Channel Post speaks with Aji Joseph, Sales Director of Clouds Dubai about the company’s expansion plans this year.
Give us an overview of your company.
Clouds Dubai is a value-added distributor and will be soon completing two years since we started our operations. We strive to address the cyber security requirements in the region and in this short time we have developed a strong channel base, a sufficient number of vendors with capable products and a team of experienced experts in addition to growing our portfolio to offer relevant IT security products as well as services.
Today our channel base comprises of more than 500 regional partners, offering them pre- and post-sales support including product training and marketing support.
Which brands do you represent in this region and what made you choose these vendors?
Our current vendors portfolio consists of Heimdal security, Net Crunch, Ekran Systems, In defend, Mini Orange, User Lock, File Audit and Spamina. With this diverse range of specialized vendors we are able to offer a number of IT Security services to channel partners like, penetration testing, email spoofing analysis & protection, digital forensics, incident response, online reputation management, security awareness training, cyber threat hunting, etc.
After careful market analysis, we identified the gaps in the security space that exist in the region. With this in mind, we decided which products were needed to build a robust portfolio and which vendors would be ideal to furnish these requirements. We also wanted to be careful not to flood our portfolio with too many products. Finally, we have a comprehensive set of products and services under our umbrella and are not looking to add any more products.
Which markets do you focus upon and which contribute maximum to your growth in terms of revenue?
Last year, we concentrated on consolidating our position in the GCC market, and going forward we are looking at expansion into more countries across Middle East. At present, we have presence in all GCC countries with UAE claiming maximum revenue from that generated last year. This year we are planning to focus our efforts on Saudi Arabia and will be working actively to develop this market.
Which sectors of the economy do you target? What is your ideology behind selecting this particular market segment?
Our products and services are ideal for SMB sector of the economy. In our initial market assessments, we identified the need for IT security products and services in the SMB segment. Such options are readily available in the market for enterprise customers while the small and medium businesses are still struggling to understand the basic requirements of IT security beyond antivirus and firewalls. Further, SMBs find it hard to recruit dedicated IT security personnel and with a huge number of products in the market, it becomes even harder for them to create the right security setup. With our products and services, we address the gaps that reside in the SMB sector’s security practices and the need for professionals well versed in the product.
Since the SMB segment is quite cautious about their security spending, how do you address this challenge?
The SMB segment is not very forthcoming in security spending and sometimes manages with simple anti-virus and firewall solutions. This definitely presents us with a road-block of sorts. I, however, consider this as an opportunity, not a challenge.
The SMB community must understand that security is not a one-time investment and all resources should not be exhausted in one go. In fact, it is a long term plan that needs to be continuously updated and upgraded, which is why we have long term relations with all our customers. To address these challenges, we meet with our partners and customers to educate them on the gaps that exist in their infrastructure and offer them the solutions and services that best suit their requirements.
