My Recent Travels to Italy and Spain

Recently I have been meeting with customers and resellers throughout Italy and Spain and it was interesting to hear that their needs from a security partner are very similar to those from the other countries I have recently visited. 

I have started to see strong interest in the McAfee DLP, Database Protection and Encryption technologies because there are more customers worried about the protection of their intellectual property than ever before.  Because of the increased competitive nature of the security business staying ahead of the competition is more critical than ever.  But in today’s world, businesses have more to worry about than just about the outside threat; there is also the threat within.  There have been more and more examples of internal employees selling intellectual property to competitors or taking the information with them when they go work for one. 

In the past, the interest in data protection technologies was mainly from companies who had information that was regulated and had to be controlled by law but today many businesses are realising that is just as important, if not more important, to protect their intellectual property.  I met with a very large automobile manufacturer that was worried that their engine and design plans were at risk so they wanted to make sure they had technology like McAfee Data Loss Prevention to ensure their future plans were protected and couldn’t be shared beyond the company walls.  I think companies have become more concerned because of the recent high profile data loss incidents in France and the UK and also because of the threat to their brands with the increase of Wikileak type losses.  One of the biggest targets for theft is information stored in company databases where much of the businesses critical information is kept.  McAfee recently acquired Sentrigo and now offers  marketleading database protection, compliance and monitoring.

Another trend I am seeing from many customers, large and small, is that they are seriously looking to outsource to the cloud to cut down costs and improve availability.  However, they all worry about the security of the cloud and how they can securely transfer critical information to and from it.  Until very recently the “Crown Jewels” of a company’s intellectual property was all stored within the castle walls of the business but this has changed quickly with globalisation, virtualisation and increased use of cloud applications.  Now much of that intellectual property is stored in the cloud where the business may not understand if that data is secure.  McAfee have just launched our Cloud Security Platform that helps businesses build a secure bridge to the cloud and insure that their data is safe when using cloud-based technologies.

Lastly, when I talk to partners they tell me they are looking for a partner who is focused on increasing their channel profitability.  McAfee has heard this from our largest partners too and have introduced a few new programs to really drive our reseller profits.  Additionally our partners are looking to provide a services portfolio that they can offer their customers based on McAfee solutions so we are putting a big focus on delivering these services to our partner base.  There will be some exciting announcements in the coming months giving more details on these programs.  At McAfee we really want to improve our engagement and support our committed partners with more opportunities.  Our goal is to be the best security vendor in the industry offering the best portfolio, best services and paying well for performance.  Any partner interested should visit our partner area on www.mcafee.com.

Regards,

Gert-Jan

Tags: Consumer, Cybercrime, EMEA, enterprise, Mid-Market, Network Security, Public Sector, Risk and Compliance