VOLUME 13 | ISSUE 06 | PAGES 44 | AUGUST 2022 | RS

tect organizations around the world from 100s of millions of threats daily.

With over 7,000 employees spanning across 65 countries, the security major is singularly focused on security and passionate about enabling organizations to simplify and secure their connected world.

Here in a special interaction with SME Channels, Vijendra Katiyar, Country Manager, India and SAARC, Trend Micro, reveals his organization’s business priorities, channel strategy, Partner Upskilling programs, growth outlook for the current as well as coming year, his predictions for the security industry and much more. Edited excerpts…

As the pandemic struck, there has been a significant uptick in the demand for cyber security solutions. How has Trend Micro been leveraging this hike in demand for cybersecurity services, recently?

Yes, there has been a big uptick in the past two years, when it comes to the need for cybersecurity. We publish our annual cybersecurity report with some predictions about what we are seeing is going to be our immediate future problem. So three things that have been consistent in the last 2-3 years is digital transformation, but that is something which has escalated in the last few years. When you talk about digital transformation, there is cloud adoption, which comes into the picture. So that is one reason that some of the companies were not ready to move to the cloud, especially the mid-enterprises. They had to escalate and accelerate their approach to digital transformation by leveraging the cloud. Due to this rapid move, cybersecurity was not something which was immediately on our mind when we go on this plan of adopting cloud, which has resulted in opening up new vectors.

When you adopt new technologies there is a different attack vector, which comes into the picture. So Cloud has introduced that and is completely in a different form today. Just to give you an example, one of the companies in entertainment, that we were in conversation with, was referring that it was a completely different world. Last two years, everything was shut, and nobody was going to movies in the theatre and suddenly, in the last 6-8 months, they have seen a big surge. Their platforms are not ready to handle the surge. Cloud became an immediate option to choose. So applications move to cloud, flexible cloud will give you agility. We started using that and that’s when they realized how vulnerable they were when they started using this platform. Security was an afterthought. Second thing we have seen, specifically in India, is that it is amongst the top four to five countries, which is hit by ransomware and that has been consistent. It’s not just this year, it has been consistently there. It’s just that only big names, feature in the news and we hear that they have been attacked by ransomware. There are other organizations that have been impacted by ransomware. So that is another reason why it is becoming very serious now because it immediately starts impacting your business, when you are hit by ransomware. It is not like before when a few machines are encrypted, and it was quarantined and then the business is up and running again.

Today critical business applications are getting compromised on which the business runs by itself. So, when those get compromised, business gets disrupted for 3-5 days, and ransomware is something which most organizations are not prepared.

Now, the third thing which we have learned especially last 2-3 years we started opening up. So the way we are doing business is, we start interacting lot with our supply chain of our partners. So, there is a lot of integration which happens wherein we share information when and leverage platforms and technologies. So, there are some deep-rooted vulnerabilities when you start leveraging the supply chain, and that has resulted in new risks. A classic example is the recent supply chain attack, which was for SolarWinds and how it impacted at a larger scale. So, these are three things which have actually made organizations realize how cybersecurity is becoming serious and when you look at analysts like Gartner or Forrester, they have been talking about how the importance of cybersecurity has gone all the way up to the board. So it now reports to the board and is not a part of the IT function. There are profiles like BSO (Business Security Officers) so that the alignment of security can happen to the business, and they can derive the business meaning out of it. So the outlook towards cybersecurity has changed.

As a pioneering security player, what key mega trends do you foresee in the security market?

