MessageLabs is seeing accelerated growth in the SME space in the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan, where their Associate partner model is taking off. “This is due to the interest in the market for our SaaS (Software as a Service) offering and the margin structure that is available which makes it quite an attractive model for our partners,” explains Nigel Mendonca, regional director for Asia, MessageLabs.
In this Q&A session with Asian Channels, he gives us more insight into MessageLabs’ channel strategy in the region, which has been in place since 2006.
Describe the feedback that MessageLabs has received from its partners and customers in the region about its channel structure since it was implemented.
The feedback has been very positive from the market. There are a number of reasons behind this
- the high level of support that the partner receives from MessageLabs – we have dedicated partner, sales and technical resources for our partners
- aggressive lead generation program by MessageLabs, resulting in sales opportunities being passed to the partner
- Strong interest in the market for SaaS leading to short sales cycles and closed deals
- Minimal investment in becoming a MessageLabs partner
What benefits have MessageLabs seen since this structure was put in place?
At a high level, more and more businesses are recognizing MessageLabs in the market and the value that a SaaS solution can bring to their organization such as; turn key security solution, reduced security costs to the organization, redeployment of expensive IT resources to more mission critical tasks.
From a partner standpoint, it represents a new revenue stream for their business, particularly in this difficult economic climate. Customers are seeing the financial and business benefits of a SaaS offering and our partners are taking advantage of this demand.
What are the latest developments in terms of furthering and improving the channel sales structure in APJ? What else remains to be done? Channel-wise, is there anything you would like to improve/work on?
Asia represents the fastest growing region within the MessageLabs business and we are planning to hire additional partner resources to help accelerate the business – particularly for our key markets of Singapore, India, Hong Kong and China.
We’re always looking to improve our business through key learning from global, regional and domestic markets. In Asia, we have the advantage of being able to model our business on best practice from other regions which have already widely adopted SaaS, whilst taking into account local requirements. Along with increased resources to better support our channel partners, we’ll also be working towards better localization of our services for key markets.
What are you most proud of achieving with your channel model over the last year? Is your strategy/focus here changing in any way?
12 months ago we took the first steps to investing in some key channel specific resources in the Asia region. This has allowed us to offer increased support to our existing valued partners, as well as identify and engage with new strategically aligned partners to extend our reach and accelerate our growth. As stated earlier, we will continue to invest in increased partner resources over the coming years to drive SaaS awareness and adoption in key markets.
Has the current economic crisis impacted your channel strategy in the Asia Pacific in any way? What are you doing to ensure that your partners remain happy and loyal?
There’s no doubt the economic crisis has made businesses more careful with their spending, however most businesses view messaging security as a must have rather than a nice to have. We have found that in the current climate, businesses are even more intent on reducing risk, ensuring predictable spend with no hidden surprises and focusing on their core business. SaaS offers all these things so although we’re working harder than ever, to ensure awareness and adoption of SaaS in Asia is growing strongly.
In terms of supporting our partners, we’re working very closely with them to ensure they understand this value proposition in the current environment and we’re helping them to take this message to market. Our partners view SaaS security as a great opportunity to add clear value to their customers to help lock in existing relationships or open doors to others.
What makes a partner attractive to MessageLabs? What do you look out for in your partners?
Ideally an organization that understands security, has a mix of enterprise and SME clients within their portfolio, and understands the benefits of a SaaS offering.
Are you looking for new partners in the region? If yes, which types of partners, where and why?
Yes we are looking for new partners. As I mentioned earlier, the Asian market represents huge growth potential from a revenue standpoint, particularly as the market understands and adopts SaaS.
To tap into this market potential we are looking for a range of partners to cover key geographical markets such as India, ASEAN, Hong Kong and China. But also a mix of partners that service both the enterprise and SME segments of the market.
What do you think is the current greatest channel challenge in the region and how are you addressing this?
I think I am stating the obvious for resellers, which is “where is the money?” Our view of the market which is validated by the analysts and the major IT companies, is that organizations are increasingly moving to SaaS applications to run their business.
The challenge for partners is to move with the market, whilst maintaining good healthy margins. As a by-product of offering security SaaS to the market, our partners are receiving good healthy margins (15%+) for reselling MessageLabs.
In 2009, what do you want to see happen within your channels ecosystem in Asia?
Our objective is to improve our overall channel productivity in Asia by investing further in existing strategically aligned partners and expanding our partner network in developing markets. We will selectively engage with organizations that understand the value proposition of SaaS security, are committed to delivering quality to their customers and are willing to position their business to grow this segment with us.
We also see significant growth in our Associate partner base who will increasingly turn to SaaS as more and more SMEs engage IT consultants to help them improve IT efficiencies and reduce costs.
By Shanti Anne Morais
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
