Kaspersky is a leading brand and has captured a very good market share in India. It serves the market with a broad range of products that are designed to mitigate evolving cybersecurity challenges. Kaspersky provides its next-gen cybersecurity solutions through its wide channel partner network across India. Recently Kaspersky launched its new AV solutions with a focus to further empower the customers. During this launch event, Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal interacted with Dipesh Kaura, General Manager – South Asia, Kaspersky. The discussion revolved around new product line, channel plans, opportunities and much more. Read the excerpts below:
Rajeev: Can you please tell about your newly launched consumer products?
Dipesh: The focus of this launch is not just basic AV protection, but rather a shift towards providing more comprehensive cyber protection for consumers. A lot of effort has been put into developing features that protect digital identity, passwords, and users while they are online. The aim is to provide cyber protection from a holistic perspective rather than just focusing on the AV part.
In addition to these features, the tools have been designed to be more flexible and interactive for consumers. The software can alert users when certain features have not been enabled or when they are visiting potentially harmful websites or using rogue apps.
Furthermore, this launch will introduce dashboards for consumers, which is a first in terms of providing a consumer-friendly view of their cybersecurity status. The premium services will also be consumer-driven, which is unusual as these services are typically only available in the B2B market. Consumers will be able to interact with experts who can assist with health checks, installation, and other aspects of cybersecurity.
Rajeev: What is your current business goal when it comes to South Asian market?
Dipesh: The intention is to be ‘The Number One in The Market’, which has been the aspiration of both the organization and myself. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we aim to establish ourselves as the premium brand not just in India, but also globally.
In the past three years, the South Asia market has been particularly supportive and the channel has been instrumental in collaborating with us to bring our products to consumers. With the launch of this new product and its innovative features, we anticipate that it will be even more exciting for the channel to sell our products.
Our ultimate objective is to attain the number one position in the market and maintain that position for years to come.
Rajeev: What is the awareness program you are currently running for both consumer as well as the partners?
Dipesh: Our focus is to enable the channel to understand the unique value proposition that sets Kaspersky apart from our competitors in the market. We want to ensure that our partners are equipped with a comprehensive understanding of our products and services, as well as the ability to effectively communicate the benefits of our offerings to customers.
Moving forward, our key objective is to educate the channel on the benefits of our products and services, rather than simply focusing on features. While features are important, we recognize that consumers need to understand the practical benefits of these features to make informed decisions about their cybersecurity. Therefore, we are dedicated to enabling our partners to understand how our products' features translate into tangible benefits for consumers.
Our primary focus for the India and South Asia market in the coming months is to ensure that our channel partners are able to effectively communicate these benefits to consumers. We believe that this approach will enable us to differentiate ourselves in the market and drive growth for our business.
Rajeev: How will you be building a more aggressive channel network across India?
Dipesh: Our engagement with Supertron over the past few years has been outstanding. As we move forward with the launch of our new product, Kaspersky and Supertron share a common DNA - we both aim to be more aggressive in the market and to become the number one brand in our industry.
This shared goal will enable us to expand our reach in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, and we are excited to collaborate with Supertron on a range of activities that will drive channel enablement, consumer enablement, and cyber awareness. Our ambition is to elevate our brand perception so that when consumers think of cybersecurity, they immediately think of Kaspersky Cyber Protection for their endpoint. By working together, we are confident that we can achieve this objective and strengthen our position in the market.
Rajeev: How do you take care of the profitability and growth for the partners?
Dipesh: The profitability of a business can be achieved through two means - better margins and more scale. In the case of the consumer business, scale comes from reaching more customers, which in turn leads to increased product demand and awareness, resulting in business growth through the channel.
Working with Supertron, Kaspersky aims to create better reach and awareness for product, which will drive demand and grow the business through the channel. This will motivate the channel to sell more, leading to better bottom lines and a desire to do more business with Kaspersky.
This formula has proven successful for Kaspersky over the past three years, and with the new product launch, the company expects the benefits of the new features to make Kaspersky End Point a compelling product for consumers to purchase over competitors in the market.