A lot of things are happening in security. These days, three to four things have been very prominent. One is a lot of discussions happening around Zero trust as a strategy. Second, a lot of focus has been given to XDR (Extended Detection and Response). In recent times, people started talking about attack surface management which has become very important and moving away from the point solution-based approach to a platformbased approach. Now organizations are looking at consolidation when it comes to cybersecurity. Previously, what used to happen was there were 25 to 30 different tools at any given point of time in an organization. It was difficult to manage those tools. There was a little bit of correlation or no correlation, no integration at all. Everything was happening in silos. Now, what customers are demanding is that they want a platform which should be as comprehensive as possible, and can help leverage the existing ecosystem which they have inside the organization, and encompass that platform. This is what we are doing in Trend Micro. We have transformed to become a cybersecurity platform provider now wherein we can take care of the IT landscape across the enterprise, whether it is the endpoint, server, cloud, network, and then give you that risk insight. So that has become very important today, especially for CXOs. They want to know at any given point in time, what is the risk profile of the organization. So I need to know where the problem is and I need to have a single pane of glass where I can get up in the morning and I can look at it and say, these are the problem statements and I need to address them. So I think these are majorly the talk which is happening recently in cybersecurity.

How is your channel strategy aligned with the current market trends?

We recently did our yearly channel event. Our message to channel partners is that one, this whole system is changing. Previously, it used to be all about the perpetual license. So partners used to take the product and used to implement it with the customer. There used to be a multi-year contract. Now, in this entire ecosystem, there are two things which have changed, especially after the pandemic. One, when you look at customers, they are coming out of this multi-year contract. They want to move towards Pay As You Go model and especially Trend Micro today is completely cloud-driven. All of our solutions can be delivered as SaaS. When the solutions are delivered as SaaS, it is very important that proof of value is shown by the partner to the customer, which means that there is a time when you implement a product, it takes about six months to eight months to implement a product and then to stabilize it. This further takes about two years to drive value. Today, when everything is delivered by SaaS, everything is delivered faster. This also gives the opportunity for a customer to realize whether they’re working with the right partner or the right solution. This means the approach to the customer for both Trend Micro and the partner has to change. So that is what we talked about that now how we can bring value to such customers, which means being more proactive. We want to enable our partners through various campaigns and strategies. For instance, Partner Ninja is a very important program. We started doing that because we realized

that for both customers and partners, it is an uphill task to skill them on the latest technologies and we continue to keep up with the new technologies. So how do you ensure that customer understands the product, customer understands what the value is, and how to derive the value from the product? We have our partner ecosystem that has to do that job. We are a 100% channel partner-driven organization. So by virtue of running this Partner Ninja program, our idea was we work with a few focus partners and make sure that they become as good as Trend Micro. So we make them certified. We not only train them on Trend Micro products, but we train them on technologies, on the latest trends as we spoke about - zero trust. What is zero trust, we train them about SecOps (Security operations) and the cloud. So, they become domain experts when they go and talk to the customers. The intention was that they can talk to the customers and explain to them why and once that ‘why’ is established, show them. Walk the talk once the product has been implemented, what value can be derived. So, this is one thing which we are working very closely with our channel ecosystem.

Another important thing is, since we are becoming a platform-based company, how we can leverage these partners to deliver service using this platform. So, that is another thing which we are working on with the channel partner wherein they are able to deliver SOC (Security Operations Center) services using our platform. We are helping and training them on various aspects of SOC operations, MXDR (Managed extended detection and response) is a program that we are running very closely with a few of our channel partners wherein we have taken a task that now suddenly with a CERT-In guideline also and with the huge demand, we will see that a lot of organizations will ask for services not only the solution. They are saying “don’t give me the solution and go away. I want somebody who can give me solutions as well as services.” It means maintaining it, and becoming the user of the product. So we are leveraging channels for that also and we are scaling them up because gone are the days when we start talking about rebate incentives. I think those are very traditional things. Where you want to help the channel partners make sure that you help them transform, you help them change the way they are approaching customers and they are delivering value to the customer. So these are two things wherein we want to make sure that they find value in Trend Micro not only in the product but then how we are helping them to transform.

You look at the current trends there has been a massive digitalization drive, and of course, an unprecedented migration to the cloud. What product differentiation do you bring to the table, which would help partners get better traction?

