Strategies inspired by pragmatism

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Dimitris Raekos, ESET Middle East General Manager discusses how the company fared in the past year and the outlook for the year 2017

Discuss how the year 2016 shaped up for ESET in the region? What were some of the performance highlights in the region?
ESET registered significant growth in the region in 2016. Our key highlight was localising our software solutions into the Arabic language that had a good impact on consumer sales, while at the same time we saw a substantial increase in our revenues especially in enterprise accounts.

Do you see retail purchases of endpoint security products still on the higher side compared to online renewals and purchases in the region?
As we are working in a diverse region and our products must satisfy multiple needs, we always look to increase our revenue in both online & retail options. We have seen a large increase in online sales overall but it is not the same in all countries. On the other hand, there are still markets which prefer the Retail product and they have given us a significant boost too.

You offer multi-device licenses – are these seeing faster growth vis-a-vis internet security products?
With consumers using different devices with different specifications, there is now a wider acceptance of multi-device products to protect users from increasing risks. ESET products allows users to mix and match – a good option for everybody as it increases value for money and offers the flexibility to install the best software to each device based on different criteria.

How is the demand for standalone AV products? Any specific reasons that there would be buyers still opting for standalone AV instead of products that offer more functionality such as internet security etc?
Basic Antivirus solutions are still in strong demand because of their lower costs but it important for both vendors and resellers to communicate the need for more sophisticated products with additional features.

Is ESET Smart Security Premium also targeting home users or is it a product for businesses?
ESET Smart Security Premium is mainly intended for home users but also for small offices that require additional protection than the protection provided from ESET Internet Security. Among others it includes features to protect data such as passwords management, antitheft and encryption.

Discuss ESET’s success in the smartphone endpoint security market over the year?
We have witnessed a significant growth in ESET Mobile Security sales both via online channels but also via telecom shops that can sell it as a product or as part of their value added services. Obviously most of the consumers and business customers still do not use protection on their mobile endpoints and are still ignoring the consequences of unauthorized access to their device.

Elaborate on your distribution partnerships in the region for reseller and retail channels?
Last year we have done some changes in our distribution model in order to be able to reach more markets and mitigate any risks and so far it seems like a wise move.

Nevertheless any partner that would like to work directly with us is very welcome and especially through our MSP program that we recently launched. Managed Service Provider (MSP) program helps partners deliver best endpoint security protection as part of their monthly or annual maintenance services. The program also helps businesses increase revenue through ESET’s tiered MSP pricing structure, which includes flexible daily billing and monthly invoicing.