Exclusive Interview: Parvinder Walia, Director, ESET and Sachin Gajjar, CEO, Sattrix Group

ESET, a cybersecurity solutions provider has recently expanded its enterprise portfolio in India with new solutions and services. With the launch of these new products, businesses in India will now have access to the latest enterprise security solutions. In an Exclusive Interview with Parvinder Walia, ESET Sales and Marketing Director, and Sachin Gajjar, Founder and CEO, Sattrix Group talked about their endpoint market penetration in India, GTM strategies, Partner Schemes/ programs, and Future Plans.

What is the overall market size for Endpoint security in India?

The cumulative revenue of endpoint security vendors in India was around USD 160 million in 2019 based on a compilation by a leading analyst. On the other hand, the market size for the whole cybersecurity sector is much bigger as it involves other security products and services as well as players such as distributors, resellers, and service providers.

The Data Security Council of India estimates that the local cybersecurity market will grow at almost one and a half times the global rate in the next three years.

What is the current market share for ESET in India?

In terms of endpoint security, ESET currently is ranked amongst the top 4 cybersecurity companies in APAC.

We see a huge opportunity in India's enterprise market. In partnership with Sattrix, we are looking forward to securing local enterprises with our technology and services.

ESET together with Sattrix, which has extensive experience in providing IT infrastructure as a managed service, is excited to expand our portfolios by leveraging each other’s strengths.

How is the endpoint security market performing during the pandemic/ lockdown situation in the country?

The pandemic has created additional considerations for cybersecurity. Globally, businesses have adapted by embracing technology to provide connectivity to networks, videoconferencing, collaboration tools, and cloud services, so their employees can work from home.

As a result of this, there is an increase in demand for endpoint security, encryption, and multi-factor authentication products.

What is your Go-To-Market strategy?

At ESET, we believe collaboration creates synergy. This is why we have established a relationship with local organizations, that understand the landscape and evolving consumer needs better.

Together with Sattrix, an ESET Certified Security Service partner and Technobind, the existing distributor of ESET enterprise products, this tripartite partnership creates a strong value proposition for our channel partners as well for enterprise in India.

What are the recent developments at ESET?

We have put in place several initiatives to support our customers, resellers, and the rest of the community as they face cybersecurity challenges caused by remote working. These initiatives include:

1. Extended trials for consumer products and business products.
2. The possibility to enlarge business licenses so that our customers can protect their remote workers.
3. Complimentary cybersecurity resources for all, such as training and checklist to help protect businesses and their employees.

We are also updating our WeLiveSecurity portal more frequently with the latest development in cybersecurity news, malware, phishing scams, and recommendations so businesses and consumers can continue to work safely and productively online.

Lastly, we have also recently expanded our enterprise portfolio in India with new solutions and services, that aim to address the growing cybersecurity challenges faced by enterprises.

How ESET’s products and services will support the development of enterprises in India and address the country’s cybersecurity challenges?

Digital transformation, one of the major growth drivers in India, is currently accelerating at an unprecedented rate, and this poses new cybersecurity challenges for enterprises as attack surface has also grown in tandem. This means enterprises amongst other things need to secure more devices, networks, and applications to keep their data secure from cyberattacks.

To support enterprises in overcoming these challenges, ESET recently launched the ESET Enterprise Inspector, which is a sophisticated Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tool that helps identify anomalous behavior and breaches, risk assessment, incident response, investigations, and remediation. It monitors and evaluates all activities happening in the network and allows IT admins to take immediate action if needed, to prevent and stop cyberattacks.

Besides an EDR tool, highly trained, qualified cybersecurity staff are also imperative to keep an organization cyber secure but hiring them can be a daunting task.

Here is where the collaboration between ESET and Sattrix comes in – in the form of ESET Managed Endpoint Detection and Response (Managed EDR) security services.

What do ESET Enterprise Inspector (EEI) and ESET Managed Endpoint Detection and Response (Managed EDR) services entail?

ESET EEI and Managed EDR features:

1. Endpoint Protection with EDR - An endpoint detection and response platform that enables IT admins to monitor all data in the corporate network collected by ESET Endpoint Security to better analyze and investigate advanced persistent threats.
2. Threat Hunting and Monitoring - Provide enterprises with the on-demand investigation and round-the-clock monitoring of cybersecurity threats and risks.
3. Security experts - This, in turn, minimises the need to maintain an internal IT security team.

The details of what Sattrix as an ESET Certified Security Service Partner means for customers in India.

This means customers will not only have the latest and most updated EDR tool to protect themselves against cybersecurity attacks but also have access to qualified cybersecurity professionals to manage their cybersecurity risks.

Customers will receive technical support, solutions management, regular security posture assessment, threat hunting along with round-the-clock threat monitoring that will take place in Sattrix’s Security Operations Centre (SOC). This is also where every cybersecurity incident will be investigated, followed by real-time notifications and remediation recommendations to customers.

What is your existing channel partner program?

ESET values its channel partners highly. Thanks to them, we have grown into a global brand protecting over 110 million users and 400 thousand business customers in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.

The ESET Connect is a tiered channel partner program that is built on:

1. Enablement – Products that consistently tops tests conducted by independent testing laboratories with low system impact, solid security, and top detection rates.
2. Engagement – To help jumpstart the selling process, we consistently execute customized marketing plans and provide generous co-marketing funds for channel partners.
3. Profitability- Our channel partners enjoy a win-win relationship with us thanks to sales incentives that are designed to enhance profitability and returning revenue streams.
4. Training – Our excellent training resources allow channel partners to come up to speed fast on the essentials and dive as deep as they need.
5. Support – We provide round-the-clock support to our channel partners and address their customer's regulatory, compliance, or other issues with easy to use solutions.
6. Partner Development – We do not compete with our channel partners because we know customers are best served with the expertise that the channel partners bring to the table.

What are the company's future plans?

Looking ahead, we will continue to reinvest a large portion of our profits in R&D to develop new solutions that aim to meet the evolving consumer and business needs, as well as address the evolving threat landscape.

Also, we hope to place more emphasis on cybersecurity education through various initiatives such as WeLiveSecurity blog, cybersecurity training, to ensure that businesses and consumers are better informed of the current threats and how to deal with them.