Ajay Kumar K.G., the Head of Global Marketing at ManageEngine, spoke to Channel Post about the advantages cloud computing brings to companies in the Middle East and the better way to manage devices on the cloud
Tell us about ManageEngine.
ManageEngine is a part of Zoho Corporation, which includes companies such as Zoho.com and WebNMS. ManageEngine focuses on all IT management products. We deal in solutions that cater to big data, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), mobile device management, application performance management, network management, and so on.
These solutions represent the general IT trend on the global market and hence we cater to such trends through these solutions we offer. We have over 26 different products and solutions under our portfolio at ManageEngine and our biggest markets include US, Europe and Middle East.
Are companies skeptical of storing their data on third party servers when they use cloud apps?
Well, it’s a mix, really. The way I see it, it is a hybrid sort of solution these companies go for. Most companies store critical and confidential corporate data on their own on-premise infrastructure, while some of the data is sent to the cloud.
However, having said that, I would certainly want to add that the cloud makes business sense for companies. It cuts down costs, gives mobility, and that’s essentially the business trend we are seeing on the market.
Is BYOD catching up?
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is something we have been looking at for the past two years. We now have a product called Desktop Central, which has a mobile device management (MDM) version.
We have invested a lot for R&D into the solution, because the future we think is going to be mobile. Many employees today carry more than one device and most of the times the second device is a personal device.
They want to be able to manage data on the move and have access to the corporate network while travelling. In such a scenario, a product such as Desktop Central is going to help the company in managing mobile devices properly.
Are companies aware of security issues BYOD brings along?
When the BYOD trend came in, there was a fear of increased security issues. Today, people have started to realise the importance of advanced security and mobile device management solutions, and hence, that fear is no longer around. Companies realise that mobility is actually an advantage and hence companies want to use it to the fullest to get work done anytime, anywhere.
How does your company work with its channel partners?
As a company we are fully focused on product development. We use our channel network to reach out to our customers. We currently have a very good set of channel partners who take care of integration, deployment, and after sales service.
The first level of support is taken care of by them. If they need extended support, these issues are escalated to us and we take it on from there. Currently we have around 12-15 partners in the Middle East.
