As part of our effort to make the channel community better informed and get an earful of what the leading vendors are thinking, expecting, and planning for the channel community in 2022, we have started this new section to record the channel predictions of the most prominent players of the IT industry.
Here, as part of this special series of Tech Forecasts, Gurucul India registers its predictions for 2022.
[quote font=”tahoma” font_size=”13″ font_style=”italic” color=”#262626″ bgcolor=”#f9f9f9″]
“Channels are key to our growth strategy and we are going to have multifold increase in focus on Channel development this year. Strategic investments have been made in our partner program that will simplify how our partners engage with us and create new business and revenue opportunities.”
Sandeep Puri,
Country Manager -India & SAARC
Gurucul
[/quote]
In a special interaction with SME Channels, Sandeep Puri, Country Manager -India & SAARC at Gurucul, shares his company’s Channel Predictions for the year 2022. Edited excerpts…
Give a brief introduction of your company.
Gurucul is a global cybersecurity company that is changing the way organizations protect their most valuable assets, data and information from insider and external threats both on-premises and in the cloud. Gurucul’s real-time Unified Security and Risk Analytics Platform combines machine learning behavior profiling with predictive risk-scoring algorithms to predict, detect and prevent breaches. Gurucul technology is used by Global 1000 companies and government agencies to fight cyber fraud, IP theft, insider threat and account compromise as well as for log aggregation, compliance and risk-based security orchestration and automation for real-time extended detection and response.
As the pandemic is still there and a new variant has surfaced, what are the major market trends you are forecasting for 2022?
The pandemic is the new reality. New COVID-19 strains will continue to emerge that will force organizations, supply chains, and transportation systems to deal with employee shortages and staff turnover. The fluid change in staff schedules and additional responsibilities opens up new vulnerabilities for cyber criminals to exploit. This will require more rigorous access controls and real-time monitoring of users across all industries, especially in cloud environments. The most effective technologies for detecting and preventing cyberattacks are AI-powered cybersecurity controls. There is not enough time to counter these attacks manually before a breach occurs.
What major trends are you forecasting in the channel market?
- More adoption of managed services – Customers are increasingly looking to their channel partners for help to manage all of their IT stack. We expect to see more specialized channel partners with a managed service focus, especially around SIEM and XDR.
- More integrated solution offerings – Customers want tested and integrated solutions instead of piecing Best of Breed solutions together on their own. The channel will be tasked with providing complete solutions vs. point products.
- Work from home/remote working is here to stay, even after the pandemic is over. Channel will have to adapt to support technologies and solutions to facilitate the shift to remote.
Which areas you want to focus in the channel – skillsets – sales and marketing, vertical and technology practice development, service capability, etc.?
Customer success is very important for Gurucul and its channel partners. So, we lay strong emphasis on service capabilities of our partners.
What percentage of budget growth are you expecting for channel development?
Channels are key to our growth strategy and we are going to have multifold increase in focus on Channel development this year. Strategic investments have been made in our partner program that will simplify how our partners engage with us and create new business and revenue opportunities.
