Rather than installing applications on the company’s premises, businesses are turning to providers who permit access to a host of cloud-based applications at a lower cost. The cloud helps businesses avoid costly on site deployments that may require highly trained staff along with installations on multiple servers and every end user device. For most, it is convenience and cost that is a key driver while for others it is the lack of trained manpower.
Bhaskar Bakthavatsalu, Managing Director, Check Point, India & SAARC – “The Indian market with its large volume of SMBs is prime market for hosted services. Already at the consumer level there is widespread adoption of Storage and Email as a service but the same is not yet true for SMBs and large enterprises.”
- What is the total market size of the hosted Service Sector (including applications (software as a service), security, monitoring, storage, web development, website hosting and email) in India? Which sectors have been the major contributors for booming growth of hosted services?
Gartner is predicting the cloud-based security services market, which includes secure email or web gateways, identity and access management (IAM), remote vulnerability assessment, security information and event management to hit $4.13 billion by 2017.
Growth is likely to come because of the adoption of these cloud-based security services by small- to-midsized business (SMB) in particular.
- How optimistic or excited are markets about hosted services? Does Indian market have a clear understanding of it?
It is far easier to get people up and running on a cloud based application. With a cloud-based service, the rollout time is reduced considerably as there are minimal costly hardware deployments and no client updates. A business can utilize easy subscription billing for cloud-based applications as well. The client is charged only for the specific services they subscribe to and the number of users who actually use the cloud applications, so expenses are more predictable and can be budgeted more accurately.
The Indian market with its large volume of SMBs is prime market for hosted services. Already at the consumer level there is widespread adoption of Storage and Email as a service but the same is not yet true for SMBs and large enterprises.
- Indian Government has been steadily advocating digitization of its agencies.
How big a role will the service sector play in this initiative? How are you taking advantage of this opportunity?
There is growing traction, acceptance and utilization of the cloud as a provider of security services. Some cloud applications are designed to provide security services on-premise and help customers manage their devices through the cloud. Other cloud applications are designed to manage the security functionality that you already have in place, offloading the monitoring and tracking of security threats to an off-site professional team that is dedicated solely to this task.
For the typical businesses enterprise, often with a limited IT staff, too much time must be dedicated to network security. This takes away the ability for IT to make a positive impact for the company on other strategic plans or rollouts of new technology.
Cloud managed security services are available today through the Check Point CloudManaged Security Service. This service provides comprehensive threat protection, policy enforcement, data security, and compliance for the client’s network. The cloud is the best platform to deliver management for a comprehensive security to protect networks, remote users, mobile users, laptops, and desktops under any security threat.
- What kind of excitement do you see among your customers?
Our alliance with VMware and Microsoft has helped us adopt faster on cloud, IoT and new technologies. Joint calls and partner activities strengthen our efforts.
- What steps are you taking to position yourself in hosted services?
The Check Point Cloud-Managed Security Service delivers comprehensive web, network, and data protection. This best-in-class patented technology provides the same proven technologies protecting the Fortune 100 companies to small and medium sized businesses –at an affordable price. Businesses can effectively transfer management of their security to a team of Check Point security experts who monitors and support all security activities within the company with a 24/7 coverage.
Check Point Cloud-Managed Security Services deliver security in two simple-to deploy and all-in-one packages:
- Standard Package
- Premium Package
The Standard Package, including Firewall, VPN, Reporting and 24×7 management and support, provides cost-effective enterprise-class security for businesses that are looking for added network perimeter and VPN protection.
The Premium Package further extends protection beyond the Standard Package adding Antivirus, Anti- Spam, URL Filtering and IPS for a comprehensive security solution. Both packages include the Safe@Office appliance which can be installed by Check Point, an authorized partner, or by the client’s own IT team. Pricing is based on the package selected and the number of users covered by the service.
There is no additional cost for the appliance.
The primary benefits for adopting the Check Point Cloud-Managed Security Service are its fast and easy deployment, expert management and reduced cost of ownership. Now is the time for the small and medium sized companies to offload the management of their security infrastructure to the cloud.
Check Point Cloud-Managed Security Service only requires a single on-premises appliance and no client software. The service provides proven technologies and brings order to the chaotic world of security.
- What are the initial challenges do you see with adoption of hosted services?
Customer side education is the key challenge.
In addition concerns related to long term vendor lock in and their ability to manage multi-tenancy environments are some other reasons why this market is not growing faster.
