Central America and the Caribbean are a key market for Kaspersky. “Last year we witnessed, mainly in Costa Rica, the relevance of cybersecurity and as our countries advance in digitization, this issue will be fundamental,” says Fernando Sánchez, Manager of Channels Territory Channel Manager for North America in Kaspersky.
That’s where resellers have a very important source of business. Kaspersky figures reveal that between January and February 2022, 50% of organizations, whether public or private, experienced an increase in security incidents compared to 2019, before the pandemic. The cyber threat landscape is so vast that unfortunately organizations live at permanent risk.
According to the spokesman, the digitization that the countries of the region live has many advantages: it allows to connect more services, optimize times, generate prediction models that reduce costs, but also makes companies more vulnerable.
“The panorama of cyber threats is so broad that unfortunately organizations live in permanent risk,” he says. “The strategy is to reach the right partner with the right offer to make an intelligent positioning of our wide portfolio. It should be remembered that the cybersecurity strategy is not only a product, it is a triangle that includes: threat intelligence, protection tools and education to employees, regardless of position or hierarchy”.
To address that context, the brand is emphasizing what corresponds to Advanced Threat Detection products. “Specifically our XDR solution to bring businesses in the region to a more mature level of cybersecurity adoption,” he says. “This is accompanied by Threat Intelligence solutions that complement the cybersecurity strategy of organizations”.
And he continues: “The interest in promoting such solutions lies in the fact that, since the beginning of this year, Kaspersky experts anticipated a shift in advanced persistent threats (APT) against smart organizations and devices (OT) in new industrial sectors and locations. Sectors of the economy such as agriculture, logistics and transport, energy, high technology, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment manufacturers are targeted by attackers”.
The work with the partner
“From Kaspersky we are working to train our business partners to become their clients’ security partners and have the necessary capabilities to manage cybersecurity incidents properly and in a timely manner,” says the executive. “We want to have an ecosystem of resellers where partners can provide timely follow-up to each of the security solutions and help ensure their effectiveness at all levels, from protection, detection and response, as well as threat intelligence”.
In this sense, the needs of the brand are based on bringing to the target market the knowledge of its extended portfolio that has advanced cybersecurity capabilities to the current ecosystem of partners. Likewise, to prospects that this advanced portfolio complements and allow to make a positioning to Enterprise segments of the market.
To do this, “we work with distributors like Licencias OnLine on strategic recruitment and partner development plans that allow us to fulfill the aforementioned purpose,” says Sánchez. “The wholesaler is a key player in the whole business. He interprets the market and conveys the perception of it to perfect the product. It is who knows what to order, when and the appropriate amount. Also, with his experience he looks after the brand’s reputation, positioning, partner management and its associated value offer”.
The company has a partner program, Kaspersky United, which has differentiation memberships among partners, Advanced technology specialization programs from our portfolio even incentive programs aimed at the sales forces of our resellers.
In order to strengthen the training program for the partner ecosystem, Kaspersky will implement Academy 360 throughout the year. This project is designed to help partners improve their knowledge of the company’s key solutions, so that they become the best allies for the cybersecurity strategy of SMEs and large companies. It also seeks to provide them with useful tools to strengthen their skills and remain a competitive talent in the current context and market needs.