Whenever we go to a customer through our channel partners, they look at how they can have a longterm engagement with this customer. The same goes for cybersecurity, which means you should have comprehensiveness in terms of cybersecurity solutions, that can address the larger problems, not just a point problem. So, that is where Trend Micro helps the channel partner. When the channel partner goes to the customer and starts talking about Trend Micro, there are multiple aspects in which he can address the problem. So for instance, we have a comprehensive platform of Cloud One, which a partner can leverage and talk about hybrid cloud security to the customer, whether it is on premise, whether it is your multi-cloud environment, whether it is your cloud service provider, or multiple different cloud service providers. How Trend Micro can help to address this challenge in the long run with multiple services.

Coming to the Network part since we have a very good competency portfolio on network defense channel partners can talk to the customer highlighting that, we are catering to your network security requirements, by giving you next-generation IPS or by giving you visibility by virtue of providing solutions like deep discovery which can help you with advanced attacks. At the same time, the user has become extremely important. How do we take care of the user? We have a comprehensive portfolio in terms of ensuring that how we can protect the user, the device, the application, which he uses or the way in which he accesses the application. Now, the interesting thing is when a channel partner is looking at just different solutions, how integrated they are, how much certain threat intel information is getting exchanged is becoming very important. Another thing which the channel partner also looks at is if tomorrow a customer is saying that, I have maybe two solutions of Trend Micro or maybe more than three solutions of Trend Micro, I’ve got other ecosystems of cybersecurity with me, how can a channel partner help me with that? So by taking the help of Trend Micro platform, he can integrate with the third party and have a capability wherein I can leverage my platform and talk to a third party solution or my competitive solution. So this is the flexibility we can give to the channel partner, and then they can take this value proposition and go to the customer and say I’m giving you a platform. If you’re using something else beyond Trend Micro, this platform can help you integrate. Trend Micro can help you consolidate, if you’re looking at consolidation, we can help you consolidate, and be a true cybersecurity partner which can give you multiple facets of address, different facets in terms of cybersecurity. If you want to achieve zero trust, we are one company which can help you do that. If you want to make sure that we take care of your external attack surface we can do that. So, I think that is our USP to the channel partner. By working with Trend Micro they can address a larger problem in any enterprise.

How we are addressing the upskilling problem in the partners?

So there are a couple of things that we are doing, we have our regular training camp, training calendar which is published within the channel community, and anybody and everybody are welcome to join from the channel community. So the idea here is in the larger interests, not just our focus partner, we keep them aware and apprised of what is happening in cybersecurity, the latest technologies, and the latest trends. Second, our comprehensive program like Partner Ninja, where we onboard the channel partner, we onboard the technical folks from the channel partner community and train them. We get them certified, we train them, and we make sure that they are put on the job in all fields. Third, we also run something called as Capture the flag with the channel community (CTF) wherein, it does not become very boring for them when they understand technology. Sometimes what happens is, a typical approach is less interesting, and because there are so many different technologies, so what we do is, we do the gamification of the product, make them part of that gamification and then run this Capture the Flag, where they can become the attacker, they can become the defender, and leverage Trend Micro platforms and understand how the platform works. So, these are two-three things, which we are doing with the channel partner community. We have our channel portal, wherein they can go to our Channel University, where we run the library, wherein they can go and leverage that library, they can read about a lot of things beyond Trend Micro on cybersecurity, if they want to learn more. But just to add one more thing, we are investing heavily in channels. We have by far one of the largest teams in channels, we’ve got seven to eight people in our channel team, and everybody has a dedicated job because there are different kinds of channel partners. Also, some are catering to enterprises, some are catering to the government, and some are addressing the customers by MSSP models (Managed Security Service Provider). So we are catering to all these types of partners and that’s how the teams are also focused

Are you planning any major investment

in terms of channel expansion, or in terms of increasing your headcount in India?

Yes, we are going to invest in channels. We are almost concluding our year in the next quarter by December. We are already planning for our next year wherein we will be adding more headcount. We will also come up with some interesting programs for the channel community. So that they always find interest to work with Trend Micro. Some interesting roles, which we are coming up with are based on the vast portfolio which we have and how we can make sure that we take it to the channels. So yes, there are going to be investments in the channel.

