Kharido Foreign Jao’ contest. Mehta Hitesh from Mumbai was adjudged as the lucky winner and was presented with the opportunity to fly to his dream destination – Hong Kong. As part of the initiative, Quick Heal is giving an opportunity to lucky customers to fly to their dream destination – Paris, Hong Kong or Dubai. In addition, the contest will enable customers to win an assured gift with every purchase. ‘Quick Heal Kharido Foreign Jao’ contest is part of Quick Heal’s broader strategy to increase adoption of robust IT security solutions which empower customers to secure critical personal data residing on their devices from cybercriminals. The proud winner of the contest Mehra Hitesh said “I am glad and overjoyed after being adjudged as the winner of ‘Quick Heal Kharido Foreign Jao’. I would like to thank Quick Heal for this wonderful opportunity and initiative.”

REVE gets Kosmix on board as Distribution Partner for NCR REVE Antivirus has appointed Kosmix as its distribution partner for New Delhi & NCR. Kosmix deals in IT software and hardware like laptops & computer peripherals. With this partnership, the company is looking at strengthening and reaching out to SMEs & Mid-size market in Delhi-NCR market. Kosmix which has a strong distribution network in Delhi-NCR will use their huge network to leverage their newly launched Endpoint Protection product, for Enterprise users which offers advanced security for enterprises using progressive and predictive machine learning algorithms. Commenting on the partnership, Sanjit Chatterjee, CEO – REVE Antivirus, “We are pleased to announce our partnership with Kosmix which would be responsible for positioning and selling our products. The strong channel base of Kosmix will boost our reach and channel presence in Delhi-NCR.” In the words of Kosmix Director Akshay Kapoor, “We have tied up with REVE Antivirus to distribute their products across the Delhi & NCR region. With this tie-up, we are very happy to add new products in our distribution portfolio.” Earlier, REVE Antivirus Partner Program’ for distributors & retailers was launched which has received tremendous response. REVE Antivirus is associated with some reputed distributors in India namely VinR Enterprise, PC Planet, Daksh computers, Meptek Computronics, Asset Infotech, Jaiparas Infotech, Neelkanth Infosys, Rathore computers, Parshwa Enterprises and Data Structure and scouting for credible partners in Mumbai, New Delhi, Punjab, MP, Gujrat, J & K and UP.

16 sme channels july 2018

digest Portronics Launches “Harmonics Talky II” – Mini Portronics has launched “Harmonics Talky II” – a tiny in-ear Mini Bluetooth Earbud with a smart case for storage cum charging of the wireless earbud. The earbud and the smart case both have inbuilt rechargeable batteries. The case is pocket-friendly sized and allows you to not only keep the earbud secure when not in use but also to keep it charged at all times. Harmonics Talky II can be used for making or receiving phone calls from any Bluetooth enabled smartphone and for listening to high-quality music from paired mobile phones.

Toreto Launches Stylish “Thump Sound Bar” Toreto has launched its iconic “THUMP SOUND BAR (TOR 319)”. Now play your favourite collections of music whenever and wherever you want, be it casual listening or outdoor parties. Pair it with your Smartphone via Bluetooth and you are all set to unleash the portable giant Sound Bar. Nothing beats Toreto’s new wireless multimedia Sound bar, this innovative new wireless speaker boasts some amazing features too. Toreto’s new Sound bar is sleek, stylish and easy to use. You can carry it anywhere and anytime. It offers low power consumption making it suitable for all kinds of mobile device and can be charged it anywhere.

Adobe Expands Microsoft Partnership with New PDF Services Integrations Adobe has made new enhancements to Adobe Document Cloud with advancements for Adobe Sign and new PDF integrations across Microsoft Office 365. Adobe Sign is now more deeply integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365, providing real-time access to customer details from LinkedIn Sales Navigator and more automated sales processes. Adobe Sign is now also the first Cloud Service Provider in the industry to receive FedRAMP Tailored authorization that meets the government’s rigorous security standards, so Adobe Document Cloud can be quickly deployed across U.S. Federal agencies.

RiT Tech Enters Into Strategic Technology Integration With Intel RiT Tech entered into strategic technology integration with Intel Data Center Manager (DCM) and offers new capabilities of monitoring, analytics, prediction, and control of infrastructure and network centers. The new Device Level Telemetries Module inside RiT’s XpedITe Platform empowers IT and data center managers to take greater control of their management and decision-making capabilities. XpedITe is the only Data Center and Networking Infrastructure Optimization platform in the market that efficiently manages, automates and truly bridges data centers, IT and networking infrastructure together in one platform.

Snippets

Rashi Peripherals Organized Multi-City Partner Connect Meet in Upcountry market Rashi Peripherals conducted five city Partner Connect event to reinvent its channel engagement in the upcountry markets. The objective of the event series organized in association with Lenovo was to make partners aware of Company’s brand portfolio and showcase latest technology innovations in Commercial SB notebooks, desktops and TFT Display. As the tier 3 and tier 4 markets are driving the growth of the IT industry, the Rashi Peripherals intends to leverage its strong distribution ecosystem to offer latest products to customers and enhance brand visibility of its vendor partners. Partner Connect is unique initiative to reach out to untapped cities and connect with potentials partners. The five-city event organized in Madurai, Hubli, Kolhapur, Erode and Tirupur received an overwhelming response from partners. More than 150 partners from all the five cities attended the event.

New HPE Pointnext to Expedite MemoryDriven Computing HPE launches an incubation practice with specialized skills for solving big data problems through Memory-Driven Computing, leveraging the expertise of Hewlett Packard Labs and HPE Pointnext. Through HPE Pointnext advisory and professional services capabilities, the company will work with leading-edge customers to explore Memory-Driven Computing applications and deliver proofs-of-concept that will demonstrate dramatic performance gains never before possible. Memory-Driven Computing is a new computing architecture that puts memory, not processing, at the center of the computing platform. Hewlett Packard Labs is developing the breakthrough technology innovations needed to enable Memory-Driven Computing as part of The Machine research project. Using the new architecture, organizations will be able to process vast amounts of data significantly faster and reduce the time to extract insight, from days to hours, hours to minutes, minutes to seconds, ultimately delivering real-time intelligence. “We believe that all data is valuable. Our vision for Memory-Driven Computing is to enable customers to capture, keep and refine every last bit of their data, up to 10,000 times faster than yesterday’s solutions,” said Rajesh Dhar, Senior Director, Pointnext, HPE India. “The introduction of HPE Pointnext capabilities for Memory-Driven Computing will accelerate our ability to bring Memory-Driven Computing technologies to our customers and help them solve some of their most complex problems and more quickly than ever before.” HPE Pointnext has a team of emerging technology and AI experts already working hand-inhand with its first commercial customer beginning the journey to Memory-Driven Computing, Travelport – a commerce platform that provides distribution, technology, payment and other solutions for the $7 trillion global travel industry.

