Intel India is eying robust growth for its McAfee security business in 2014, on the back of an aggressive SMB strategy.
The company says that its security business in India grew by more than 40 percent last year. “The year 2013 was a good year for us. Our SMB business grew more than 40 percent, we doubled the number of partners billed, we delivered 123 PoCs and migrated 1.5 lakh competing endpoints to the McAfee platform. In addition, we executed some very large deals from the government and large enterprises in DLP, IPS and SIEM,” disclosed Jagdish Mahapatra, Managing Director, India & Saarc, McAfee.
The go-to-market (GTM) for 2014 includes creating a separate distribution model and programs for the SMB segment. “For the first time we have devised a separate product and price list for SMBs customers, the billing for which will be in Indian rupees,” informed Mahapatra. “We plan to have a different distribution model for SMBs aimed at providing localized support to the channel. We are recruiting channel managers and sales teams in many cities to boost our SMB strategy.”
Also the rebranding of McAfee as Intel Security is helping the company to drive a stronger presence in both the enterprise and SMB segments due to the large partner network of Intel and the various programs it runs. “We have already begun combining partner programs, and synergizing advertising and marketing for a stronger channel and customer connect,” Mahapatra added.
The company plans to leverage its StoneSoft acquisition. “The next generation firewall solutions from StoneSoft have opened a very large and new market for us,” he said. “In our estimate, the total addressable market for StoneSoft in India is $100 million.”
Intel has also strengthened technical support for Indian consumers by adding toll-free support in Hindi.