Looking at the way IT has been performing in India, what is Trend Micro’s growth outlook for the coming year?

I will talk about this year and then I’ll come to next year because this year is looking very interesting. We operate in 65 countries globally and India in the last two years has been a very important region, for Trend Micro globally also. We have had a double-digit growth last two years. This year also we are looking phenomenal. We will be breaking all records by the end of December in terms of revenue. We have the largest market share when it comes to enterprise and mid-enterprise. We have 1400- 1500 plus customers in India. We cater to enterprise customers and the number runs in the thousands for small enterprises and small- medium enterprises. We have got a government team which is very strong. We’re doing excellent in government, we’ve got some of the large data centers who are working very closely with the Central Government. We are looking very strong and we are very bullish. The next two years are going to be very interesting in cybersecurity, especially in India. The market looks very promising. I think one added advantage to companies like Trend Micro is that we are a very stable organization. From the people’s point of view, we have our founders and leaders who are still associated with Trend Micro. We are a very profitable and healthy organization. This helps us to focus on customers and address problems. So that has helped us get a better driver for Trend Micro globally and also in India.

So looking at the kind of cyber-attacks, and incidents of attacks that have been increasing over time, it’s like an eternal cat and mouse game. What do you think the upcoming days will look like? Are we heading for a massive cyber-attack? Or it will be business as usual?

I won’t be able to forecast what is going to happen in the future, but some predictions can be made. We have seen the nature of attacks which have happened within India. We have seen that our load dispatch centers have been targeted. Some of the important verticals within the government and more enterprises have been targeted. So, yes, I think these are the concerns that are always going to remain and we have to always be on our toes to ensure that we are doing our best to keep the bad guys away. Yes, it will be a challenging time because I think one way or the other, everybody is going through this transformation, whether it is the customer, partner, or companies like ours. We are all in the transformation phase. The banking system is transforming. The service industry is transforming identities, and the way we are doing business is transforming. Everybody’s leveraging technology. So once you start leveraging new technologies, there are new risks that get introduced, you will use new platforms, you will use new operating systems, and a new way of doing business, and that will introduce risk. It is important for us to make sure that cybersecurity is part of the larger blueprint whenever we move forward.

Please shed some light on the pre-sales as well as post-sales services that you offer to the partners.

We help partners with pre-sales by assisting them during the engagement with the customer with pre-sales. We ensure that they are well supported to answer customers’ questions, ensure that the proof of concept is delivered to the customer and that the problem statements are answered. For post-sales specifically, the idea here is that the partners themselves can be capable enough to deliver after the sales are completed. The implementation and maintenance are done by the partner. That is where we have these programs, which we run with the channel partners to ensure that we don’t take away the service part from the partner. This is something which we have always ensured. We are a solutions company. We want to be focused on providing solutions to the customers and want to leverage our channel community to provide service. Our job is to make sure that we keep training them on the latest technologies which Trend Micro has to offer to the customer and helping them to ensure that they get the benefit of getting their services business from the customer. So that’s how we are helping them in both aspects.

Are you planning any major product launches this year?

Yes, we are. We’ve already launched Trend Micro One, which is a unified cybersecurity platform. We are introducing attack surface management to that platform and Zero trust to the platform. We are a company which is going completely into a platform-based approach. That’s why Trend Micro today is called a cybersecurity platform provider. We will keep on adding new capabilities to these platforms. Trend Micro One is the latest solution that we have launched in the market.

With the changing circumstances, we have to rearrange the matrix of operations. Do you think Trend Micro needs to remodify its channel strategy or is it fine going with the status quo?

Definitely. We have already started working on the strategy. We are delivering that to the channel partners because we have changed the way we are doing business and we want the partner to take full benefit of it. It is not going to be a status quo. It has never been status quo. We have always been very upfront and committed to our partners and make sure that we give them the right information. We tell them about what Trend Micro is coming out with and the other key messages. There are various mediums through which we communicate with our channel partners. So there is never going to be status quo and never going to be business as usual. We are going to make sure that whenever we do something new, the channel partners are informed and benefit from it.