SonicWall Eyes at Mid-Market for Next Phase of Growth

Compuage Expands Cloud footprint in India

Company extends go-to-market leverage and support for channel partners with increased direct customer touch and focus on retail, state, local and federal government, education and MSSPs SonicWall now focuses heavily in mid-market enterprises. Having brought out 12 new products and solution updates, the SonicWall now delivers integrated cloud-scale management and true end-to-end security that protects networks, email, endpoints, mobile and remote users. “The past 18 months were focused on expanding our security portfolio and restoring customers and partners to the SonicWall brand,” said SonicWall President and CEO Bill Conner. “Now, we are delivering a disruptive, cloud-based platform that brings together endpoint, firewall and cloud application security with management, reporting, analytics and integrated threat visibility. “Our Capture Cloud Platform delivers increased value, ease of use and the security efficacy required for today’s cyber arms race, particularly given the likes of Meltdown, Spectre and threats leveraging Microsoft Office files and PDFs.” This initiative is headlined by Capture Security Center enhancements, new next-generation firewalls and enhanced endpoint protection capabilities that together enable automated realtime breach detection and prevention, delivering enterprise-grade performance and industrylow total cost of ownership (TCO). “Enterprises have unique security and business needs that aren’t properly met by traditional networking and cybersecurity solutions, especially as it relates to encrypted internet traffic, which now comprises of 70 percent of all traffic,” said SonicWall Vice President of Product Management Lawrence Pingree. “Enterprises require the ability to easily deploy and scale deep packet inspection of encrypted traffic at cost-effective rates and performance across endpoints and firewalls. They also need to implement automated real-time management, reporting and analytics, with integrated threat visibility, across endpoint, firewall and cloud application security — truly defining this as a disruptive enterprise cloud platform.”

Compuage has tied up with over 15 cloud brands in the last quarter. These brands cater to the requirements of all Small, mid-size and large Enterprise requirements. Every tie up caters to a specific function like Finance & Operations, Sales, Marketing, Infrastructure and Security & Collaboration. These names include Adrenalin, Keka, Udyog Software, GST Hero, NowFloats, CRM Next, My Operator, Zoho, Vaultastic, Cloudiway, CloudGuard, IBM Cloud, Azure, Offie 365, Witty Parrot, Yellow Messanger, Atul H Mehta, Chairman & MD said, “The cloud is a thriving industry, partners want to be able to offer cloud services out to customers and hence Compuage has made investment in building a cloud strategy by tie-up with market-leading cloud technology providers and extending expertise, solutions and enablement programs that empower organizations to configure, provision and manage cloud technologies with confidence and ease”. He further added saying, “With these tie ups Compuage is marching towards its strategy of being a one stop cloud solution provider in the said segment”. Compuage is India’s leading IT and Mobility Distribution Company offering Global Products and Services to its clients through a strong distribution network across India & SAARC nations. Compuage caters to all Consumers, SOHO, SMB, Mid-size, Large Enterprises.

sme channels 17 july 2018

Snippets

iValue Signs VAD Agreement with TITUS iValue InfoSolutions has signed VAD agreement with TITUS, a leading provider of data classification and protection solutions for unstructured data. . TITUS flexible software solutions identify, classify, and protect data in network file shares and in the cloud. TITUS provides solutions that enable organizations to address compliance regulations, standards, and frameworks. With support for automated, system-suggested, or user-driven classification, TITUS solutions enable organizations to identify the sensitivity of unstructured data. Maheswaran. S – Regional Director, India & SAARC – TITUS said “We are excited to partner with iValue and look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship that delivers even greater value to our partners and customers in the region. iValue has the technical skills, expertise and wide customer and partner network, which will complement TITUS’ ability to protect data on premise and in the cloud.”

Kodak Alaris Hosts Information Management Partnership Yatra 2018 Close to 150 delegates from over 80 partner companies attended the 2018 edition of Kodak Alaris’ Information Management Partnership Yatra. This year’s event was held in May 18 in the three cities – Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi. Launched in 2015, the Information Management Partnership Yatra initiative signals Kodak Alaris’ commitment to deepening relationships with partners and resellers across India. Partner engagement, customer centricity and channel expansion are at the heart of Kodak Alaris’ go-to-market strategy in India. Its partners play a vital role in the Alaris IN2 Ecosystem, helping organisations to make the switch to digital processes in the most effective way, and since its launch 14 months ago, the company has welcomed a number of new Integrated Software Vendors (ISVs) into its partner network. The channel is an important element of Kodak Alaris’ business, and with digital transformation forecasted to add $154 billion to India’s GDP by 2021, further expansion of its channel and customer base is a strategic objective for the global solution provider. Agenda items included an insight into the emerging relevance of information management in the Indian market as well as an overview of Kodak Alaris’ award-winning scanners, software and services, all of which are designed to take the complexity out of information capture in order to simplify and improve the way people work. During the business sessions to the partners, the management messaging focused on digital transformation and the emerging relevance of information management in the Indian market. The company’s channel development plans were also shared with the partners.

Progressive Infotech becomes Amazon EC2 for Microsoft Windows Server Partner

Skybox Expands Footprint in APAC with New Channel Partners in Australia

Progressive Infotech was recently designated an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Service Delivery for Amazon EC2 for Windows Server partner. This achievement reflects Progressive Infotech meeting Amazon’s exceptional standards in delivering services for Amazon EC2, managing secure, reliable, and high-performance environments for the deploying of Windows-based applications and workloads. Progressive Infotech is now counted amongst the selected few companies across the world acknowledged for the quality of the services they provide by the Amazon’s AWS Service Delivery Program. Amazon Web Services identifies AWS Partner Network (APN) Consulting Partners who demonstrate successful delivery and expertise in specific AWS services, under the AWS Service Delivery Program. This helps customers identify the best APN consulting partners for their various service requirements. To receive the designation, APN Consulting Partners must demonstrate technical proficiency, proven customer success, and deep expertise in seamlessly delivering AWS services, such as Amazon EC2 for Windows Server. Companies have to go through a thorough technical audit to demonstrate their technical capabilities, process documentations, and actual examples of service delivery and satisfied customers. Commenting on the achievement, Prateek Garg, Founder and CEO, Progressive Infotech said, “Progressive’s recognition under the AWS Service Delivery Program stands as a strong testament to our experience and expertise towards deploying Windows-based applications and workloads on AWS. This is a result of the accumulated experience and diligence of our cloud practice.”

Skybox Security has announced that two Australia-based firms, NEXTGEN and Insentra have joined its Australia channel partner program. In addition, Skybox has filled a key leadership role in Australia and New Zealand, continuing the company’s expansion in the Asia Pacific region (APAC), which is among the company’s fastest-growing global markets. The Skybox APAC channel program enables managed security service providers (MSSPs), value-added resellers (VARs), distributors and system integrators to meet the needs of the market by deploying and offering services that leverage the Skybox Security Suite. By adding the Suite to their offerings, local partners can continue to serve as trusted cybersecurity advisors to Australian businesses. “Skybox is working with many of the world’s largest, most complex networks, providing security teams with the visibility and context needed to address vulnerabilities and other security weaknesses. This means organisations are able to better manage their attack surface and reduce the risk of a breach,” said Gerry Sillars, VP of APAC. “In this region, the demand for our solution is driven by a strong desire for improved network visibility and increased demand for our threat-centric vulnerability management (TCVM) solution. Our solution has proven to be a differentiator for our resellers, and so we’ve been able to quickly grow our partner ecosystem in expansion markets.” According to the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s (ACSC) 2017 Threat Report, “Cyber espionage and cybercrime remain the primary threats to the Australian private sector, affecting Australia’s competitive advantage, particularly in the specialist and profitable area of research and development.”

18 sme channels july 2018

her it usiness es this . Or as utes.

