Trend Micro looks to channel partners to drive growth in Kiwi market

Mike Ferguson, Trend Micro New Zealand regional manager, says the security software company is working with the New Zealand channel to establish itself as a top player in the market.

Ferguson says the security landscape has changed a lot over the past six-12 months, and now customers require greater threat protection than anti-virus or anti-malware.

He says Trend Micro has seen significant growth in data center and cloud security. He says there is more focus on the advanced threat space and custom defence area, with visibility and automatic protection in higher demand.

He says, "It's important for us to protect as many customers as we can, and to deliver a rounded end-to-end solution that provides more than just anti-virus and anti-malware."

"The big data breaches off shore all had AV and anti-malware in place," Ferguson says. "Which highlights the need for deep discovery and deep security."

He says, "There are a lot of gateway solutions, but they just monitor the gateway and don't go deep - [Trend Micro's] Deep Security solution looks at the kill chain of an exploit, and can stop the threat at many different levels."

Ferguson says the New Zealand market presents a prime opportunity as it is well known to adopt new technologies and is a very technology savvy market.

Furthermore, Ferguson says, "In the United States, businesses are siloed and have fringe knowledge or very specialised knowledge about security.

"In New Zealand businesses can go across different disciplines and see the big picture. Here we can deploy technologies for the environment as a whole, not just a tactical solution.

End-point security is a competitive space, and it's crucial to work with partners to make Trend Micro the number one security vendor in the marketplace, Ferguson says.

While Trend Micro has not always been focused on marketing - hence the need to extend visibility and education - it has focused on creating the best technology, he says.

Deep Security is one of the few security products that is cost neutral within 12 months and has a positive return on investment. He says it's products such as this that can capitalise on the trends and reward partners with significant margins.

Another way Trend Micro builds relationships with partners is by maintaining integrity, says Ferguson.

"We're up front with how we deal with things and we call it how it is, this creates long enduring trust.

"For instance, when multi-partners are involved in an opportunity we're up-front about this and will mention there are multiple partners involved.

"We make sure to make this a pricing based discussion instead of a value based one. We go with partners that are actually offering value instead of pure procurement. This evens out the playing field and protects partners from drive-by procurement.

He says partners such as Spark, Dimension Data and Datacom are driving growth and brand recognition in New Zealand, and Trend Micro wants to build on this success.