Security proving a secure market

Taking an integrated approach

Most industry pundits agree that due to dramatically burgeoning end user demand, resellers should be taking an integrated approach to their security services.

Gavin Jarvis, national channel manager for RSA, the security division of EMC, says security is an increasingly complex area within technology and that end users are now seeking ‘holistic’ solutions to their security needs, that prevent them from having to juggle a multitude of vendors.

“End user customers are often very limited in resources and so are looking for one-stop solutions that really maximise their investments and risk scenarios,” he says.

He notes that the requirement for business and IT to align together is continuing to grow, with customers seeking to drive down costs and implement 24/7 support.

For its own part, he says RSA offers resellers various opportunities across the board for both large and small companies, but that there is “no silver bullet to address every security problem.

“In many cases, resellers will have to leverage a combination of solutions, which should be dependent on their individual strengths and weaknesses. We don’t try and sell everyone everything any more and that is where it is very important for resellers to get to know their customers intimately, especially if they want to move into growth areas such as DLP or security information and event management.

“Resellers really need to know their clients very well, understand their business and do their homework on the solutions they have to offer. If they don’t do these things, it can really halt a deal from proceeding.”

David Dzienchiol, channels director for Symantec Australia and New Zealand, agrees that resellers should look at an integrated approach when selling in this space.

He says that since the security giant’s merger with Veritas three years ago, Symantec has also noticed that specialist resellers have of late, been embracing storage solutions alongside security.

“Many security resellers have been taking advantage of the overlap in the security and storage markets and have been expanding their portfolios to encompass both areas,” he says. “This has been driven by end users and therefore we believe that both vendors and resellers should be able to demonstrate some expertise in each segment.”

Nick Verykios is director of Distribution Central. Whilst admitting that a high level of specialisation is required to service the complex security space, Verykios remains adamant that resellers do not have to specialise in any one area of the market in order to succeed and be profitable.

He believes that success within security comes from partnering with strong technology partners that will support them and allow the reseller to maintain their access across the entire end user’s technology.

“Rather than having to contract work out to other specialist resellers – and potentially lose control of what they have – resellers are in a position to be able to have access to the whole lot, from networks to storage, if they just partner with a security specialist,” he said.

In agreement with Dzienchiol and Jarvis, Verykios says the integration of policies is a key area that resellers should capitalise on. “The market has evolved so much now that these days it is more about the prevention side of things – the unknown security threats to business that we have not heard of yet – rather than the detection side of things. This is all being unified in one area now and as such, it is up to resellers to move their customers to vendors that have a more unified approach.”

a market proving secure security