GUEST ARTICLE

HOW TECHNOLOGY HAS REVITALIZED THE FINANCIAL PLANNING MARKET IN INDIA The larger the client’s AUM, the more significant he is for the institution. Hence, it’s important for planners to meet them accordingly.

LIMESH LIMESHPAREKH, PAREKH,

CEO ATCEO ENJAY IT SOLUTIONS LTD of Enjay IT Solutions PROFILE Limesh is the CEO at Enjay IT Solutions Ltd. In 1991, Limesh Parekh commenced his 4-year course in GNIIT. It was his initiation into the world of Information Technology. Soon enough, he was thinking of ways of merge his two great passions, technology and commerce. With a vision to transform businesses with technology, he co-founded Enjay with his two brothers. After completing his graduation from Birla College of Commerce, Limesh went on to pursue Chartered Accountancy, a prime course for anyone interested in a career in finance and accounting. However, mid-way through it, Limesh realized that his calling lay elsewhere. He was drawn towards the then-emerging trend on computers. Following his instinct, he switched gears, and that changed the course of his career and life. As the CEO leading his team, Limesh has created customised solutions for CRM in Marketing, CRM for Sales and CRM for Support, thereby creating a unique Indian company that uses technology to help SMEs to boost sales, enhance ROI and get to know their customers better. Limesh has spearheaded landmark CRM projects in India. In 2013, he led his team to integrate Telephony and CRM integration for 35 branches of Maruti dealerships, across 8 Indian cities. In Pune, he set up a software support centre for a software company that extended support to over 1400 retailers across India. Technology can help any business stay relevant and competitive in their respective industry. Limesh Parekh realized that early on. Therefore, he is an involved member with multiple associations. He is and has been part of the governing council for various IT associations such as ASIRT.in, ISODA.in and MAIT amongst others.

The priorities of urban India have changed. Until a decade ago, family essentials ranked number one. Today, personal aspirations have taken center stage. With rising income levels, Indians are increasingly becoming receptive to financial planning. An indication of this is the rapid growth of Assets under Management (AUM) in the Mutual Fund (MF) industry. As of April 2018, AUM in the MF industry stood at ₹23.26 lakh crore (US$360.90 billion). Obviously, with this comes a rise in expectations. To match (or exceed) them, stock brokers and financial consultants have turned to technology, which has served them brilliantly. Technology, in form of Client Relationship Management (CRM) tools, hasn’t just helped financial institutions store client details. It has also empowered them to provide high-value services to clients. Here are five ways in which financial consultants are leveraging technology.

Opportunity Grids The first CRM versions were mainly data storage tools. They stored information like portfolio size, personal details and services purchased. But modern CRM tools have evolved in leaps and bounds. These tools present planners with opportunity grids. Theydisplay services that were sold and pitched to clients. For example, planners can decide whether to upsell insurance and mediclaim to a client who purchased a mutual fund. Modern CRM tools maintain detailed records of services pitched to clients, bought or denied by them, and so on. Thus, companies increase their revenue and reduce marketing costs at the same time.

Value Addition Data is like gold for financial planners (no pun intended). They use it to provide profound value to their clients. CRM tools highlight trends and patterns. Financial planners can use these to derive combinations based on metrics like client age, AUM, risk capacity,

and customize their offerings to match client goals. This creates tremendous value for investors while fueling innovation in the industry.

Workflow Automation Until recently, one of the most arduous tasks for financial planners was keeping track of the customer onboarding process – a non-revenue generating yet critical activity. Technology has relieved planners from this task. It has enabled financial companies to automate this process. Here are two ways in which financial institutions use CRM tools:

Scheduling automated messages When a new client joins, financial institution sends him information. These can range from documents of investments to value-adds like newsletters, market trends, annual performance reports and so on. Financial planners can automate sending these messages on specific dates or at specific intervals to their clients through email and SMS. A few months ago, Enjay went a step further. We added WhatsApp in our CRM tool for customer convenience. Institutes now send predesigned messages to their clients through the immensely popular WhatsApp platform. The verdict is unanimous – this feature is a huge hit.

Sending automated reminders Most businesses lose clients because they forget to follow up for renewals. This is another non-revenue generating yet critical activity. Our CRM tool has taken this burden off planners’ shoulders too. They now simply enter the renewal date in the CRM. When the due date approaches, an automated message goes out to the client and the planner, who take it forward from there. logonto www.smechannels.com to read the entire article

SME CHANNELS 19 JULY 2018

SECURITY

FIVE REASONS ENTERPRISES AREN’T GETTING THE MOST OUT OF SECURITY AUTOMATION With so many different security tools and integration problems, it should hardly be a surprise that 55% of respondents say their top barrier to successfully deploying security automation is their inability to apply controls that span across the enterprise.

utomation is enterprise cybersecurity’s biggest buzzword as organizations seek to keep pace with a threat landscape that grows more frenetic by the hour. But as automation spending skyrockets, many enterprises are finding that they’re not getting the most out of their investment. A new study uncovered that even as security experts are eager to reap the rewards of security automation deployments, there are a number of serious obstacles that must be addressed first. The number one benefit organizations see out of automation—named by 64% of those surveyed for the study--is the increased productivity that they believe it squeezes out of IT security staffers. Number two was cited by 60% of respondents, who believe that automated correlation of threat behavior helps them address today’s increased volume of threats. As a result, organizations are pouring money by the bucketful into automation and orchestration tools, hoping to make their employees more efficient and shorten the time it takes for them to detect and respond to incidents. According to one analyst estimate, the size of the security orchestration market alone will double in the next three years to become a $1.6 B play within the broader security market. The trouble is that simply inserting your coin into the automated machine doesn’t guarantee it’s going to work the way you want it. Enterprises are running into five major issues in their bid to streamline security through automation, machine learning, artificial intelligence and orchestration.

Automation Blocker 1: Integration is Harder than they Think Many security organizations today are struggling with automation due to integration issues on two fronts. First of all, they’re having a hard time meshing security automation tools with legacy

20 SME CHANNELS JULY 2018

systems and architectures. Nearly two in three organizations say it is difficult integrating security automation technologies with existing IT systems. Not only that, but security teams are also straining to integrate numerous security automation tools into a cohesive security stack. Approximately 71% of respondents pointed to the inability to integrate disparate security tools as their top challenge in building an effective automated security architecture.

Automation Blocker 2: Vendor Sprawl is Killing Them One of the reasons that integration is such a bugbear is that the best-of-breed approach is killing security teams with a bad case of security vendor sprawl. Around 59% of respondents reported a need to streamline the number of vendors in their architecture. This has increasingly been a point of contention for CISOs lately. This spring, venture capitalist Ken Elephant, managing director at Sorenson Capital, estimated that in a straw pool of CISOs from major companies he was seeing an average of 80 security vendors under management. “That may sound like an enviable position; so many vendors providing protection for a company’s business efforts,” he wrote in an opinion piece for HelpNetSecurity. “But it signals that there is too much noise in the market. CISOs don’t want to manage 80 products — they want to have a holistic solution involving fewer vendors.” This reality was reflected in the Ponemon Study, which showed that as many as 63% of respondents leaned toward a solitary vendor or one single vendor with a few specialized products as their ideal solution for delivering security functionality in an ideal world. The other 37% wished for a mix of best-of-breed products interoperable through functional APIs.

