Cyberoam Technologies, a Sophos Company, is a global Network Security appliances provider, offering future-ready security solutions to physical and virtual networks in organizations with its Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) and Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliances. In an interview with Sunil Sharma, VP Sales & Operations, India & SAARC, Cyberoam about the company’s latest initiatives and channel programme. Excerpts of the interview:
What is the overall performance of Cyberoam in India?
Cyberoam has clocked in a 50% growth in India & SAARC over FY 12-13. We successfully achieved growth targets set for enterprise and large customers, with enterprise business contributing to over 20% of total business.
Recently, Cyberoam acquired by Sophos, how Cyberoam is benefited from the acquisition?
This acquisition has created a positive influence on Cyberoam, its partners and customers. In totality everybody’s strength is going to be leveraged. Partners are getting more products / best of the breed solutions to focus on and earn more money. Customers would get more solutions from a single Vendor. With this extended product portfolio Cyberoam intends to become a One-Stop-Shop for its customers. With a bigger bouquet of products and solutions we are looking at strengthening our presence across all markets and all industries.
Does it affect your partners?
The affect is very positive. This acquisition increases the potential of earning for partners and even they get to be a one-stop-shop for their customers.
How are you enabling your channel to earn more profits?
At Cyberoam, we create a very lucrative and balanced work atmosphere for our partners which give a boost to our business and thereby increase partner profits. The following are our partner focussed initiatives:
We begin with empowering our partners with the right know-how. We conducted CCNSPs across the country and trained more than 700 partner associates. Our Cyberoam Sales Certification Program is another step towards empowering the partner workforce and making them more effective in their interactions with customers. Apart from the normal margins, providing the right incentive is also very important for a business to achieve the growth it desires. We introduced attractive rebate schemes for partners in FY 13-14 which has worked well for us. Our quarterly incentive programs and schemes also provide that “extra” earning potential which pushes the partners to reach their goal. Our flagship event, Cyberoam Channel Convention, now in its third year; a gathering of our top performing partners where they get to interact with the organizations leadership team & get awards and rewards has acted as a lucrative influencer to increase partner commitment to the brand Cyberoam. Our National Channel Manager in charge of the Cyberoam Partner Program is a single point of contact for all partners enables them to focus more on business. A dedicated telemarketing team constantly shares leads with the partners and assists them in attaining their goals. We also have business development managers in every zone to assist the partners in opening new cases, co-ordinating with pre-sales team for POCs etc.
What progress has Cyberoam made in terms of activities and business in the last year and the quarter that has just ended?
We have increased our presence in the enterprise market and have been able to gain a leadership position in the SMEs and SMBs verticals. We are now targeting the emerging SMEs in tier II&III cities. Cyberoam participated and conducted in more than 35 channel events throughout the year and have added more than 100 partners in the last year. With the right mix of products, marketing and channel initiatives Cyberoam has grown by 50% in FY 13-14.
What new products or solutions are you planning to launch in India?
We will be launching selected Sophos ESG Products through partners.
How Cyberoam is planning to increase partner base in tier II & III cities?
We are hiring dedicated manpower in tier II & III cities and with the help of our distributors we will run a recruitment campaign, which we are sure will increase our partner base in these key markets.
How do you keep your channels informed and updated?
While our National Channel Manager is always in touch with the partners we also send them regular emails / EDMs throughout the year. We also conduct various partner events and also participate in key events organized by the media which keeps them informed on the latest happenings at Cyberoam.
What are your future plans?
We want to be the Number 1 information security player and provider of endpoint and network security solutions. This year too, we would like to continue the growth momentum and clock double digit growth and continue to remain a partner focused organization.
