"Focus Of Distributors In India Is Not Progressive"
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"One primary reason for that is openness to adapt and implement newer technologies, technical engineers who are constantly being updated with the newer platform of technologies and knowledge," says George Jason, vice president, Comguard Networks.
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Monday, June 04, 2012:
With increasing data comes the need for securing it. Given the rate at which even the government websites are being attacked, the need of the hour is a comprehensive security solution. George Jason, vice president, Comguard Networks discusses about the need for security, flaws in the existing system and much more. Excerpts from the interview...
Tell us more about your company.
Comguard was established in 2002 at Dubai Internet City. The company was acquired by Spectrum Group in 2007. It is one of the leading value added distributors of IT security products. The company has grown significantly with high sales turnover, team strengths, strong channel network and has spread to 26 countries across Middle East, Africa and India.
Comguard Networks in India has emerged as a niche network and security technology distributor through its strong channel support, in-house technical support, inherent strength in infrastructure and customer service skills. With a portfolio that is studded with products such as Antivirus softwares, Unified Threat Management devices, data leakage products, Identity management products, encryption products. With world class vendors like gateProtect, Acunetix, Array Networks, BlueCatNetworks, Beyond Trust, Brovis, EC Council, Infowatch, iolo, and Seclore. Comguard has supported project requirements of leading enterprises in the Indian region.
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What growth opportunity does your company see in India? And why?
India is at a nascent stage as far as IT security is concerned. The Government of India has come up with a lot of initiatives to secure its critical infrastructure; there are a lot of Enterprises that work with very sensitive information and they have realised the need for security. So there are numerous growth opportunities in setting up and development of security operations centers and other security standards
You somewhere said that there is a paucity of VADs for networking and security in India. What is the possible reason?
Yes there is definitely a paucity of VADs for networking and security in India, as the focus of the existing distributors is traditional and is not progressive in nature. One primary reason for that is openness to adapt and implement newer technologies, technical engineers who are constantly being updated with the newer platform of technologies and knowledge. Also there is huge gap with respect to the quality of services provided by the distribution houses as they have been traditionally large trading houses and any change is not a very easy process, whereas Comguard was conceived as a VAD.
What are the common security standards in most of the companies in India?
Today organisations go for ISO 27001 standards, Banks are mandating PCI and in some parts BASEL standards as well. HIPAA for health organisations is just making a presence.
Are companies now open to spending a major chunk on security or is it still not a top priority?
With time, yes, the companies are becoming more and more aware about importance of securing their networks in the wake of increasing attacks by hackers and loss of confidential information. Though the companies have not yet started spending a major chunk on security and many companies still don’t think that getting their networks secure is a top priority as they haven’t yet faced or heard of consequences of such attacks. But in coming years we do expect that the awareness about the importance of securing the networks & Information becomes an priority for majority of companies, for this cause, we already have started taking initiatives from our end.
What all business verticals take security most seriously?
BFSI, Governments & PSU, Media houses.
Is your solution affordable for an SMB as well or is it only for enterprise?
We do offer security solutions to the whole spectrum of businesses.
How do you market your solutions?
We have unique marketing campaigns that we run round the year for our various line of products, we have been successfully running promotions and offers for all range of products available with us, with a mechanism where we also track the response that we get from running those marketing and promotion campaigns. Also marketing primarily involves e-mailer campaigns, contest’s, early bird offers, promotion through events, conducting free seminars, conferences etc. We also believe in training our channel partners who could bring more value to the end-users in terms of suggestions and solutions.
What is your business strategy for future?
Our strategy is to increase our Channel network and enable the channel partners to carry our products and solutions.
Recently it was reported that most of the malware attacks originate from within India. What is your take on this?
A lot of attacks might have originated from India, doesn't mean that most of them have originated. The world of hacking goes deeper than what the common man can see.
What is the hiring policy in your organisation? Do you give opportunity to beginners?
We do give opportunity to beginners, as a matter of fact we have a special development program for beginners that lasts as long as 6 months.
Kalpana Sharma, EFYTIMES News Network
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