Automation Blocker 4: They’re Struggling to Scale Automation Across the Enterprise As a corollary to the issue of vendor sprawl, organizations say that they’re having a difficult time scaling automated security processes across the organization. With so many different security tools and integration problems, it should hardly be a surprise that 55% of respondents say their top barrier to successfully deploying security automation is their inability to apply controls that span across the enterprise. Nearly on par with that, 49% say another major barrier is the fact that they can’t create a unified view of users across the enterprise. This is probably why industry analysts are predicting another big surge of vendor consolidation for the security world in the next couple of years. For example, in its security spending predictions this year IDC says it believes that by 2020 30% of security spending will be on vendors that offer an integrated platform approach to security. “This shift will happen partly because of budget, but mostly because of complexity. Reducing complexity by moving to integrated platforms, whether in the cloud or on-premises, supporting a hybrid environment, also provides the potential for enhanced security as companies will make gains in manageability and automation,” says Sean Pike, program vice president for IDC’s Security Products and Legal, Risk, and Compliance programs

Automation Blocker 3: Complexity Makes it Hard to Pick Processes Perfect for Automation Complexity in security and IT architectures is also making it difficult for organizations to know exactly what they need to automate. Approximately 67% of respondents told researchers that the overall complexity of their organization’s

SECURITY

security automation is very high. And only 27% said they did a good job accurately identifying the areas in their security infrastructure that automation would create the most value.

Automation Blocker 5: There Aren’t Enough Smart People to Design and Run Automated Tools A big reason that organizations struggle to identify the right processes to automate is because that is a design issue, and design is the domain of humans—of which smart ones have been in very short supply for security teams lately. The lack of skilled security staff was named by survey respondents as the number one impediment to

ZAKIR HUSSAIN, DIRECTOR, BD SOFT, COUNTRY PARTNER OF BITDEFENDER

“THE LACK OF SKILLED SECURITY STAFF WAS NAMED BY SURVEY RESPONDENTS AS THE NUMBER ONE IMPEDIMENT TO EFFECTIVE USE OF SECURITY AUTOMATION TODAY.”

effective use of security automation today. About 57% said the top barrier to security automation is their inability to recruit knowledgeable or skilled personnel. And 34% said that the amount of staff it take to implement and maintain the tools stands in the way of solid security automation deployments. The fact is that these tools don’t install and run themselves. In fact, some of the best security automation tools are far more onerous to implement than traditional security offerings due to the fact that their complex machine learning and artificial intelligence engines require significant tuning and a great deal of expertise to make them work well. On top of that, whatever processes that are left behind because they can’t be automated due to their complexity or need for human judgment or

action are likely to be those which usually need to be carried out by experienced security operators. This is a problematic obstacle considering that some industry estimates show that within four years we’ll be facing shortfall to the tune of 1.8 million cybersecurity professionals As a result, this study shows that the industry faces a bit of a contradiction when it comes to security automation and the security skills shortage. While many security vendors sell automated tools as a means to overcome this gap in the market of available cybersecurity talent, the depressing truth is that organizations can’t automate their way out of good security team building. As Bitdefender Business Insights’ own George Hulme described in a piece earlier this year about a different Ponemon study, organizations are actually finding that security automation is exacerbating the skills problem rather than relieve it. In spite of the security skills paradox, organizations aren’t going to let that deter them from reaching for the brass ring of security automation. There’s too much to gain in other benefits to give up in the face of these challenges. According to this study, 70% of organizations questioned named security automation as very important for their organization’s security posture today and 80% rated the importance of security automation as very high in the next two years.

SME CHANNELS 21 JULY 2018

SME CHAT

WE CONSIDER OUR PARTNERS TO BE OUR EXTENDED TEAMS THAT HELP SUPPORT OUR END-CUSTOMERS. Indian channel market is now on a transition mode as the product selling is becoming difficult due to the choice of the customers is changing from on premise to cloud. So, the choice for the partners is becoming limited. Therefore, the partners need to move from hardware-based solutions to softwarebased solutions and security as a layer is becoming as a default one.

NeHow big is cybersecurity market in India? India is a fast-digitizing country where the digital infrastructure is booming, and its adoption is rapid. But, as more people go online, their limited awareness about the dangers that they’re vulnerable to puts them at considerable risk. Fresh entrants to the digital domain are not aware of even the most basic cyberattacks, including phishing and credential theft, which increases the onus on cybersecurity players to protect them. This makes the Indian cybersecurity market, which is yet to reach its true potential, a growth-intensive industry. At present, it is pegged to be worth $1.5 billion and is expected to grow with a CAGR of 19 percent till 2023 . However, the true figure could fall well-short of the current estimates as new dynamics get introduced to the cybersecurity domain and contribute to the market growth. How is it different from other developing markets in the world? India is actively applying digital technologies across all walks of life. We are on a mission to build smart cities where state-of-the-art technologies will play a pivotal role in making us, as a nation, more efficient. We are simultaneously increasing the reach of digital technologies by not only using and promoting smart devices and solutions, but also by integrating them into our daily lives. The Aadhaar-based digital payment system is one such example. However, with the gradually increasing influx of technology, the entire nation is making itself prone to vulnerabilities in technology. For instance, if you’d ask any cybersecurity professional, he or she would inform you that there is no IT system

22 SME CHANNELS JULY 2018

that is impenetrable. With the right approach and resources, any system can be breached. The only way to keep our systems intact is by constantly looking for and fixing weaknesses. We also have to protect individual layers of IT systems in our smart cities with cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. We have to analyse the risks that they’re prone to individually, and vis-à-vis, their role as part of a broader network arrangement. Adopting this approach will provide significant benefits to us in the long run. What are the major trends? Businesses are quite apprehensive after last year’s global ransomware attacks and have increased their focus on cybersecurity as a result. They’re displaying more interest in understanding their network vulnerabilities and how individual network elements, including surveillance devices, change the network arrangement and contribute to the overall threat. We are observing a strong demand for advanced AI and big data-driven solutions and believe they will observe wider deployments in the near future. Similarly, average users are also gradually becoming cognizant of the digital threats and are readily accepting antivirus and antimalware solutions and cybersecurity products. What is the relevance of endpoint protection? Today, a majority of companies have a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) mandate for their working professionals. You can protect your critical IT infrastructure with state-of-the-art cybersecurity solutions, but endpoints can still be compromised and used to penetrate crucial parts of a network.

The network endpoints are prone to a range of susceptibilities, including CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), human errors, and malicious insiders. Critical IT infrastructure, however important it is, isn’t the first line that needs to be protected, as they are seldom targeted directly by attackers. So securing that first line of defence – the vulnerable endpoints – needs to be as big a priority as critical IT infrastructure. Businesses are also introducing IoT technology for across-the-board applications. According to Hypponen’s Law, if something is smart, it is vulnerable. Last year, we discovered a Web Server Directory Traversal vulnerability within a smart dishwasher that can be used to get network passwords. Considering the number of smart devices that we’re using at offices and households, such CVEs pose a considerable risk. All of these endpoint devices need to be analysed and protected to make them as secure as possible. What is the opportunity for F-Secure in India? The cost of cyberattacks in India, at present, is estimated to be greater than Rs. 25,000 crore ($4 billion). And you need to keep in mind that this is with many cyberattacks going undetected or are unreported. The figure is expected to become four to five times larger, or about Rs. 1.25 trillion ($20 billion), within a decade. These estimates are based on current cyberattacks. But, in the future, we’re going to start dealing with big data and AIbased attacks that will render current cybersecurity infrastructure less effective. At F-Secure, we’ve adopted a prudent approach to tackle these imminent challenges by pre-emptively using a range of cutting-edge technologies.

