Exclusive Interview- Nikhil Korgaonkar, Regional Director, Arcserve

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Arcserve started with a backup solution to protect the emerging LAN market is now having the most tried-and-tested solutions to today’s biggest data protection challenges. In an interaction with DQ Channels, Nikhil Korgaonkar, Regional Director, India & SAARC, Arcserve shared different offerings , channel strategies and future goals for 2020. 

Brief us about Arcserve and your journey so far at the company.

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Arcserve started with a backup solution to protect the emerging LAN market is now having the most tried-and-tested solutions to today’s biggest data protection challenges. Known as ‘the most experienced data protection provider,’ we offer everything an organization needs to protect its data with solutions ranging from long-term archiving and disaster recovery to real-time continuous availability.

I’ve spent more than three years at Arcserve, and with the tenure and support of the team have grown the business at upwards of 20% CAGR. This growth is backed by our contribution to a lot of government initiatives, state data centers and the ministry of defence.  You can say that we “rekindled the legacy of Arcserve” -- gaining major traction with the Public sector.

What are the recent developments that have been done in Arcserve India?

Our offerings have been a consistent and reliable choice for large enterprises, government, SMBs and any organization looking for end-to-end data protection and availability. Recent developments include:

• New solutions to ensure data availability, archiving, backup and business continuity

We have launched a slew of solutions this year to safeguard multi-generational IT infrastructures with applications and systems in any location, on-premises and in the cloud. A few examples include our third generation of appliances, the Arcserve 9000 Appliance Series, which features the only purpose-built appliances with on-appliance and offsite disaster recovery capabilities. And, just a month ago, we integrated our 9000 Series Appliances with award-winning Sophos Intercept X for the market’s first threat prevention and protection solution to entirely neutralize cyber-attacks.

Additionally, we introduced our Business Continuity Cloud, featuring a cloud-native console, to integrate all of our data protection capabilities under a single pane of glass. This includes our direct-to-cloud BaaS and DRaaS solutions with data centers in the US, Japan, and Europe.

• Strategic alliance with Sophos

The global alliance with Sophos is a market-changer, enabling us to deliver the only multi-layered data security and protection solution that integrates anti-ransomware and other threat prevention technologies, such as deep learning AI for both known and unknown malware, and award-winning disaster recovery and high availability capabilities for prevention against data loss. Now, IT professionals can have a single platform to prevent, protect, and immunize backup data from cyber-attacks.

• Rekindled the legacy of Arcserve

Our deep history and experience enable us to truly understand the needs of customers, such as those in the public sector. We are investing heavily in Government initiatives.

What are your flagship products catered in India? Which product has maximum traction in the India market?

As businesses continue to embrace digital transformation, they’ll need to evolve strategies to use data for critical business decisions and investments. At Arcserve, we understand that data is not created equal and one must consider five fundamental principles when developing a data management and protection strategy: ‘Know your data,’ ‘federate your data,’ ‘mobilize your data,’ ‘govern your data,’ and ‘secure your data.’

It’s clear that organizations don’t need more products to manage – they need increased resiliency that can only come from simplifying processes across all storage platforms, whether local, virtual or cloud. Our Unified Data Protection (UDP) is one such platform that has gained a lot of traction in India as it offers a holistic approach to IT resilience by offering ever data protection capability a company needs while eliminating the complexities of managing their data protection processes.

 How many channel partners does Arcserve have in India? What is your channel strategy for the Indian market?

We are a 100% channel-driven company with a strong partner ecosystem. Currently, we have a strong customer base of end-users in more than 150 countries and over 1000 channel partners in India. We are working in association with large enterprises, system integrators, cloud service providers, distributors, and resellers.

 Channel excellence is our legacy and our strategy is based on three key pillars:

1. Ease of doing business: We truly believe our partners are an extension of our team and offer direct access to sales, technical, and marketing experts, enablement tools, marketing funds, and lead sharing programs to help build their businesses quickly. Backed by 24/7/365 technical support, we’re always by their side.
2. Customer Experience: We ensure every interaction from start to finish is ‘frustration-free.’ Our global support center in Hyderabad is one example that illustrates our commitment to India. We have been adding skills and languages to support global operations, and our CSAT scores have been top-notch. This helps our partners meet growing customer expectations.
3. Profitability: We believe in growing together, and have one of the best channel programs in the industry that ensures exceptional profitability. Additionally, we offer turnkey sales and technical training to give them the expertise needed to expand its market share.

What are your future plans and roadmap for 2020?

Every year, we record double-digit growth, which is the result of a strong commitment to our customer and partner ecosystem. Our goal is to double the revenue by March 2020 compared to what we achieved in September 2016, when I joined Arcserve. We’ll achieve this by investing in our Cloud solution ‘Arcserve Business Continuity Cloud’ which we launched last year. Also, we will continue to add new features and capabilities on a consistent basis to offer businesses best-in-class data availability.