In 2021, Trend Micro launched its Cloud One regional data center in India, to uphold data sovereignty and safeguard data privacy in the country. Trend Micro’s flagship cloud security services platform, Cloud One protects servers, resources, and applications in the cloud. With this, it became one of the first security vendors to have the broadest set of services around cloud security, delivered out of India. The move is aimed at enabling enterprises to securely adopt a SaaS-based security framework

MATRIX SHOWCASED ENTERPRISE GRADE SOLUTIONS AT MATRIX PARTNER CONNECT

Matrix has showcased its range of Enterprise Grade Solutions at Matrix Partner Connect, Kolhapur with Security and Telecom Products customized for Various Industrial Verticals. Matrix offers a comprehensive range of solutions for IP Video Surveillance, Access Control, TimeAttendance, and Telecom applications. The solutions are designed to meet the communication and security requirements of large enterprises, SMEs, and SMBs.

With around 40% of its human resources dedicated to developing new products, Matrix has launched over 60+ cutting-edge products and solutions across its 4 domains. The company has partnered with 2500+ partners, and through them, caters to its million+ customers across the world.

Matrix has brought smart innovation in the security domain across India and the global market. With an aim to enhance its reach in the Indian security market, Matrix organized a Product Expo - MATRIX PARTNER CONNECT along with its channel partner ISHA ENTERPRISE in Kolhapur on 20th August 2022. The event aims to demonstrate innovative solutions encompassing the entire range of Video Surveillance, Access Control, Time-Attendance, and Telecom. The event was held at Sayaji Hotel, Kohlapur.

In this event, Matrix displayed its latest range of IP Video Surveillance solutions, including serverbased enterprise-grade NVRs, UL-listed Cameras, and Matrix VMS. The entire solution focuses on solving the challenges that customers face bandwidth utilization, storage cost, managing multisite offices, and reactive security. On the display will be the entire Matrix range of Turret, Dome, Bullet, and PTZ Cameras. Varying from 2MP to 8 MP, Matrix Cameras come with UL Certification, a global standard for safety, and NEMA Certification for protection against environmental hazards. They provide high-resolution images for better clarity and better protection. Besides this, Matrix unleashes Server-based Enterprise grade NVRs with Pre-installed Video Management Software supporting redundancies and hot-swappable hard disks - HDD/SSD. With a wide range of up to 128 channels reining in an enormous storage capacity of up to 144 TB, this solution covers all security needs.

Under the Time-Attendance segment, Matrix showcased its Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance Device (AEBAS) - VEGA FAXQ specifically designed for government organizations. It marks government employees’ attendance taking Aadhaar information securely from the UIDAI server. Alongside this, Matrix will display its bestin-class facial recognition-based door controller - COSEC ARGO FACE. It boasts of high accuracy, an identification speed of less than 0.5 sec, and a massive user capacity of 50K. Enhanced with multiple connectivity options such as Wi-Fi, PoE, and Ethernet, these devices provide the best for modern organizations.

Under the Access Control Domain, Matrix presented COSEC PANEL200P - Site Controller that manages up to 255 COSEC door controllers and 25,000 Users from its UI. Matrix will also present its pure access door controller- COSEC ARC DC200P which comes with multiple benefits over the conventional access control terminal. Being PoE-based and with mounting options of din rail and wall mount makes it easy to install even in constrained space with minimalistic wiring. Matrix will be bringing forth its entire access control environment ranging from site controllers to modern readers to software to this event.

In the Telecom domain, Matrix is the only company that provides all business communication products and solutions. Matrix presented its Telecom product and solutions consisting of PBXs, IP-PBXs, Server-based PBXs, Media Gateways, Communication endpoints, and softphones.

Anil Mehra, Senior VP- Sales and Marketing stated, “Our Product Expo - Matrix Partner Connect looks toward bringing all the System Integrators and Business prospects together under one roof. One of our major aims is to reach out to key service providers through system integrators and share our successful case studies worldwide and explain how our enterprise-grade solutions cater to various verticals.”