SME CHAT

promise their victims.

KEITH MARTIN, F-SECURE HEAD ASIA PACIFIC AND JAPAN FOR CORPORATE BUSINESS

“WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR POTENTIAL PARTNERS WHO HAVE CYBERSECURITY AS THEIR CENTRAL FOCUS.”

What would be your vertical market focus and why? As mentioned, both residential and commercial users are our target audience. So, we are targeting both, i.e. residential and commercial markets. We don’t target specific vertical markets, as security is required by all. However, we do have strong footholds in the financial, aviation, manufacturing, and energy, maritime, automotive and aerospace industries. What should be your marketing and channel strategy? We have always been a channel-driven company. We consider our partners to be our extended teams that help support our end-customers. With a strong network of over 200 able partners all over India, we offer a wide range of awardwinning cyber security solutions and services to businesses across multiple industry verticals. While our channel partner base keeps growing, we are always looking for potential partners who have cybersecurity as their central focus. We also ensure that all of our channel partners have essential product knowledge through regular trainings and certifications, so that they provide the right solutions to meet an end-customer’s exact needs. What are your channel engagement, empowerment and incentivization plans? We believe that our global growth is incomplete without the contribution of our channel partners catering to regional markets, and we’ve always supported them. We recently organized a partner summit in Bali for our channel partners in India, South East Asia, and Japan. We also involve them by extending our advanced learning infrastructure and various regional engagements.

Considering this, and since the company provides security for both commercial and residential purposes, it has a huge market to cater to in India. We have global leadership and a proven trackrecord of catering to the most dynamic cybersecurity needs at macroscopic and microscopic levels. Our diverse experience across most industries, as well as both developed and developing markets, adds to the overall edge that F-Secure has as a cybersecurity leader. What is your plan and strategy to grow your wallet share? F-Secure has greatly expanded its product portfolio over the past couple of years, and considers different attack vectors and trees used on different

network arrangements. And by doing so, we have increased the overall use cases that our solutions cater to. This will, in time, substantially increase our wallet share within the market. Further, beyond our best-in-class endpoint protection offerings, we now also offer products such as our vulnerability management solution F-Secure RADAR to help customers identify potential weaknesses in their infrastructure that could leave them vulnerable to attack. We also have endpoint detection and response solutions that alert our customers about ongoing breaches employing “fileless” attacks. Rather than employing traditional malware to gain a foothold in the victim’s network, these attacks often utilize standard tools (such as PowerShell) to help them stealthily com-

What would be your geo expansion strategy within the country? We are primarily targeting urban geographies, including tier-I and tier-II cities and commercial hubs. And we are going to make inroads toward tier-III and tier-IV cities as digitization increases in the country. What kind of growth are you expecting during this year? Over the last few years, we have seen remarkable growth in our business in India, thanks to the efforts of our channel partners and our sales team. This year we continue to expect F-Secure to continue to grow faster than the market.

SME CHANNELS 23 JULY 2018

COVER STORY

24 SME CHANNELS JULY 2018

COVER STORY

IT’S RAINING

CLOUD

OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARTNERS With even the government organizations joining the race to deploy cloud-based solutions in India, the public and private cloud are gaining a great traction in the country creating immense market opportunities for partners BY DEEPAK SINGH

deepak@smechannels.com

n the present era cloud is not defined as only a storage solution but also a platform for innovation. Its computing capability is delivering higher values to multiple enterprises across sectors and emerging technologies such as AI, ML and blockchain are being leveraged to enable this. Enterprises and start-ups are leveraging these newer capabilities to bring forth cloud-enabled solutions which are customized according to their requirements. “India is at the cusp of a major digital revolution with organizations increasingly considering cloud as a viable springboard to their digital transformation. With this context, cloud is providing a level playing field for enterprises and SMBs and building an effective availability strategy is becoming imperative in a cloud-native market.,’’ opines Sandeep Bhambure, Managing Director, India and SAARC, Veeam.

SME CHANNELS 25 JULY 2018

COVER STORY

“WE CONTINUE TO INVEST HEAVILY IN OUR AWS PARTNER NETWORK, WHICH PROVIDES TECHNICAL, BUSINESS AND MARKETING SUPPORT FOR THE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF AWS PARTNERS AROUND THE WORLD, INCLUDING INDIA.’’ AMITABH JACOB, HEAD - CHANNELS & ALLIANCES, AMAZON INTERNET SERVICES.

Hybrid All The Way And while cloud continues to register historic growth figures, its the Hybrid platform which comes as a blend of private and public cloud which is witnessing highest deployment according to some industry experts. ‘’Hybrid cloud is improving operations through greater business agility and speed, more effective reallocation of internal resources and better linkage between IT and the business. There is a massive shift that is underway towards hybrid cloud infrastructure services globally as well and Gartner predicts that by 2020, 90 percent of companies will adopt hybrid infrastructure management,’’ says Amit Kumar, Cloud Leader, IBM ISA.

Strategic Training Is The Key To Success The resulting opportunity has also lead to cloud service providers investing heavily in expansion and training programs for their channel partners. “We continue to invest heavily in our AWS Partner Network, which provides technical, business and marketing support for the tens of thousands of AWS partners around the world, including India. Over 60% of the APN Partners is headquartered outside the US, and almost half of all the new APAC-headquartered APN Partners last year came from India. The APN community consists of consulting partners, technology partners and people with AWS skills, among others,’’ says Amitabh Jacob, Head - Channels & Alliances, Amazon Internet Services. ‘’We offer training to partners to help them build cloud skills and competencies within their business quickly and effectively. These options include sales, technical and delivery oriented training at varying levels of expertise, depending

26 SME CHANNELS JULY 2018

on the partner’s maturity and capability. We’ve had very good feedback from partners, and this will continue to be an important area of investment for us,’’ adds Jacob Industry experts are also of the opinion that partners need to garner expertise in next generation technologies including AI to tap new opportunities and inflate their balance sheets. ‘’It’s more critical than ever that partners develop skills in next-gen technologies like AI to seize new opportunities and grow their business and build a cloud which can deliver cloud-based solutions,’’ says Amit Kumar. ‘’Business partners who are building their cloud businesses in India must ensure that they build their offering keeping in mind the cloud service providers and their cloud features/ capabilities - how best can they leverage the cloud solutions offered to them to optimize and extend tailored solutions to their customers,’’ adds Kumar. Speaking in a similar tone Amitabh Jacob details that a customer centric approach is key to the success of partners particularly in the cloud domain. “Our partners who have evolved their businesses to make them more customer-centric, and those that have invested in their employees, through the many training and certification programs that AWS offers, tend to drive some of the most successful customer outcomes that we are seeing,’’ says Jacob. ‘’These partners have the strongest capability, as they understand what their customers are looking for, and then help them along that journey. They have access to a breadth and level of tools and services that are exceptional. And when partners embrace these opportunities, we see their business advancing further and faster than they would have

“CLOUD IS PROVIDING A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD FOR ENTERPRISES AND SMBS AND BUILDING AN EFFECTIVE AVAILABILITY STRATEGY IS BECOMING IMPERATIVE IN CLOUD MARKET.’’ SANDEEP BHAMBURE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INDIA AND SAARC, VEEAM.

expected,’’ adds Jacob.

