Watchguard offers vulnerability assessment tool free to boost sales

VINITA BHATIA

Watchguard is offering Qualis, a vulnerability assessment tool, free with its security appliance for one-time usage. This software shows a customer the various loopholes that exist in his network, despite the deployment of any security solution.

Says Ajit Pillai, Country Manager-India, Watchguard Technologies, "We are offering the tool free for the first time to users. Once they realize that their security solutions are not stopping threats or are leaving a sneak window for attack, they are more receptive to deploying a security appliance from us."

Watchguard has also tied up with Delhi-based ACPL, a security consultant company, to organize one-day workshops for its end-users. Participants, who comprise IT heads and CIOs of SMBs and enterprises, will be taken through the process of the ISO-77-99 certification for security procedures. "This is an information security management standard for the best practices available. There are three aspects to it--people, process and technologies--and customers are educated about how to put these aspects in place," informs Vishal Bindra of
ACPL.

At these events, ACPL will recommend Watchguard to buyers and convince them about the company's products and solutions and how it will ensure their security uptime. Says Ajit, "We want to improve our brand recall among the SMEs and enterprise segments, and this was the ideal way to do it."

The company has already held this program in Delhi for 35 customers and will soon take it to Mumbai. This activity will be held monthly in different cities. All participants are given certificates about attending the program.

The ISO-77-99 standard is useful for customers who do business overseas as it validates their security network. "When companies open their intranet to overseas customers, the latter would like to be sure that their data is safe over the network. And this standardization proves that," Ajit explains.

Watchguard had an award function for its partners, where it adjudged the best performers in each region. It has also embarked on a training activity and has trained 45 partners in Chennai, 25 in Bangalore and 53 in Mumbai, with Delhi on its anvil. It has also certified 37 partners on its products and solutions.