Existing Opportunities On the opportunities front, experts list out a set of technologies which partners can offer to begin with and gradually upscale their operations. ‘’’The key opportunities for a partner to start with are Infrastructure Services – Migration, Deployment, DRaaS & Managed services, Platform Services – building Cloud Native apps within the Enterprise and the Cloud and AI Services – AI building blocks to utilize & analyze the data more accurate with less human interaction,’’ says Kumar. Cloud technology today offers a lot of scope for innovation. Channel partners who are building their cloud businesses in India must ensure that they build their offering keeping in mind the cloud service providers and their cloud features/ capabilities - how best can they leverage the cloud solutions offered to them to optimize and extend tailored solutions to their customers.

COVER STORY

“THERE IS A MASSIVE SHIFT THAT IS UNDERWAY TOWARDS HYBRID CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES GLOBALLY AS WELL AND GARTNER PREDICTS THAT BY 2020, 90 PERCENT OF COMPANIES WILL ADOPT HYBRID INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT.’’ AMIT KUMAR, CLOUD LEADER, IBM ISA

How can partners best prepare to maximise the opportunities in this space? Every business today is embracing digital transformation and is facing its own set of challenges in doing so successfully. In the IBM ecosystem, many core partners that have a long history with IBM are transforming into next-generation partners. It’s more critical than ever that partners develop skills in next-gen technologies like AI to seize new opportunities and grow their business and build a cloud which can deliver cloud-based solutions. IBM as part of the PartnerWorld program and various initiatives equips partners with required skills, client connects and joint go-tomarket to help them grow. Today, the cloud offers a lot of scope for innovation. Business partners who are building their cloud businesses in India must ensure that they build their offering keeping in mind the cloud service providers and their cloud features/ capabilities - how best can they leverage the cloud solutions offered to them to optimize and extend tailored solutions to their customers.

What is your present partner engagement and on-boarding process? THE KEY OPPORTUNITIES FOR A PARTNER n Infrastructure Services – Migration, Deployment, DRaaS & Managed services, n Platform Services – building Cloud Native apps within the Enterprise and Cloud n AI Services – AI building blocks to utilize & analyze the data more accurate with less human interaction.

To help accelerate our partners across our nextgeneration ecosystem, we are announcing four new initiatives that will make it easier, faster and more rewarding for partners to combine their industry expertise with IBM technologies. This will help them shift toward delivering higher value solutions that tackle their client's toughest problems. The four initiatives include powering partner transformation by making it easier than ever for partners to shift between engagement models and move up the client value chain and the Watson Build 2.0 -- a 10-month AI challenge to build new IP. IBM's first-ever self-service, digital platform to help businesses quickly embed IBM technology into their solutions and explore all the benefits of partnership. The Easy-to-access offers for new IBM Cloud partners to help them start building, selling and learning, including: free offers of 10 TB of IBM Cloud Object storage, 100,000 conversations using IBM Watson Assistant, 100 Cloud Container Clusters; $50,000 in migration services for partners migrating over USD 20,000 per month in workloads from a competitive cloud, pre-built code patterns to accelerate development ,online courses to build skills, technical support and tech consultations and the ability to list their integrated solution on IBM Marketplace.

SME CHANNELS 27 JULY 2018

SME CHAT

GANESH JIVANI, MANAGING DIRECTOR, MATRIX COMSEC

“OUR FY17-18 REVENUE WAS AT RS. 140 CRORE. WE PLAN TO GROW AT 40% THIS YEAR AND REACH ABOUT RS. 195 CRORE.”

“MATRIX BRAND IS ALL ABOUT SUBSTANCE IN EVERYTHING WE DO” Matrix has come a long way from being a domestic player to be a global power in the communication and security technology. The company exports products to more than 40 countries. It has stable distribution and SI network in these countries. 28 SME CHANNELS JULY 2018

SME CHAT

What is your vision and mission for next decade? How are you taking your company to the next decade? Matrix mission is to offer cutting-edge, highperformance Telecom and Security solutions to business customers. Matrix’s vision is to be a leader in innovative Telecom and Security solutions. Matrix business is driven by mainly two prime movers: cutting-edge products and market reach. With this simple understanding, we are focusing on creating world-class products in all the three domains. Innovating and Building Cutting-Edge, World Class Products: Investing in R&D. Simultaneously, we are also building a channel network to expand market reach and take Matrix to all targeted markets by investing in marketing, sales and support. What is your vision around making Matrix brand as premium as any large MNC brand or you are contented with your accomplishments? Matrix brand is all about substance in everything we do. For us substance means depth. Substance means offering more to our customers – more technology, more functions, more features, more reliability, more support, etc. Substance is opposite to being on the surface or superfluous. We are not contended with our present status and believe we have a long way to go towards establishing Matrix as a strong technology focused, customer driven organization. Today, Matrix Comsec is into 2-3 categories of products i.e. telecom, security and UC, what is your product roadmap? Matrix is focusing on building enterprisegrade solutions in three technology domains – Video Surveillance, Telecom and People Mobility Management (Access Control, TimeAttendance, Visitor Management, Cafeteria Management, etc.). We established Matrix in 1991 with Telecom solutions and therefore Telecom is still our largest business with about 60% of the share. People Mobility Management brings about 30% and Video Surveillance con-

tribute about 10%. Of course, all three domains will continue to grow, but we see the composition changing to 40:30:30 within 3-5 years. We believe our hands are full and we have enough on our plate. Our current priority is to go deeper in the areas we have chosen, instead of spreading horizontally or too thin over multiple segments. What is your roadmap for manufacturing? Matrix manufacturing plant is located at Waghodia, Vadodara. With current installed capacity, we can manufacture up to 100,000 IP cameras; 25,000 Video Recorders; 50,000 Biometric Controllers and one million PBX ports. We are growing our sales to fully utilize the current manufacturing capacity. Honestly, our manufacturing capacity is larger than our current sales. Moreover, we have additional 100% headroom for future expansion at the same location. Briefly tell about manufacturing facility, process and product to market – technology used, etc. Matrix manufacturing is a modern plant of about 60,000 sq. feet building. Manufacturing takes care of all the processes starting from Material Planning, Procurement, Stores and Inventory Management, Quality, Production, Sales Fulfillment, Logistics and RMA. Matrix follows lean and flow manufacturing principles. Globally, how many countries you have presence till now? What is your expansion plan? We export Matrix products to more than 40 countries. We have stable distribution and SI network in these countries. We need to expand our reach in these countries by expanding SI networks and increasing customer reach. From the employees’ perspective, what is the total head count, what kind of growth are you envisaging for the next decade? At present, we are 700+ people. We scaled up our R&D operations by adding 100+ engineers during last year itself. In addition, we are also expanding our marketing and sales teams to

accelerate market penetration. Our new R&D building is also ready, with a capacity to house 150+ engineers. What is your employees’ retention strategy and how do you want to improve it? Matrix is a very professional and seriousminded organization. We take our work very seriously. We offer technologically advanced and challenging projects, targeting international customers. Our infrastructure, equipment, tools and processes are world-class. Our culture is open, collaborative and meritocratic. We value our people but at the same time we also expect them to bring right competence, skills and mind-set to work. I believe today’s youth care much more for their career and growth than previous generations. They like the excitement of working on challenging projects provided the organization gives them freedom and appreciates their expertise, commitment and results along with offering opportunities for learning and growth. You also do a lot of CSR activities, shed some lights on that. Honestly, we don’t a lot. But, we do contribute towards children’s health, education and few other community projects. What is your market growth strategy for next decade? Video Surveillance and People Mobility Management markets are growing rapidly and Matrix is a relatively new player with a plenty of headroom to grow. Second, we are also introducing cutting-edge, well-differentiated new products this year. Third, we are expanding our channel network by appointing system integrators in all the important markets in India and overseas. Last, we are working closely with large customers to increase customer visibility, control and trust on Matrix products and solutions. What is your present turnover and growth expectation for 2019? Our FY17-18 revenue was at Rs. 140 crore. We plan to grow at 40% this year and reach about Rs. 195 crore.

SME CHANNELS 29 JULY 2018

CASE STUDY

KKB ANADOLU DATA CENTER ADAPTS COST-EFFECTIVE MATRIX DATA CENTER SOLUTION

Project Highlights l Devices: 200+ l Users: 300+ l Location: Turkey l Application: Access Control for Data Centers l Technology: Fingerprint and Smart Card Authentication

1995. KKB is a highly regarded financial institution in turkey and has a total of 156 members. The KKB Anadolu Data Center is located in the capital city of Ankara across 43,000 square meters of land, consists of three main sections. The facility is equipped with protection systems against lightning and earthquake.

Company Brief Kredi KayÄąt BĂźrosu (KKB) was founded by the then nine leading banks of Turkey on 11th April,

Issues The data center has cabinet system in place while access to data racks require biometric authentica-

30 SME CHANNELS JULY 2018

tion. The center is equipped with numerous data racks for which they required a display device at the entrance. Each rack was locked with physical locks as a result of which the center required a cost effective solution that did not include a device for each rack. Moreover, they required devices that supported both smart card authentication as well as door locks. The center authorities were looking forward to provide the supervisors with an additional option of authentication through RFID cards. With respect to gaining access, they wanted

CASE STUDY

SOLUTION DIAGRAM

Results: l Maintenance of Diverse Data l Foolproof Security with Biometric User-wise Rack Access l Accurate Records of Who Accessed Data Center at What Time

a solution that would grant access through two steps, biometric authentication and physically opening the locking system. Finally, the center wanted a solution that could alert them in case of situations such as a door being left open. Solutions Provided Matrix, in association with SouthCo, provided the KKB Anadolu Data Center with the following solution: The data center required a display device at the entrance, integrated with the biometric device installed by Matrix. So, we integrated our Data Center solution with a touch screen display.

Whenever any user tried to access the data center with their biometric credentials, the touch screen would display a list of racks the respective user is authorized to access. From the display, the user would be allowed to choose the racks he/ she would like to access. Once the user is granted access into the chosen racks, they will be allowed to access the same for a pre-defined period of time. User based access makes ensures security of sensitive company data. We also installed 200 COSEC ARCs, at the entry/exit of racks between 400 SouthCo locks, one between two door locks, making it a cost-effective solution for the center. Additionally, the COSEC ARC also provides the

admin personnel with real-time notifications such as SMS or email notifications in case of any mishaps such as an open door, a door forced open, door being left open, etc. The personnel can also gather customized reports on events like who, when and which rack was accessed. For further information, please contact: 394-GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara-390010, India Toll Free -1800-258-7747 E-Mail: Customer.Care@MatrixComsec.com Website: www.MatrixAccessControl.com

SME CHANNELS 31 JULY 2018

GUEST TALK

TOP 5 MISTAKES LOCAL BUSINESSES ARE MAKING THAT IS DRIVING AWAY CUSTOMERS As a business owner, you need to understand that you are addressing a consumer base that is both savvy and aware. They’re always on the lookout for businesses that provide tailor-made services , are responsive, and understand the power of social media.

ASHWIN RAMESH, LIMESH PAREKH, CEO Founder CEO and of Enjay IT Solutions PROFILE Ashwin Ramesh started off with his venture at the age of 15, and at 18 his company made a million dollars in revenue. He is the head of product and strategy for Synup, a company that’s trying to make local marketing less complex.

Here is a list of the top 5 mistakes business owners must avoid, if they want to retain their consumers.

#1 Not being active on Social Media Businesses should be present where Gen Y & Z spend most of their time - online. Having an active social media presence has never been more important from a marketing standpoint than today. Consumers are constantly connected to social platforms and online content through their mobile devices. Therefore, it’s paramount that businesses leverage these platforms where they can target their audience and generate engaging ads and other forms of content that will catch the attention of their consumers. Another trend that is inching its way towards popularity is the ability to purchase directly from social media. This offers great convenience for consumers. Therefore, it’s crucial that local businesses build a strong brand presence and run creative campaigns on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.

#2 Having poor or no customer service I feel that for every business, the goal should be to not only drive more number of customers, but also to retain them and encourage them to be loyal. This especially holds true for local businesses. You need to always realise that your consumers are not only investing their time and money on your service/product, but they’re also trusting you and believe that you will understand and listen to their problems. Your customer service is of utmost importance if you want to retain your consumers. If you’re not responding to phone calls or emails, you’re losing prospects. If you’re not getting back to people after promising something, you’re losing credibility.

#3 Not having local reviews We all like to invest on products and services that have a good record. If you don’t have any reviews to show,

32 SME CHANNELS JULY 2018

it will impact your growth and search rankings. Your consumers will not have anything to measure your success, and you will not be considered as a competitive brand. If you don’t have any reviews, it would be advisable to focus on acquiring them through Google and other Social Media platforms.

#4 Not having a web presence optimised for mobile As I already mentioned in the beginning of this article, your consumers are always connected digitally through their mobile devices. It is critical for your website be optimized for mobile browsers and tablets. One should either consider a site specifically for mobile, or have a flexible design.

#5 Having inaccurate and inconsistent business information This is a genuine problem, which many businesses in India (small or big) have never paid enough attention to. A lot of businesses will mention numbers and details on Google which are outdated and obsolete. Businesses having inaccurate information online, is a potential disadvantage, and should be avoided at all costs. Not only does it make your business look bad, but you’re causing a lot of inconvenience to the consumers. However big or small your business is, these are a few basic factors that you need to keep in mind and avoid. One needs to understand that the consumer landscape in India has changed drastically; consumers are now more informed and have access to many alternatives. They seldom leave a business website/store with an unbiased impression. As for most, your local business is an unknown entity, so their first impression can either make or break your business. We all know the power of word-of-mouth marketing. It’s up to you if you want it to work in your favour or against it. Moreover, because so many local businesses neglect these so called “small” problems, by avoiding them you will have an edge over your competition and successfully increase your customer base..

review

Product

IBM Flash System 9100

IBM FlashSystem 9100 all-flash arrays are flexible, modern, agile, and NVMe-optimized storage systems built with IBM Spectrum Virtualize and IBM FlashCore technologies. They are coupled with several members of IBM’s award-winning Spectrum family of modern

Synology enhances data protection in physical, virtual, and cloud workloads

data protection, software-defined storage and multi-cloud enabled storage software. IBM FlashSystem 9100 offers the combined advantages of FlashCore technology, deeply integrated with the multi-cloud-centric software-defined capabilities of IBM Spectrum Storage solutions. The NVMe-optimized all-flash arrays provide up to 2 petabytes (PB)

Synology’s release of two major backup applications in Active Backup suite of packages, the official version of Active Backup for Office 365, supports SaaS cloud backup, and the beta version of Active Backup for Business that provides data availability for workloads in physical and virtual environments. Active Backup for Office 365 employs single instancing technology to not only help businesses with the management and availability of Office 365 data, but also significantly lower the space occupied by backups. The content search function is particularly geared toward combing through content in mail and attachments, enabling users to find the mail in need of recovery in the shortest time.

Features

of effective storage in only 2RU and up to a

n Support multiple Office 365 endpoints: Office 365,

whopping 32PB of all flash in a single industry

Office 365 Germany, Office 365 operated by 21Vianet. Centralized and comprehensive protection: Back up OneDrive for Business, mail, contacts, and calendar data to a Synology NAS and manage the copies efficiently from a single interface. n

n Granular restoration, search, and export from the

self-service recovery portal: Efficiently filter by keyword with the new content search feature. From there, users can find the right email and restore or download a single file, mail, mail attachment, contact, or calendar event from the self-service recovery portal. n Backup and storage efficiency: Single instancing

ensures efficiency by transferring and storing files with unique content only. Block-level deduplication helps businesses keep the most data using the least storage space by only saving a file’s blocks that are changed compared to its previous version. n In contrast, Active Backup for Business integrates multiple technologies adopted by DiskStation Manager (DSM). For Btrf file system, Synology has developed the Global Deduplication function to greatly reduce the required storage for backup. The integration with Virtual Machine Manager allows NAS backups of physical servers or virtual machines to directly run on DSM, maximizing the availability of data and applications.

standard 42RU rack. FlashCore technology innovations deliver consistent microsecond latency, extreme reliability, unmatched availability, and a wide range of operational and cost efficiencies. A key innovation involves the introduction of FlashCore modules with NVMe interfaces that can be deployed with any combination of industry-standard NVMe flash drives to provide tailored, flexible, unmatched mid-range all-flash performance storage. IBM Spectrum Virtualize provides the enterprise-class data services foundation for IBM FlashSystem 9100 solutions. Its industryleading capabilities enable NVMe-optimized arrays to function as IT infrastructure and

KEY Features n Performance and Flexibility n Multi colored container capability

Price

n IBM Spectrum Virtualize

On Request

n Extended System capabilities n

Warranty On Request

Contact https://www.synology.com

Intelligent Support

n A signal platform n Peace of Mind

n Price: on request Warranty: on request, Contact: https://www.ibm.com/ sme channels 33 july 2018

Product

New Arrivals

TSC

TSC Industrial Printer MB240 Series With a small footprint, compact design and quiet operation, the TSC Auto ID MB240 Series industrial printer is a perfect solution for light industrial printing applications. The new MB240 Series is designed to fit alongside TSC’s bigger industrial printer models including the MH240 and MX240P Series. The MB240 Series features a 3.5” intuitive color touch display and bright indicators allowing for simple operation. Easily customized menus provide an enhanced user-friendly experience. Connect to any host with a variety of interfaces including 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless, Ethernet, Bluetooth, USB, USB host and serial connections. Options including regular cutter, peel & present with internal rewind, and a general-purpose input/output (GPIO) interface allow the printer to be integrated into nearly any application. . Price: On request, Warranty: On request, Contact: https:// www.tscprinters.com/

MATRIX

Matrix VYOM – An Authenticated Multi-tenant Cloud based People Mobility Management Solution The advent of cloud The advent of cloud technology and the move toward a digitally connected world is leading towards massive growth in the way data gets generated, stored and managed. The demand for cloud based solutions is rising and the market is growing rapidly. COSEC VYOM is a People Mobility Management solution, based on cloud technology that allows users to use application, hardware and infrastructure as a service. Cloud based time and attendance system addresses solutions to the outlined issues of productivity, security and efficiency by providing ubiquitous, cost-effective, and secure and on demand network access. Price: On Request, Warranty: On Request, Contact: https:// www.matrixcomsec.com/

D-Link

D-Link Industrial Grade Switches D-Link’s industrial grade switches are available in four variants – DGS-F3400, DGS-F3600, DES-F3200, and DGS-F3000. These switches are designed to operate in extreme weather, resist shock/vibration, and surge ratings, thereby offering high redundancy and reliability. Overall D-Link Industrial switches can withstand harsh environmental conditions, are suited for controlled and challenging needs of Oil & Gas industry, Mines, Manufacturing Plants, Shipping etc. DGS-F3400 (Rack Mount) – The DGS-F3400 Series Layer 2 Modular Gigabit Industrial Managed Switches are equipped with 4 10G SFP+ or 1G SFP Ports & 3 open slots for 8 Gigabit port interface module. The fan-less design of DGS-F3400 Series extends the life of the switch and makes it capable to operate in wider temperature range of up to 75°C. DGS-F3400 series switches are PROFINET certified and Ethernet/ IP ready, which makes them a preferred choice for backbone of Industrial automation networks. DGS-F3400 series switches helps monitor performance and status as Modbus register and as an MQTT data point, allowing PLC or control unit to access diagnostic data in real time through Modbus

34 sme channels july 2018

n Price: On request, Warranty: On request, Contact: www.dlink.co.in TCP protocol. This unique feature of DGS-F3400 series switches help provide crucial information to Big-Data Analytics engine.

Cloud Object Storage

Secure Cloud Services for your online business since 1999. .Reliable .Secure .Speed .Scalable .Manageable .Compliant

It’s hard to believe XcellHost Hot Cloud Storage is 50% cheaper than Amazon S3. What Makes Us Hot ₹ 1 per GB/month only ₹ 999 per TB/month only

Regardless of how you access XcellHost hot cloud storage (Mac, Windows, or S3 API), We offer sizzling hot price and performance, plus unlimited free egress. No addition API calls, so you don’t pay to access your data.

$58,636/yr

$57,085/yr $25,936/yr

$12,968/yr

Object Storage Use Cases IP Camera Backup

Tape Archiving

Content Distribution

Big Data Storage

Video Archiving

IOT Data

Simpliﬁed Cloud Storage

For Mac & Windows Users Perfect for users looking for the easiest way to utilize XcellHost's hot cloud storage. Just drag-n-drop cloud storage to your desktop.

S3-compatible Cloud Storage

For IT Professionals Suitable for IT professionals and other users familiar with the AWS S3 API & compatible

Price

Performance

Protection

Security & Trust

Ease of Use

50% less than AWS S3

6x faster than AWS S3

Data center redundancy

Enterprise security

Free simple client

Unlimited free egress

Super-fast uploads

11 x 9s data durability

Full encryption

Drag-n-drop transfers

No charge for API calls

Fastest downloads

Immutable storage

HIPAA & CJIS certiﬁed

Full S3 API support

www.xcellhost.cloud

sales@xcellhost.cloud

+91-8657414121

RNI NO: DEL ENG/ 2010/ 31962 Postal Reg. No.: DL-SW-1/4145/16-18 Licensed to Post without pre-payment U(SW)/19/2017-18

Date of Publication: 13 of Every Month Date of Posting: 15 & 16 of Every Month